Founded in 1994 on the initiative of the mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak, the European University is considered one of the best universities in Russia. He is known for his liberal tendencies and works closely with many European and American universities. EUSP is a rather rare type of educational institution in Russia: graduate school - a combination of master's and postgraduate studies. The European University was the first in Russia to replicate the success of such universities as Harvard and Berkeley, implementing them educational model now recognized as one of the best in the world.
Putin's attacks
Last year, the university received a three-year, million-dollar grant from the European Commission to train election observers in Russia. In October last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin attacked the EUSP, calling it an agent of foreign interference. On January 31, the EUSP academic council succumbed to pressure from the Kremlin and abandoned the election monitoring program.
Employees of the European University of St. Petersburg evade any comments in connection with the closure of their educational institution. At the same time, as a rule, they are guided by the principle "do no harm", adding "well, you yourself understand what state we live in."
Damage to the culture of the city
Talk about what he was in the cultural and public life city of the European University, agreed the director of the scientific information center "Memorial" Irina Fliege, who held a large number of events within the walls of the university and with the active participation of its employees. According to her, the university is a special institution of the city, which combined science, education and active life - scientific and social. "For example, our projects on the history of the twentieth century are connected with research - historical, cultural, political science, sociological. And many students and graduates of the European University took part in them Active participation. The closure of the university is an arbitrariness that today causes enormous damage to the culture and image of our city," Fliege said.
The head of the St. Petersburg regional branch of the Yabloko party, Maxim Reznik, considers the closure of the European University a natural event in the logic of the current development of the country. According to him, the creed of the Russian government is that those who do not love the government, or love it not enough, or dislike it, are already being persecuted. The nature of this power, like a cancerous tumor, does not accept free cells next to it, it devours them. “This free space in any of its manifestations, even non-political ones, irritates her. And therefore, the European University, as a territory of freedom, is over, sooner or later, would become the subject of “attacks” by the Russian authorities,” Reznik said.
Threat of loss of premises
By the way, over the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko, as well as a number of other political and public organizations the threat of losing its premises and a possible suspension of activities loomed. And this has already happened to someone, as, for example, with the Institute of Regional Press, which is forced to hold its events at other venues.
The official reason for this is the closure of the St. Petersburg House of Journalists for reconstruction, but the leadership of the Union of Journalists has already announced that it will not renew the lease agreement with the Institute of Regional Press. As Anna Sharogradskaya, director of the institute, noted, the eviction from the House of Journalists of an organization that hosted events that were not very pleasant for the local, and often the federal authorities, naturally seems to be political. "And I see no other reason why an organization that works with the press, providing alternative information to the public through the press, should be evicted from the house, which, of its own, was created for this purpose," Sharogradskaya said.
The rector of the European University, Nikolai Vakhtin, expressed hope that after all problems with compliance with fire safety rules are resolved, the university he leads will resume its work. And according to Maksim Reznik, today, in order to be in the democratic opposition, you need to have a certain amount of optimism, and in a sense, a clinical one.
Vladimir Izotov
From our guard-patriots every day we have to listen to loud lamentations about how liberalism is permeated by our president, our government, our deputies and officials, in general, everything - according to an extensive list. Therefore, any actions of the authorities are assessed as another informational occasion for cries and incantations on the topic of liberalism that is suffocating Russia.
At the same time, our guard-patriots do not see the actions of the authorities, which spread rot and suffocate this very liberalism. They introduce cognitive dissonance into their mental structure, and therefore it is better to brush them aside, like an annoying fly that has flown into the wrong place.
Well, I'll have to disturb them a little. And upset.
With an adequate perception of reality, they have obvious problems.
We will not tire ourselves and readers once again with a story about how tightly liberals and liberalists in the 90s covered all the pores and holes of our society. Moreover, they bit into the structure of education and science with special care.
To do everything Russian education bolognese, so that it cooks exclusively lapdogs - this was task number one. It was for her that grants were allocated, internships were given in the western hotbeds of Bologna and complex financing schemes were built.
Anyone who has at least periodically followed this topic can name many addresses where such nurseries for growing liberalism have built their nests in the Russian educational, humanitarian and scientific environment.
However, few of the patriotic public paid attention to the fact that in the last two years two odious nests of liberalism have been covered up. Moans about this sounded only on the liberal resources. The patriotic press bypassed these significant events with almost complete silence. But in vain. They deserve the closest attention.
So what are we talking about? And we are talking about the closure of two odious hotbeds of liberalism in Russia.
The European University at St. Petersburg is closed.
There was a certain enclave of liberalism in St. Petersburg with such a loud and proud name. It was established in 1994 under the patronage of Sobchak. The board of trustees of the university included Alexei Kudrin and Mikhail Piotrovsky.
The university was not organized in the most usual way for Russia: it only had a master's degree and postgraduate studies for graduates of Russian and foreign universities on social and humanities. EU had five departments - Anthropology, Art History, History, Economics, Political Science and Sociology - as well as four international programs taught entirely in English.
Also at the EU there is a program "Gender Studies", within the framework of which, among other things, they study the problems of sexual minorities.
EU diplomas were recognized by leading foreign universities.
The wards of the "European University" develop very specific topics within their scientific papers. A significant part of them is devoted to LGBT values, the strategy for the development of neoliberalism in the Russian Federation, and the peculiarities of increasing migration flows in such “non-democratic” (according to the wording of one of the works) countries like Russia.
The liberal press, which struggled with all its might to preserve this hotbed of liberalism, amazed with the masterpieces of its silkworm:
So, Rambler wrote: "The leading university was closed in St. Petersburg."
No, gentlemen, of course, I understand that for your professionalism, the absence of logic and common sense is mandatory. But not to the point of complete insanity?! At the time of closing, there were 200 (two hundred) students in St. Petersburg EU. What kind of “leading” can this, so to speak, “university” be, against the background of St. Petersburg state university, Polytech, Technolozhka and dozens of other St. Petersburg universities, whose fame has been created for centuries and many decades, and the number of students exceeds the "leading university" by orders of magnitude?
The liberals recalled its closure in the same epithets now, when a similar fate has already befallen the Moscow hotbed of liberals:
Shaninka's accreditation was revoked
Reference: The Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (MSSES) - Russian-British institution of higher education; is a partner Russian Academy National economy And public service under the President of the Russian Federation and is located on the territory of the Academy.
The school was founded in 1995. One of the founders and the first rector of the School was the British sociologist, professor at the University of Manchester Theodore Shanin. Since 2007 Teodor Shanin has become the President of the School.
It is known that among the first sponsors of Shaninka was the George Soros Open Society Foundation and the Central European University from Budapest, which, in fact, was also opened in 1991 thanks to the financial support of the same Soros.
In 2015, the Open Society Foundation, which was actively involved in Russian system education (funded universities, published textbooks) was included by the Ministry of Justice of Russia in the number of organizations whose activities are undesirable in our country. And, I must say, not in vain - the example of Soros' educational experiments in Ukraine was very revealing.
And now they came for his "chicks" ...
The Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences lost its state accreditation after being checked by Rosobrnadzor. The agency claims that the commission has identified "numerous violations of the requirements of educational standards" .
Rector of the university Sergey Zuev told Kommersant that these requirements are divorced from reality, and invited the rectors' community to discuss the possibility of changing the legislation. His subordinates speak out more frankly - they openly declare that they are talking about the defeat of the next university after EUSP with a "liberal" reputation.
A multi-page protocol of the commission's decision was also published. It mentions, in particular, that the disciplines "history of costume" and "shoes of the 18th-20th centuries" "do not form professional competencies." And the claims to the direction of "jurisprudence" are that “one of the teachers has a higher education in the specialty “history”, qualification “historian””, but at the same time he conducts “the disciplines “system of property rights” and “contracts on the transfer of property”” .
http://www.obrnadzor.gov.ru/common/upload/doc_list/Zakluchenie_oano_vo_Moskovskaya_vysshaya_shkola_sotsialnykh_i_ekonomicheskikh_nauk.pdf
After the deprivation of accreditation, "Shaninka" cannot issue a Russian state diploma, and is also deprived of the right to train students on a budgetary basis.
The bloody gebnya is completely crazy!
Here is the groan of the liberals:
« The scenario of the European University will be played "with amplification", - suggests Viktor Vakhstein.- As long as we have been stripped of just our accreditation, we will continue to teach and give British diplomas. Then they will try to deprive us of our license and prohibit us from educational activities. But even then we will teach - on the streets, in parks, in exile".
Multiple versions published The Bell. One of them is the conflict between Russia and Great Britain (the founder of Shaninka works at the University of Manchester) due to the poisoning of the Skripals. After it began, the Russian authorities have already closed one British educational organization - the British Council.
« I can count on my fingers non-state universities that Russia can be proud of- says the rector high school economy Yaroslav Kuzminov. - These are the Russian School of Economics, the European University at St. Petersburg and Shaninka. Now, two of the three members of this stellar list of non-state universities have become disgraced.
"Shaninka" said "Sha!" - you look, and they will get to the HSE .... HORRIBLE!!!
And I want to say only one thing about Kuzminov’s fears: "Waiting-s... »
Somewhere even impatiently.
Why was the license taken away from the European University in St. Petersburg? December 9th, 2016
Read the investigation into why the license was revoked from the odious European University in St. Petersburg (EU ESPb). In my opinion, it's time to add the definition of "university-foreign agent" or "university-NPO" to the definition of "inefficient university". What was most striking in the article was that the rector of this educational institution, O.V. Kharkhordin is a "convinced immigrant", his family and children live in France. What is he doing in Russia? Throws money. 65% of university students are foreigners (mostly US citizens). They are paid a non-acid scholarship - $3500! And this despite the fact that the average scholarship in Russia is almost 90 times lower (2-3 thousand rubles)! Teachers also receive a solid salary - "on average for a hospital" - 250,000 rubles. How much does a rector get paid? An order of magnitude more.
The wards of the "European University" develop very specific topics within the framework of their scientific works. A significant part of them is devoted to LGBT values, the strategy for the development of neoliberalism in the Russian Federation, and the peculiarities of increasing migration flows in such “non-democratic” (according to the wording of one of the works) countries like Russia. The university is funded by the foundations of Soros, MacArthur, Ford, Spencer, Carnegie, Rothschild, Adenaura. In general - a "full bouquet".
Among the sponsors of the European University are the most odious structures involved in the organization of the so-called. "orange coups" in the post-Soviet space. These structures transfer substantial funds to the accounts of EU SPb. Only for the period 2012-2015. The university received about $8.900.000, €534.000 and £86.000.
On December 7, 2016, Rosobrnadzor suspended the license of the European University at St. Petersburg (EU ESPb). From this moment on, the university has no official right to carry out educational activities. 
Such a harsh measure was applied due to the results of the audit of the university in July-August 2016: it revealed gross violations of licensing requirements (non-compliance of EU SPb diplomas with the state standard, violation of educational standards in a number of curricula, non-compliance of management with qualification requirements, etc.). First, on September 20, 2016, Rosobrnadzor banned the admission of applicants to the European University, and now the state structure is preparing a lawsuit to the Arbitration Court for the complete annulment of the EU SPb license.
ANO "European University in St. Petersburg" has been operating in Russia since 1994. The university occupies a state-owned building leased from the Property Relations Committee of the Government of St. Petersburg and is a monument of history and architecture. The rector of this educational institution, O.V. Kharkhordin is a "convinced immigrant", his family and children live in France. The Board of Trustees of the university includes Director of the State Hermitage M.B. Piotrovsky, ex-Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, head of practice for non-profit and educational organizations"Odgers Berndston" H.P. Chernyshkova, senior fellow at the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University Lalidus Gale, who has US citizenship and other famous people.
The university is positioned by its leadership as a leading non-state University, which is a forge of personnel for Russian state capable of bringing Russia to the forefront. But is it? Let's try to figure it out.
The wards of the "European University" develop very specific topics within the framework of their scientific works. A significant part of them is devoted to LGBT values, “sexual health and sexology in Russia”, the strategy for the development of neoliberalism in the Russian Federation, the peculiarities of increasing migration flows in such “non-democratic” (according to the wording of one of the works) countries like ours. Such "scientific activity" is more like preparing a theoretical springboard for the expansion of neoliberalism into the territory of our country in the interests of foreign states.
At the same time, these personnel are entrusted with the implementation of quite serious programs, including those related to the field of public administration. In the middle of the 2000s, through the implementation of the Interregional Electoral Support Network program, the technology for creating protest moods based on newsworthy violations during Russian elections. From July 2012 to June 2015, EU SPb implemented the project "Support for the work of the Department for the Development of Partnership Programs with Universities of Kazan, Perm and Tomsk, as well as non-profit organizations on issues of social sciences and training." In 2013, the university prepared a concept for reforms of the Prosecutor General's Office, Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
It is important to note that 65% of university students involved, among other things, in the implementation of such programs, are foreigners (mainly US citizens). They are paid a non-acid scholarship - $3500! And this despite the fact that the average scholarship in Russia is almost 90 times lower (2-3 thousand rubles)! Teachers also receive a solid salary - "on average for a hospital" - 250,000 rubles.
At whose expense is the banquet? And very simply: the Soros, MacArthur, Ford, Spencer, Carnegie, Rothschild, Adenaur funds. In general - a "full bouquet". Among the sponsors of the European University are the most odious structures involved in the organization of the so-called. "orange coups" in the post-Soviet space.
These structures transfer substantial funds to the accounts of EU SPb. Only for the period 2012-2015. The university received about $8.900.000, €534.000 and £86.000.
It is with this money that all the above programs are implemented. In particular, the “Interregional Electoral Network” (2007) was funded by the European Commission (€800.000), “Support for the work of the Department for the Development of Partnership Programs with Universities of Kazan, Perm and Tomsk, as well as non-profit organizations on social sciences and training” (2012 - 2015) - with the money of the Soros Institute "Open Society" ($ 2.200.000), "The concept of a comprehensive organizational and managerial reform of law enforcement agencies with proposals for the restructuring of the Prosecutor General's Office, the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia" - also with the money of Soros.
Interestingly, in 2011, a technology very similar to that practiced in the Interregional Electoral Network was fully implemented by the Russian NGO GOLOS. This structure, thanks to the "Map of Violations" project, provided a flow of information about violations in the elections to the State Duma-2011, which brought tens of thousands of protesters to the streets (the so-called "swamp protests"). Extremely similar to one of the technologies of the so-called. "orange revolutions" that Soros loves to sponsor.
Wladimir Klitschko and George Soros discuss the successes of "Euromaidan" in Kyiv
Of course, such generosity of foreign NGOs is not disinterested. They actually turned the university into an incubator of agents of influence and experts on Russia, whose services our “Western partners” use on a regular basis. So, every time when important socio-political events take place in Russia, secretaries of the British and US embassies in Russia line up for teachers and graduates of the EU St. Petersburg, for expert comments and “insiders” on topics of interest to their special services.
In essence, EU SPb is a “think tank” dependent on foreign funding, which educates personnel from which agents of influence are formed, firmly convinced of the superiority of liberal values and the inferiority of Russian state structure. It is very strange that such activity is supported by some of our former "statesmen", who are planning their return to the corridors of Russian power.
So, in 2013, the Metalloinvest holding, with the direct patronage of Alexei Kudrin and his own organizational support for the tranche, transferred $ 16,000,000 (!) from the funds of Alisher Usmanov to the disposal of the European University in St. Petersburg. In addition, Kudrin simultaneously used funds personally controlled by him to fuel the activities of the University. A natural question arises: where does the former finance minister get such funds to sponsor liberal values? In the context of Kudrin's support for the unscrupulous minister Ulyukaev, in defiance of the position of the President of the Russian Federation, this question sounds not idle. Supports European University and other statesman, noted for the active defense of Ulyukaev, - Anatoly Chubais. Among other things, he is an active lecturer of this institution.
Unfortunately, the lobbying of EU SPb by such characters as Aleksey Kudrin turned out to be extremely successful. They managed to involve a number of leading Russian entrepreneurs into financing the incubator of agents of influence, such as the aforementioned Alisher Usmanov, Vladimir Potanin, Igor Finogenov, and even federal agencies, which are under the jurisdiction of the Government of the Russian Federation!
The total amount of funds of Russian entrepreneurs and budget institutions, listed in the university for 2013 - 2016 amounted to about 69,000,000 rubles! How much of these funds was drawn from entrepreneurs and government agencies "in the dark" - a very serious and important question, which, perhaps, should be allowed by the law enforcement agencies of Russia, and not Rosobrnadzor.
On December 7 of this year, Rosobrnadzor suspended the previously existing license for EU St. Petersburg, after which the European University of St. Petersburg has no official rights to carry out activities in the field of education. The columnist talks about this on December 12 news agency"Rosbalt" Sergei Shelin.
Such a harsh measure was applied because of the results of the inspection of this higher educational institution in the summer of 2016.
She opened a row gross violations licensing requirements (non-compliance of their diplomas issued by the management of EU SPb state standard, violation of the required standard approaches to education in some curricula, non-compliance of executives with one or another qualification requirement, and so on). Experts of the Novosti Rossii editorial board of the Market Leader magazine for investors believe that first in September, Rosobrnadzor banned the admission of applicants to the auditorium of the European University, and now the state structure is preparing a lawsuit against the judges of the Arbitration Court, which will contain a demand for the complete annulment of the license for EU St. Petersburg .
This university operates in Russian Federation since 1994. He occupies the premises of a building rented from the Committee for Property Relations of St. Petersburg and which is a monument of architecture and history.
Mr. Kharkhordin, the rector of this educational institution, has children and family living in France.
The board of trustees of this university includes Hermitage director Piotrovsky, ex-Minister of Finance Kudrin, head of the practice for educational and non-profit organizations Odgers Berndston Chernyshkova, senior fellow at the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University and United States citizen Mr. Gale and other well-known people.
The university positions itself as a leading non-state University, which is a forge of professional personnel for the Russian Federation and is able to bring it to authoritative positions. However, is this all true?
According to Sergei Shelin, this story is not at all about the fact that they intend to slam a successful educational center. It is about what today in the Russian Federation has generally become unpunished, possible and desirable.
Getting hit for EU is not exactly news. At least he has been under attack since 2008. But so far he has beaten off attack after attack, including by adapting his level of political trustworthiness to the changing whims and concepts of the authorities.
By the way, contrary to various denunciations published during last days, the EU is in no way the preserve of the opposition to the regime. This is a systemic structure; completely systemic personalities work in it, entering into one or another high circle. The EU students are entirely from the upper and middle classes, who are not prone to street anti-regime activism. Any recommendations and developments concerning pressing issues and produced within the walls of the EU are not at all addressed to the masses, but to power structures and imply the process of modifying the system and exclusively from above. It is absolutely unimaginable that the EU is addressing some kind of street appeals to the crowd. It's not his style.
Formally speaking, the regime must be at worst completely indifferent to EU, and at best grateful for advice. And the privileged strata must surely still be glad that there is a certain place in which their sons and daughters are taught in a modern and well way.
What, then, is the root of the frenzy with which they are trying to destroy it? Sergey Shelin sees the following reasons as an answer to this question:
1. Any non-state universities have long been trying to somehow cover up, and now - with special force. After all, the EU is a representative of the disgraced educational sector, but although not typical of it in its qualitative parameters.
2. A coalition of fighters for the transition to an alternative reality - Geeborists, Besogones, conspiracy theorists, special ombudsmen, motorcyclists and others - is constantly gaining more and more strength, seizing administrative command positions and bringing society to the line where you have to choose between a simple reality and an alternative . In reality, there is no place for modern knowledge at number two at all.
3. The decomposition of supervisory-control-protective Russian structures. They know that they will not be held liable for any kind of damage that they cause, and that nit-picking and claims of any amount of implausibility from their lips are taken for granted.
4. A very low, tending to zero, level of civic solidarity in the academic and educational community of Russia. Collective and resolutely formulated protests by the leaders of St. Petersburg and Moscow's main universities would be desirable now, but they are very unlikely. The broad teaching-professional and research masses are not very disposed towards their EU colleagues, since they believe that this university is much better off materially than theirs. educational establishments. So every man for himself.
And, finally, the fifth reason is the disorganization of the Russian central government, in which the cooperation of a number of divisions of the European University with the Center for Strategic Research of the ex-Minister of Finance Kudrin, probably just became the last straw that broke the patience of the enemies of the EU, although the compilation of a list social and economic recommendations were instructed to the former minister personally by the President of the Russian Federation Putin. It turns out that today it can be ignored.
Image copyright RIA Novosti Image caption EU Rector Oleg Kharkhordin told his staff on Monday that the university could continue its work as a research institute
The European University at St. Petersburg, whose educational license was suspended by Rosobrnadzor on Wednesday, will continue to operate as a research institution.
On Monday morning, the rector of the European University, Oleg Kharkhordin, spoke to the staff of the university.
After the suspension of the license, the university will be able to engage in scientific activity, conduct research seminars, and its employees will be able to publish science articles, Maxim Buev, dean of the EU Faculty of Economics, told the BBC Russian Service, who attended the rector's speech.
The European University at St. Petersburg, founded in 1994, is considered one of the best non-state higher education institutions in the country, focusing on the Western model of education, which implies the direct participation of students in scientific research.
Since the mid-2000s, EUSP has been associated with the name of former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin - he is a member of the university's board of trustees and oversees the university's endowment fund.
According to Buev, a special meeting of the government dedicated to the problems of the European University was held last week. At the meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the government a directive to deal with the situation. The government must prepare a decision by Wednesday 14 December.
On Wednesday, the 5-day deadline expires, during which the university is required by law to notify students of a potential transfer, the dean explained. Until that time, there will be no transfer of students to other universities.
If the government fails to find a solution, then on January 11, the European University will try to challenge the revocation of the educational license in the arbitration court, Buev said, citing the rector's speech.
Buev believes that the revocation of the license has nothing to do with political pressure. According to the economist, the audit began in July due to the claims of Vladimir Milonov, a member of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, who was elected to the State Duma in September.
"Any bureaucratic bodies do not work smoothly, that in the state that we have at the university, there were a lot of all sorts of coincidences when some documents were not read, when old copies were looked through, which ultimately led to the start of a legal and bureaucratic process, which formally cannot be stopped," Buev explained the situation.
Rosobrnadzor on December 7 suspended the license of the European University in St. Petersburg. This became known on December 9, when a mention of the relevant order appeared on the website of the department.
The Kommersant newspaper reported that the university must transfer students to other educational institutions in St. Petersburg by Wednesday, December 14.
The European University of St. Petersburg first faced the threat of closure in 2008 due to violations of fire safety regulations. The university resumed work two months later.
In 2016, the European University again had problems. In the spring, state accreditation of the university did not last long, and in July Rosobraznadzor began inspections at the request of Milonov, which led to the suspension of the license.
European University is one of the few Russian universities known abroad for their research work. It's the only one Russian university, included in the London School of Economics "Top 100 European Political Science Centres".
Employees and alumni of the university are known for their independence, they often speak out on many issues without regard to government policy. During his speech at EU Day in 2014, HSE Rector Yaroslav Kuzminov urged the university administration to continue adhering to the principle of academic freedom and university autonomy.
