Programme overview

The programme began operating in 2012 and includes general education in the field of social, political and cultural studies based on the experience of leading international universities. Undergraduate students are trained in the fields of intellectual, political and technological history, as well as in the history of international relations.

The guiding principles of the programme are:

• adherence to international educational and research standards, integration into international academia, as well as educational and scientific mobility
• early involvement of students into research projects beginning in the first year of study alumni orientation towards both the Russian and international labour markets
• to systematically develop the fields of global, comparative, and transnational history as a potent tool for overcoming the limitations of national history canon, to foster interdisciplinary dialogue in the fields of social sciences and humanities, and to bring new public relevance to historical knowledge

The programme offers students:

• courses taught by highly qualified professors, including foreign specialists
• academic advising of student research by faculty researchers and professors
• annual archaeological, museum-based and archival practical training
• annual international summer and winter schools (taught in English)
• exchange programmes with the Faculty of History at HSE in Moscow
• many other university activities

The relevance of historical education

A modern historian is a person who has received training in both the social sciences and humanities, knows several foreign languages (apart from English, students are offered the opportunity to learn Swedish and German), is capable not only of archival work but also of engaging in serious expert analytics and collaborating on interdisciplinary research projects.

Along with receiving classical professional training in history, undergraduate students master important new methodologies and skills in the field of semantic and anthropological historical analysis, historical sociology, regional studies, historical comparative studies, tridimensional analysis, history of science, the study of collective memory, and analysis of material culture and environment.

This educational model develops analytical skills that are important for modern life and that promote an understanding of the challenges of globalization, migration, continuous technological revolution, new forms of organizing political space, intercultural dialogue, natural disasters and exhaustion of natural resources.

Students are offered courses in English which are electives during the first year and mandatory beginning with the second year of study.

Intership

Students in the programme are offered a far-reaching system of practical training: archaeological training at Staraya Ladoga, as well as museum and archival training in St. Petersburg. The Centre for Historical Research in the Faculty of History runs an apprenticeship programme that provides students with experience in analytical and management work as part of their academic research projects. Students can also take part in the Comparative Historical Research of Empire and Nationalism project as research trainees under the direction of Ronald Suny, an internationally renowned scholar.