Program Basics

Contemporary Russia Summer Program

Summary

American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS announces a new area studies program in Moscow, Russia open to students at all levels of Russian proficiency, including those with no prior language training. A five-week summer program focusing on area studies, Contemporary Russia offers U.S. students the opportunity to explore in depth the major domestic and international issues currently affecting Russia. All area studies courses are conducted in English by faculty of the Moscow Higher School of Economics, one of Russia's most prestigious centers for the study of social sciences. In addition, program participants receive six hours per week of language instruction geared toward their proficiency levels (including elementary courses for students with no prior training in Russian). Contemporary Russia participants are granted U.S. academic credit through Bryn Mawr College. Students attend six hours of class per day, four days per week. The fifth day of each week is set aside for cultural excursions.

Students are housed with Russian families who provide two meals per day on the weekday and three meals per day on the weekends; families hosting non-Russian speakers will be conversant in English.  Other program features include peer tutors recruited from the Moscow International and Moscow State Universities; a full-time U.S. resident director who provides ongoing logistical support to participants; and an extensive pre-departure orientation in Washington, D.C. The program is open to U.S. undergraduates and graduate students.

American Councils has administered intensive language-immersion programs for U.S. undergraduates, graduate students, teachers, and scholars at universities and specialized institutions in Russia and Eurasia since 1976. More than 5,000 students, teachers, and scholars from universities and colleges throughout the U.S. have participated in American Councils programs for research and language study in Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Moldova, Belarus, and Southeast Europe. Today American Councils employs more than 300 expatriates and host-country nationals in thirty-four offices throughout Russia, Eurasia, and Southeast Europe.

Contemporary Russia Summer Program Features

For more information, contact the American Councils Outbound Office: (202) 833-7522, outbound@americancouncils.org.