Graduate School supports European University at St. Petersburg

The Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies is deeply concerned for the future of the European University at St. Petersburg (EUSP) and urges the Russian Ministry of Education to think over its recent decision to withdraw the European University’s teaching license. The two speakers of the Graduate School, Prof. Dr. Martin Schulze Wessel and Prof. Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer, therefore explain their solidarity with the EUSP, which has become a close international cooperation partner.

For centuries St. Petersburg has attracted scholars and thinkers from around the world. The European University in St. Petersburg stands in this tradition and is internationally renowned as a one of the finest institutes of higher education in Russia. It is with deep regret that we have learned of the Ministry of Education’s decision to withdraw the European University’s teaching license. Since its foundation in 1994 the European University has produced a great number of outstanding scholars. It is an invaluable center of postgraduate teaching and research in the humanities and the social sciences both in Russia and abroad. We consider the European University an important and vital cooperation partner. Thanks to its excellent faculty, its talented and motivated students and the hosting of countless international conferences the university has brought forth a unique intellectual atmosphere from which students and scholars from all other the world have profited.

The Graduate School of East and Southeastern Studies and the Department of Eastern European History at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich would like to express their support for the European University in St. Petersburg. We hope that the decision of the Ministry of Education will soon be overturned. Otherwise Russia and the world will lose a truly outstanding university.