The Summer School is designed for students of social sciences and humanities. The curriculum will include Russian language courses for foreign students, presentations, workshops, partially held in St. Petersburg’s public space, and master classes, as well as a special cultural program in the city. The summer school welcomes students from all German and other universities. Admission to the school is also open to students of the St. Petersburg campus on a competitive basis.
Students who wish to attend the summer school should send a motivation letter and a completed form to Dr Dietmar Wulff dwulff@hse.ru.
Further information is available on the programme website Go East, German Academic Exchange Service.
Requirements: knowledge of Russian is not essential as all the lectures, seminars and excursions will be conducted in German or English. A basic knowledge of the history of the country and of contemporary Russia are desirable.
Structure of the summer school: the HSE summer school comprises an intensive course in Russian language (students are divided into groups for beginners and advanced levels), seminars and lectures on Topography of Imperial Power: the Political and Cultural Space of Saint Petersburg, and excursions. The main thrust of the summer school is on the theme of the lectures. The mornings will be devoted to language classes with seminars and lectures in the afternoons and tourist excursions arranged around the lecture programme
Language classes: Once students arrive in St Petersburg, they will be divided into groups according to the level of their Russian. Qualified teachers with experience of teaching Russian to absolute beginners will be running the classes. There will be 2 - 3 hours spent learning Russian every day. Students will be taught speaking skills and a basic knowledge of specialised vocabulary.
Thematic course: the thematic seminar is at the centre of the summer school, and is taught by HSE professors. Participants will be sent a reading list in advance to help them to prepare. In the framework of the thematic course the participants should write an essay (4-5 pages).
Lecture programme: Leading historians, political scientists and economists will be lecturing at the summer school on the history of Saint Petersburg and on the city in the present, about the complex inter-relations between the political institutions of the empire and the contemporary transformational processes in Russia.
Excursions: St. Petersburg is a European metropolis with an impressive array of monuments which reflect the history of the city and of Russia as a whole. For the summer school the city is both a magnificent backdrop and an object of close examination in seminars and excursions.
The Programme Fee is EUR 1100, which includes:
study programme;
accommodation (breakfast included);
cultural programme (city tour, variety of excursions);
official invitation for the Russian visa.
HSE will give an official certificate to all students who complete the summer school successfully. If you take part, and on condition you present your own paper, you can earn 5 ECTS credits.