The School of International Economic Relations has been training specialists in transport support for foreign trade since the mid-1950s. As a separate structural unit, the Department of International Shipping was established in 1975. The Department’s academic tradition is an integral part of the School of International Economic Relations’ tradition and is mainly associated with the names of professors Dmitry Nikolaev and Sergey Sarkisov, as well as Associate Professor Tatyana Polyanova.
The Department’s teaching staff, who are graduates of the School, have always combined teaching and practice. For example, Natalya Polyanskaya for a long time headed the Customer Service Department of the French CMA CGM RUS, LLC. Aleksey Kostin is the Head of the Project Transportation Department at Union Logistics, LLC. Aleksander Tysyachnikov works as an adviser to the General Director of TEK Poseidon LTD.
In the first years of the Department’s work, its main task was to train specialists in international shipping for the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR, the Ministry of the Navy of the USSR, the USSR State Committee of International Economic Relations, as well as for trade missions abroad and foreign trade associations. The first head of the Department (1975–1982) was Georgy Maslov, PhD in Law, who at the time was the Chairman of the All-Union Association Sovinflot under the Ministry of Navy of the USSR. In 1967–1979 he continuously headed the Legal Committee of the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (now the International Maritime Organization, IMO).
In 1982–2003, the Department was headed by Professor, Doctor of Economics Dmitry Nikolaev, who for a long time worked in the Department of International Shipping in the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR.
At the end of the 1980s, the faculty members expanded their academic and scientific interests, and as a result new disciplines related to the concepts of transport logistics and supply chain management were introduced into the educational process, fully reflecting the scientific and practical trends of that time.
In 2003–2013, the Department was structurally part of the Nikolay Liventsev School of International Economic Relations and Foreign Economic Relations.
In 2013–2020, Aleksander Tysyachnikov, PhD in Economics, was the head of the Department.
Under a partnership agreement with LLC UMMC-Holding, the Department was reestablished as a separate structural unit of the School of International Economic Relations in 2013. An International Transport and Shipping MBA program was launched. During its accreditation, the program was given high scores by the Association of MBAs (AMBA). In 2013–2018, the program was completed by four groups of students from Russia and other countries. In 2016, under the editorship of Aleksander Tysyachnikov, the teaching staff of the Department issued an entry-level textbook Foreign Trade Logistics and Transport Support.
In 2020–2023, the Department was headed by the Honorary Worker of Higher Professional Education of Russia, PhD in Economics, Associate Professor Tatyana Polyanova.
During this period, new disciplines, Customs operations in foreign trade and Development and Management of Warehouse Logistics in a Business, were added to the curriculum for the 3rd and 4th year students of the School of International Economic Relations. In 2022, the Department was among the first at the School to introduce bachelor theses in the form of a project work. Aleksey Kostin, a lecturer at the Department, became the academic adviser of the first such project. Also, regular masterclasses given by representatives of transport and logistics companies have become a permanent feature of the curriculum since the 2022/2023 academic year.
Since August 2023, the duties of the head of the Department has been performed by Egor Pak, PhD in Economics.
The 2023/2024 academic year has become a watershed moment for the Department, as students enrolled into Transport Logistics in International Economic Relations program (specialization code number 38.04.01 Economics) for the first time. Under this master’s program, new disciplines are taught by experts from Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University, Russian Foreign Trade Academy and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. The Department’s disciplines were added to the list to be taught at English-language bachelor’s degree programs of the School, as well as at the MGIMO campus in Tashkent (Uzbekistan).
Throughout its history, the Department has had strong academic, practical and business ties with sectoral organizations and leading transport and logistics businesses. Thus, topics of bachelor’s degree theses and questions of the state specialization exam are approved by the Russian Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistic Organizations. Since 2020 its president Olga Melnikova has been the Chair of the State Examination Commission of the relevant bachelor’s degree specialization in the School of International Economic Relations. In addition, Professor Sergey Sarkisov is the Academic Secretary of the Association’s Scientific Council and a Russian expert on training and education at the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA). Associate Professor Tatyana Polyanova is a member of the Scientific Council of the Association and the Subcommittee on Forwarding and Logistics of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. All lecturers at the Department teach at the Vocation Training Center of the Association.
In terms of internships for bachelor’s degree students, their future employment and master classes, the Department’s main partners in the sector include LLC Absolyut Strakhovaniye, LLC BEDFORD GROUP, LLC Pobedit Trans, PJSC TransContainer, LLC TRASKO, LLC Union Logistics, LLC Major Terminal, etc.
The Department’s teaching staff constantly participate in international scientific and practical conferences and take advanced training courses. Their scientific papers are published in Russian and English in academic journals reviewed by the State Commission for Academic Degrees and Titles of Russia, in journals included in Scopus and WoS databases as well as in books published abroad, among others, by Springer Nature and Palgrave Macmillan.
Egor Pak
