13 June 2019
June 13th, the Vice-President of the European Commission and a 1990 graduate of MGIMO University, Maros Sefcovic, returned to his Alma Mater. The meeting was also attended by the Ambassador of the European Union to Russia, Marcus Ederer.
The visiting delegation was greeted by the Rector Anatoly Torkunov, the Vice-Rector for General Affairs Artem Malgin and the Vice-Rector for Graduate and International Programs Andrey Baykov. The Rector described to the guests how the University’s structure and programs have evolved to meet the requirements of the modern world, all the while remaining true to its traditions.
As of today, around 300 students from the European Union are enrolled in MGIMO’s undergraduate and graduate programs, including those jointly implemented with prominent European universities. Foreign students studying at MGIMO have the unique opportunity to intern at their country’s diplomatic missions in Moscow.
The European Studies Institute, a joint project of Russia and the EU, launched in 2006, is one of the main platforms for academic interaction. Tamara Shashikhina, the Director of the European Studies Institute, depicted the different directions for cooperation with the EU and the various programs implemented jointly with the College of Europe in Bruges and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. The ESI started in 2014 carrying out Jean Monnet projects with funding from the EU; a number of which have already been successfully implemented. In February 2019, the ESI participated in a competition in the framework of the Erasmus + program submitting an application to carry out a project on combating corruption. The results of the selection process will be announced in September.
The Head of the Department of European Law Mark Entin, the Head of the Department of Integration Studies Nikolay Kaveshnikov, the Academic Supervisor of the MBA program specialization «International Oil and Gas Business» Maria Belova also attended the meeting and contributed to the discussions.
Maros Sefcovic confirmed his support of plans to reinforce the partnership between MGIMO and the EU, remarking that the academic community should be involved, taking into account MGIMO’s existing partnerships with European universities, to think up solutions for improving the dialogue between Russia and EU countries, and resolving the Ukrainian crisis.
The Rector noted that MGIMO contributes to the work of various bilateral dialogues launched at the highest state level: the Russian-French Trianon dialogue, the Russian-Austrian Sochi dialogue and the Russian-Czech dialogue. The sides agreed that this cooperation format should be taken into account
at EU level and bring about a gradual improvement of relations between Russia and its European partners.
The delegation also comprised members of Maros Sefcovic’s team including Juraj Nociar, Bernd Biervert, Renata Goldirova, and representatives of the Delegation of the European Union to Russia, Senior Adviser Richard Burger and the Adviser on Energy G. Shvall.
— See the MGIMO web-site for russian version
