About us

The Moscow School was conceived and began operating at the beginning of the 1990s when for the first time in many decades it became possible to create something new within Russia’s education system: something different in content, different in form, and different in methodology. The main aim of the School during this period was to create a university in Russia that could compete with the best universities in the world. On the one hand, it was necessary to prevent the outflow of talented youth to the West. Yet, on the other hand, it was a chance to prove that there are no fundamental obstacles to applying Western models of higher education in Russia. By resolving those first two problems, the Moscow School set itself up as a working model of such a university and as an experimental platform for testing and implementing innovation within higher education.

The basic idea of the Moscow School during that period was "the organic integration of the best features of Russian and Western higher education." Realizing this idea required a thorough selection of these "features" so that they would truly mesh together and complement each other in order to create new intellectual potential for a reforming country by using the most effective methods of teaching and self-training. In order to ensure excellence, the Moscow School has selected the best Russian scholars and trained them in leading Western universities. It has also created an academic library that to this day remains unique in terms of maintaining Western library standards in a Russian university. Furthermore, the Moscow School has created curricula and programs that have since been accredited by either British universities or the Russian Department of Education.

The results of the Moscow School’s labors show that it accomplished its main aim – it was able to create a Russo-British University wherein all elements of the Western educational model are successfully working without losing any of Russia’s best academic traditions. Today the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences is a non-commercial, private educational institution. Six years before the signing of the Bologna Declaration, the Moscow School had already adopted the "Bologna Structure." The content and quality of programs, the scope of the class periods, and the methods of academic work correspond both to Russian standards and to all parameters of the European system for ensuring quality higher education.