October 14, 1944, Faculty of International Relations, Moscow State University. Lomonosov, created a year earlier by the decision of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR, was transformed into an independent institute. This date is considered the day of the founding of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
RIA Novosti/Vladimir Pesnia
MGIMO building on Vernadsky Avenue in Moscow.
The first rector of MGIMO was the lawyer, economist and professor Ivan Udaltsov. And among the first professors at the university were the jurist Vsevolod Durdenevsky, the Americanist and specialist in modern and contemporary history Alexei Efimov and the historian Evgeniy Tarle. Since the founding of the university, they have worked in its outstanding scientific departments over the years. Among them: historian and writer Vladimir Trukhanovsky, diplomat and sinologist Sergei Tikhvinsky, economist Nikolai Inozemtsev, philosopher Yuri Frantsev, statesman and economist Yevgeny Primakov and many others. The fundamental works of MGIMO scientists have been translated into many foreign languages and are well known in Russia and abroad.
Initially, only three faculties were opened at MGIMO: international, economics and international law. They enrolled 250 applicants. The first graduates of MGIMO in 1948 were those who were admitted to the Faculty of International Relations of Moscow State University.
Since 1946, the university began to accept students from foreign countries. Almost ten years later, the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies became part of MGIMO and an oriental department was opened. And in 1958, the Institute of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR was added to the university.
In the 1960s, MGIMO had faculties of international, international economic relations, international law and international journalism, as well as an optional faculty of simultaneous interpreters. Later, the Faculty of Political Sciences and the Faculty of International Business and Business Administration emerged.
The institute building was located on Kropotkinsky Lane. But in 1972 the construction of a new complex on Vernadsky Avenue began especially for MGIMO. The institute finally moved there in 1985.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov during a meeting with students and teachers. Photo: TASS/Alexander Shcherbak
Since 1992, the rector of MGIMO is its graduate diplomat, historian, political scientist and academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Anatoly Torkunov. And literally two years later, MGIMO was granted the status of a university and a two-stage educational system “bachelor – master’s” was introduced. But it retained its abbreviation MGIMO: by that time the name of one of the most prestigious universities in the country had become a brand.
Almost all employees of the Russian diplomatic service graduated from MGIMO. Including the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov, who, by the way, wrote the lyrics to the anthem of his favorite university:
We were born under the shadow of the great MGIMO, the most beautiful of all earthly dynasties. Here so many generations are intertwined forever, may God grant them immortality and happiness.
The modern MGIMO consists of ten faculties, three institutes, the School of Business and International Competitions and the Lyceum named after AM Gorchakova. Since 2018, the university has the right to independently award academic degrees of candidate and doctor of sciences, create thesis councils and establish its powers.
Monument to Chancellor AM Gorchakov, inaugurated on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of MGIMO. Photo: RIA Novosti/Mikhail Voskresensky
At MGIMO students study not only from Russia, but also from other countries. The university was even included in the Guinness Book of Records for the number of official foreign languages studied there. Some foreign scientists, statesmen and public figures, for example, French President (1995-2007) Jacques Chirac and Palestinian President (since 2013) Mahmoud Abbas, were awarded the title “Honorary Doctor of MGIMO”.
The university has maintained a high level for 80 years, occupying leading positions in various national and international educational rankings.
