15th governing board meeting european studies institute Moscow, 26 April 2012 (стр. 4 )

Mr. Anatoly TORKUNOV

I hope you understand that if we deduct additional income from the general total financing, then there will be no incentive to try to get this additional income. It’s very important for the Institute to prepare for the next stage, to start working with fee-paying students, charge for refresher courses at the centre of excellence etc. Therefore we'll have to work with the Delegation to make sure that we do not deduct additional income from the total funding.

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

Common sense here has come into conflict with the principles of financial accounting and book-keeping. Are there other questions?

Mr. Jaap de ZWAAN

My questions were also with regard to paragraph 1.1.1, because it’s a rather high amount which is involved. I don’t want to ask for further clarification, but I hope that in the course of the discussion certain solutions were found, which would prevent such incidents from occurring again in the future. It’s nevertheless quite a high amount of the comments of the financial experts with disagreement, so I hope that lessons can be drawn from this experience for the future.

Mrs. Tamara Shashikhina

Thank you, Mr. De Zwaan, I want to draw you attention to the table which is given here, and the last column contains the comments of the Institute. This column shows where the Institute agrees with the auditors and where it does not. These are the questions which arose and which we want to discuss with the Delegation. We only agree with the auditors' findings on item 4.5. In other instances we don’t agree because we have a different opinion, because in the past the European Delegation, to which we regularly submitted our reports, never criticized our practices, never disagreed with them.

Mr. Michael Webb

Mr. Prikhodko, you said that time is our most valuable capital, so I won't extend the discussion. I just want to say that the auditors' report is a very professional document, as Mrs. Shashikhina has recognized. We are quite happy to continue the discussion on the details with her, but in our view, it’s a very good and professional audit.

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

Thank you, Mr. Webb, for your encouraging comment. I think everything is clear. If there are no objections, can we proceed to the next item: report on the past activities and plans for the remaining period.

Mr. Mark ENTIN

Dear colleagues, at our previous GB meeting we had a very lively discussion of the activities and prospects: the Director said only a few words and then the members of our staff and partners elaborated on my introductory remarks and spoke about the activities they are responsible for, so I would like to follow this pattern and just make an introduction.

First, why are we satisfied with the international audit? - Because the international audit plainly said in black and white in its conclusions that the management of the ESI and the spending of money by the Institute are in accordance with high international standards. Thus, the auditors have confirmed that we work well and efficiently. And this is a matter for rejoicing. The fact that we a working efficiently is confirmed by the enrollment which is underway now. It’s not yet the beginning of May, but already ministries, departments, agencies and various regional authorities of the Russian Federation have already submitted proposals on 362 applicants, and the number is growing by the day. So, we received 362 applications, which means that we really have an entrance competition. This means that the mechanism, which we created when the President's administration launched this project, is working, and the popularity of the Institute is growing. It also gives us hope that the international Selection Committee - and I'm now looking at Mr. Triantaphillou, its member, - will work very efficiently and effectively this year to select the best applicants, so that we'll have students with a good academic potential, who will be working efficiently in .

Now a few words on our academic process. We have reached cruising speed, so to speak, and practically we are not changing the curriculum and the syllabus much: we only add the novelties which are required by the new regulations and decisions adopted by the Higher Education Ministry and Foreign Ministry, introducing new standards in education. What problems do we have that must be resolved together with the College of Europe? All the foreign lecturers prefer to come to Russia when it is already warm and nice here: in April, May and June. We would like next year to get a better balance and to space all the lecture courses more evenly over the year.

A few words on short-term courses. We have arrived at a good format, we believe: it is not the ESI that invites civil servants from various ministries and agencies to attend our short-term courses - they are invited by the ministries themselves which are interested in having their civil servants retrained. Right now a short-term course is in progress - you can observe it - on what Russia has done to implement the ECHR judgments on cases against Russia or concerning Russia. The Ministry of Justice invited people from all the law enforcement bodies - the Attorney General's Office, the Investigation Committee and bodies fighting corruption - who work practically on the approximation of Russian laws with European law, and about 200 civil servants have been enrolled. The same sort of thing will be done to organize a short-term course on course on combating corruption, which is part of the plan we drew up within the framework of the "Partnership for Modernization" Initiative. Such short term courses are as important in our work as all other educational programs. A whole range of short term courses has been planned for the second half of the year. There will be a course dealing with the Common Space of Freedom, Security and Justice, and another one on creating a single social sphere in Europe on the basis of the Social Charter.

Speaking of conferences, besides the usual clients, such is the Foreign Ministry and the Antimonopoly Service of Russia and a number of others, we have also several proposals within the framework of “Partnership for modernization” in order to facilitate the dialogue between the Ministries and business in the spheres of transport, infrastructure and other matters. The plans of holding conferences and brain-storming sessions will be further developed and extended, and proposals will be added to our planned activities, and advertised on our site. I shall not speak about regional activities, because we have Mr. Barabanov, who will report to you on this work, so, briefly that’s it.

Mr. Gerhard HAFNER

Thank you very much, I have only one question. We’ve got an impressive list of activities and conferences to be held by the ESI. I am wondering if the ESI management is organizing them alone or are they joint events organized together with others?

Mr. Mark ENTIN

We are working jointly with ministries and we are meeting the requests of the ministries and agencies, which implies that the ministries and agencies themselves do their share of work, including the funding of conferences. In fact, for the short-term course which is in progress now, all participants were selected by the Ministry of Justice. Ministries also send people to make presentations at conferences, "twinning" them with foreign participants, so that they can compare practices, comment on each other's presentations. It’s actually a joint project usually.

As for international conference, we always seek to enlist the funding from different international foundations, first of all, the German funds, the Bertelsmann and Adenauer ones, and from the Russian foundations - mostly, the Russian World, which is the Nikonov foundation, which pays for some events, especially the remuneration for lecturers whom the ESI cannot pay, who come from outside the EU. So, in every case it is a joint undertaking.

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

Dear colleagues, do you have other questions to Professor Entin? If not, I think we can go on to regional activities.

Mr. Oleg Barabanov

Dear members of the Governing Board, I shall report to you on our Regional strategy. Our detailed report in printed form is in your folders. Starting since last September, we have been doing two things, which we had not done before. They are done in accordance with the decisions of the GB. The first one, made last spring, was to enroll at the ESI, free of charge, several faculty members from regional Universities, on the condition that after graduation, they would be obliged to go back to their Universities. With the participation of Mr. Triantaphillou we selected seven people from different regions of Russia and they are studying in the law and politics departments and some of them are on top of their class. This practice was endorsed by the Governing Board last spring, and the regional Universities, from which we invited these faculty members, are grateful, they are glad that this program is in progress, because it enables them to improve the expertise of their faculty members in the field of European studies.

The second thing that we started doing, thanks mostly to Prof. De Zwaan, his letters and his comments, deals with developing the Regional strategy. Last autumn we started organizing trips of lecturers from the College of Europe and other European Universities, to regional Universities. The lecturers, who used to give their course of lectures only here, in Moscow, have visited several regional Universities. One professor traveled to Tambov and gave a course of lectures there. Another one taught a course in Ivanovo on how the EU Council works, which included a week-long simulation game. Professor Berg went to Smolensk and gave a course of lectures there. So, we started helping organize lectures by foreign professors in regional Universities.

The third innovation, which we believe is interesting, was made possible thanks to Professor Torkunov, and we are grateful to him for that. Eight people from different regions of Russia, the ones who help us in regional Universities to implement our Regional strategy, were selected to receive MGIMO's honorary certificates of appreciation. They include people who hold different positions, from Vice-Rectors to Associate Professors. These certificates of appreciation are prestigious and highly valued in the regions.

Not everything was ideal, however. The most important problem was that we did not have EU money for half a year, so we were only using the Russian finding and money borrowed from MGIMO. So, we had to suspend some of the programs, which also affected the Regional strategy. Now that we have received the EU money and there are no financial limitations any longer, I would like to ask the GB to confirm the need to implement the Regional strategy the way it had been originally envisaged, with all the business trips which we had planned. There is an important issue of per diem money for the lecturers who go to the regions. When we send lecturers abroad, the rate of the remuneration, i. e. the per diem rate, is 200 Euros per day, according to the ESI budget. But at the same time, there is a Russian rule, which always makes the European colleagues laugh: the official per diem rate for Russian lecturers going to regional Universities is 100 rubles per day, i. e. just two and a half Euros, which is ridiculous. So, we have come to an agreement with our accounting department that we would pay such lecturers 200 Euros a day, and they would pay income tax on the sum in excess of 100 roubles, i. e. on 197.5 Euros. That ensures conformity with Russian laws. So, my request is as follows: if possible, let’s stick to the EU rates of 200 Euros per day, because otherwise we won’t be able to send professors to give lectures, only post-graduate students, which, be a blow to MGIMO reputation in the regions. Thank you!

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

Do you have any questions to professor Barabanov? Thank you, Professor.

Mr. Jaap de Zwaan

I’ve always taken an interest in the Regional strategy of the ESI. I salute the efforts of the ESI in this respect. I think it is a very good thing to invite lecturers from regional Universities to come to Moscow and to send our lecturers there. But I’m always a bit wondering: what is the policy? Do we have specific main ideas? Do we address only certain Universities? And a complementary question (an open one): Does the ESI identify... Is it aware of intentions or ambitions, perhaps, of some of those regional Universities to more or less copy this wonderful programme?

Mr. Oleg Barabanov

Thank you very much for this question. I think it would be very important for the time beyond 2013 and the new ESI. The tangible result of our Regional strategy is the formation of a network of regional Universities - about 10 Universities of the inner circle so to speak, and about 20 Universities of a broader circle - which are members of the Association of European Studies. This network is already operating, and it can be very useful for projecting the experience of the ESI beyond 2013, when the format of EU participation in our work, maybe, will change. Ms. Khudaykulova, speaking of the list of priorities for the EC to consider, you mentioned that regional strategies are included in your plans. Maybe, it’s not a top priority issue, but I think it is a very important one. And it probably should be thoroughly discussed in six or twelve months' time. What I’m saying is: the network has already been formed, and is working.

Mr. Daniel TARSCHYS

I would like to express my great support for these efforts. I think they are very important and must be continued. If there are economic problems, I hope, they can be solved. I think it’s very important to note in the letter from the Commission the hints that there are many instruments in the EU for funding, and one should not hesitate to explore other possibilities of funding than the ones we have at present. One should certainly see other avenues to explore. I say this particularly in view of the fact that the EU is presently preparing for its next seven-year period. 2014 is also an important year for the EU, it’s time for a new financial perspective and, ultimately, of course, the whole range of cooperation between Russia and EU is a political matter, it’s not only a matter of using available financial instruments, it’s also a matter of political positions. I said before - and I would like repeat - that it is very important in my view that the Russian side bring forward the unique experience of this body in the talks with European Union. We, the EU side of the Governing Board, could help to raise the issue through our channels on the European side, because it is a unique educational undertaking. It has already contributed to preparing important cadre of people in Russia, who know a lot about the European institutions and methods. I think for the future of the EU – Russia cooperation, it is of immense importance that we try now to find different ways and means to promote its continued operation. I include here the regional prospects that Mr. Barabanov has just explained.

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

Thank you very much, Mr. Tarshys, for your invariable support for our regional programs. It’s very important for us. Are there any other questions to Mr. Barabanov? If not, I would like to give the floor to Ms. Gonzalez on cooperation between the College of Europe and the ESI.

Mrs. Evangelina BLANCO GONZALEZ

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dear members of the Governing Board, I am here, I've offered myself to present an overview of the activities in which the College has been cooperating with the ESI project. As you well know, the College of Europe has been present since the beginning of this project, since its creation. Already before 2006 there was some pilot programme. Then we have gone through the two contracts with the European Delegation: for the support of the Establishment of the European Studies Institute at MGIMO, and now, the current support to the Development of the Institute. And a third project that we have developed in common, an EU-funded activity-based project, that is, a programme that served to launch the third specialization in European politics and policies.

Over these years, from the College of Europe we have also had different people behind. And I had the pleasure and the honor to be here two years ago together with my Director Mr. Jan De Mondt and sometimes with our Rector Paul Demaret. But first of all, I would like to say "Thank you very much" to the ESI Administration. It has been pleasure to work with Professor Mark Entin and his team, notably with Tamara Viktorovna, with whom we often work on solving problems and finding solutions, which is very important. I think we rather focus on finding a solution, rather than on procedure. And, of course, we should not forget Mariusz Sielski, our coordinator here that works closely with our College professors. In terms of activities, the College has been sending professors since 2006/2007, the first academic programme. More or less it has stretched from 20% of the College of Europe professors teaching in Moscow to approximately 35% currently, this year. If I am not mistaken, this year it has been 24 professors, you have the programme of this year in your folders with documents. We are not only providing College professors. As you may see, we have some professors of the College, titular professors of our Chairs like Ziglinda Stohl or Jörg Monar. Also our Director of Communications and Languages Angela O'Neill, and also visiting professors of the College of Europe.

Then as well as providing professors to teach here, the College has been closely involved in, or closely following at the beginning, the curriculum building and then the adaptations whenever needed, so the academic cooperation has been ensured not only by Tamara Viktorovna, but also, of course, by Mariusz Sielski.

The College has also been involved in the selection of students since the beginning. We have to say that it has improved considerably. And nowadays more applicants are calling to study here. That means that the programme is becoming well-known, well-appreciated. And the more applicants the Institute gets, the better the selected ones will be. Notably, the improvement has been remarkable in language skills, particularly English. And also, if I may say, I think, the role of Tamara Viktorovna in communication and civility is remarkable, notably in the social-media, she is very active. And we know how important it is to enlist the younger generation and young civil servants. And we also have an excellent web-site that was created through the Tempus project and is being updated by Mr. Sielski, who is sitting here, to my right. You can have a look and you can see the different activities, the College of Europe professors, the academic programme. Part of the web-site on the Internet is where the students have access to course content and course materials.

Then an important activity, part of the College of Europe cooperation, has been the organization of summer programmes. The 2011 one was the fifth edition, this year we will organize the sixth edition, and a two-week programme in Bruges and study and working visits to the institutions in Brussels and Luxembourg. The week that is spent in Bruges is very important. It is very much focused on interactive exercises. The selection is done by the ESI Administration, with all participants having a very good working level of the English language. We sit them together to negotiate a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. Or we introduce some novelties every year, responding to the evaluations of previous students and also in close discussions with the ESI Administration decide how to adapt to the needs of participants, who, at the end of the day, are civil servants. Thus, we introduced something very interesting last year - a sort of workshops on EU project management. Some of the civil servants came from the regions and they can apply to some proposals launched by the European Union. It was very well received and, hopefully, we will be continuing to develop this.

We are exploring ideas for other activities to develop in the future, depending, of course, on the funding available and new funding opportunities to be explored, taking into account that Russia is acceding to the WTO as of next 1st of July. There is a strong need for Russian civil servants and private business sectors to learn what the implications of Russian accession to the WTO will be. So, we will be working on that. And also we have noticed - that is maybe another idea to be explored - that some participants of the ESI Master programmes are senior civil servants, who may not have much time at their disposal to attend two lengthy years of Master programme. We should rather, perhaps, design a compact programme for them focusing on their specific needs. And that is it from our side. We will gladly continue working with the ESI Administration. Thank you for your attention. If you have any questions, I'm ready to answer them.

Mr. Eiki BERG

Thank you very much. I think this is a really very impressive list of foreign teachers coming here and teaching all the relevant issues, more or less closely related to the EU-Russia relations. And I think this is a very good thing to do. As we were talking before about sustainability – sustainability does not only concern financial issues but also something that has to do with human resources. And my question here is – with this mode of teaching here, using foreign lecturers as a one-time event, so that people come and go, does it produce additional value in the way that there would also be team-teaching, or educating and training also the teachers, the local teachers who could take over this particular position, this particular knowledge, first of all, and to repeat this course later on. Because practically it can't be forever that the College of Europe just brings in good people. There has to be some kind of sustainability in this issue as well. Thank you.

Mr. Mariusz SIELSKI

If I may, I would like to answer just this one question. I would like to highlight some current issues, giving the concrete examples of what was presented by my dear colleague Evangelina. Concerning this issue, we are always trying to organize meetings and exchange with junior professors from MGIMO University but also with professors involved in overlaps between courses. A very good example is the new course we introduced this year. It is on the European Monetary Union facing the crisis, which is introduced by Professor Butorina, who is a wonderful specialist in the field. She will just give the theoretical and historical background, preparing students for this very concrete issue of the financial crisis.

We understand very well how important it is also to train the trainers. Some activities organized at the College of Europe are strictly addressing professors and and giving an insight into the new methods. With our programme we should respond to the current challenges, and also to the current situation. Three contexts are the most important: the accession to the WTO by Russia, the Eurasian Customs Union project, and, finally, the financial crisis.

These are the courses we have introduced this year to the curriculum. On financial crisis I already mentioned Reiner Martin from the European Central Bank, who will be lecturing on this issue those in the economic specialization. Regarding the WTO, the changes we introduce concern the general structure of the curriculum, but also the content of the classes. The new course on the legal framework of state aid to add additional aspect to everything that is connected with the single market and also competition policy. But also in the case of the course by David Luff, who is an expert of the WTO, we suggest that this year the situation is completely different. Part of the course would be a simulation game of Russia negotiating within the WTO to give the students also a practical insight into such issues. The course by Frédéric Versini from the European Commission was also changed radically. He was always lecturing about transport policy, which is the field affected the most in terms of exports after accession to the WTO. That is the reason we have also changed this. We understand that the University is full of wonderful, very well-motivated and interesting young future leaders of Russia. That is why every time we are trying also, with the help of the Association of Students, Economicus, to organize additional meetings with youngsters, regular MGIMO students, who come with their questions and very good knowledge of English. And it is a very interesting exchange for our professors.

All of this does not mean, of course, as it has already been said today, that everything is ideal. We understand very well that in the future we should work more on the comprehensiveness and coherence of the programme. Because at the end of the day, those spot courses, very short - six or seven hours only - they should be treated in a modular manner. We achieved such a modular manner with a course by professor Shashikhina, Rodolpho Muños and Sergey Korogod. It is on business law and the single market. Now there are no overlaps in it. One course is going to another. We are now trying to do something about competition law, which is very important from the point of view of the Customs Union. But we should also go in this direction with other courses because students have an impression that a professor comes on a very short visit and then disappears.

The last element, last but not least, which is very important. Three students this year have requested to have foreign professors as co-supervisors. And it was approved by the Director of the Institute. The Master theses are on competition law, on business law, and on the role of the Council of the European Union. It is very important that we have such a possibility.

The Internet site Evangelina mentioned is very important to give students access to all materials throughout the whole year. They can study when they have time to do so. And I would like to stress that this year we have completely different students, I mean, in terms of attendance: 85% in the first semester. In the second semester for 60 lawyers I have in classes with foreign lecturers 48 or 50 students, which shows how strongly motivated they are. They understand very well that a good education cannot be underestimated in the job market in Russia. And they understand the challenges coming from this cooperation, which is a very good prognosis for the future, I suppose. Thank you very much.

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

Thank you. You're welcome, Mr. de Zwaan.

Mr. Jaap de ZWAAN

Chairman, I am very happy with the input delivered by the College of Europe. All the more so, because I am myself a former student of this wonderful College. On the other hand, I am wondering sometimes whether it would not be possible for us as the Governing Board to be informed a bit more about how the management organizes the programme, just in order to have it topical and up-to-date. In this context, my concrete question is whether it could be an idea to have at our next meeting representation of the Academic Council, so that they could explain how they see the coherence of the curriculum in political science, law and economics, also with regards to the input from professors coming from Europe. I consider the College of Europe, of course, as a strong foundation, but there are others that could make a very nice contribution to our work in terms of input by EU lecturers. So, the concrete idea: shall we invite representation of the Academic Council to the next meeting?

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

I think this is a very good idea, very useful. I think we should support it. Mr. Anatoly TORKUNOV

All the more so, that our next session will be in Brussels...

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

Many members of the Governing Board would like to have the next session in Brussels.

Mr. Mark ENTIN

I would like to draw your attention just to one thing. When we talk about professors from the College of Europe, we mean professors from all member-states, from all Universities. Because the College helps us to select the best professors, the best lecturers. And many of them come to teach in the College of Europe as well. In other words, professors come from all over the European Union. Also I want to respond to the words of Evangelina and say "Yes, it is very nice for us to work with her". And when Evangelina says that she looks at the European Studies Institute and me as a team, it really warms my heart. And I would like you to meet the new generation of our employees of the European Studies Institute. Igor Istomin is sitting very quietly in the corner. I invite him to join me here at the table. We are doing our best to involve young people in managing, in running the Institute, to involve young men and women. Igor personifies the young generation, and he will briefly report on conferences and short-term courses.

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

I would like to thank once again Ms. Gonzalez and to wish Mariusz Sielski to keep up the good work, to continue pressuring the Administration of the European Studies Institute, to encourage not only cooperation with the College of Europe but with other institutions as well. Thank you.

Mr. Igor ISTOMIN

Thank you very much. I understand the priority of the Masters programme as the main activity of the European Studies Institute. We also give much attention to organizing short-term courses and conferences, which professor Entin has mentioned. And in the past six months we organized four serious short-term courses and seven major conferences of experts, expert seminars and workshops.

As to the short-term courses, last November we hosted a short-term course for Russian judges on the basic legal principles of the European Union. This work was carried over to March. And you probably know from our materials, in April there was a major event, a visit of the European Court of Justice [to Russia], which was an unprecedented example of cooperation between our courts. Over a dozen people from the ECJ came to Moscow, including the Chairman of the Court, and Russian courts participated in organizing this visit. In the framework of this visit a conference was organized devoted to the common legal space between Russia and the European Union, with the participation of Russian judges, judges from the European Union, the Ministry of Justice, legal experts and specialists from Russia and the European Union. They discussed issues of the harmonization of law and the application of Intellectual Property Law, protecting intellectual property, Competition Law, Financial and Administrative Law.

While we were preparing this conference, we also organized a short-term course in March, just for one day, for people from the High Arbitration Court. It was just on the eve of the visit of the delegation. So we tried to make various events consistent. I also want to draw your attention to November, when we organized a round-table on modernization of Russia in partnership with the European Union. It was also a pilot event. At our request, Professor Richard Connolly from Birmingham University prepared a report on Partnership for Modernization, which served as the basis for the discussion. Representatives of Russian Universities and research centres, such as the Institute of Europe, the Institute of Modern Development, the International Relations and World Economy Institute and other think-tanks took part in the discussion.

We can now say that this round-table had a significant multiplication effect for other events in other Universities. This report was mentioned and quoted many times as an important contribution to the discussion of the issue. Following this discussion of Partnership for Modernization, we also conducted, together with the Association of European Business, which is active here in Russia, another conference at the level of experts, with the participation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Development, representatives of the business community and of the European Union Commission. It was a conference which considered improving the working plan of the Partnership for Modernization Initiative. We also plan to follow up and to continue working on this important initiative.

In conclusion, I would like to say that our events were highly evaluated and assessed by the participants, and they contributed to consolidating our contacts with our partners. And this is reflection of the multiple and various contacts between Russia and the European Union

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

I think we shall support our colleague in this very important, very useful work. Please, stay at the table. Get used to sitting at the table. You are welcome, Mr. Triantaphyllou.

Mr. Dimitrios TRIANTAPHYLLOU

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This presentation makes me go back to a point that Evangelina made about synergy. I think this is synergy as we are thinking also about the transformation of the Institute. The courses about training project management. This is exactly something we need to be thinking about. Finding the right people to apply for EU projects and, as the letter of Mr. Wiegand suggests, there is money out there, it is how you apply and how you manage these projects. So, this is also something where one can create synergies between the curriculum and the practicalities of moving forward and making this a sustainable project. So, that was my point..

Mr. Mark ENTIN

I just want to say that a pivotal player in our team has always been Tamara Shashikhina, and she remains a pivotal player. Maybe she will summarize the results of our activities very briefly.

Mrs. Tamara SHASHIKHINA

Summing it up, I can only say that the Institute keeps on functioning, taking into account the needs and requirements of our students. In the handouts that we have provided, you can find the details of the survey of our students and this survey has shown us a lot. We change our programme under the influence of these surveys. Together with the College of Europe, we help our professors and professors from the European Union in establishing rapport with students. The trainees, the Master students, are not easy to teach and train. Every intake is unique, and the present one has very high requirements and demands. If students are motivated, they attend classes. If they are not interested, they do not attend classes. And you cannot use any administrative instruments to make them attend lectures which they do not find interesting. So, here we are facing a challenge, we have to keep the balance between sticking to the established standard keeping within the curriculum and providing the knowledge which students expect from us.

You probably remember the previous years, when we presented a table on the interest that students displayed in the courses of different professors, and there was a misbalance between Russian professors and European professors. At present, together with the College of Europe, we worked a lot, and the European professors modified their lectures. And we see leading professors among both Russian and European professors. There is no obvious misbalance between Russian and European professors. This is the results of our joint work.

All the courses that we are teaching at present, short-term courses as well, are integrated into our academic process. And that is why our timetable is designed to be logical, for one subject to be consistently blended into the next one. Students, if they can arrange for a day off at their Ministry or agency, are encouraged to attend short-term courses, because thanks to them, they receive additional information in the specific field in which they work. I think this experience has proved that it is a viable approach and a useful one.

I think that participation in this meeting of our young members of the faculty (whom we educated, so that they moved from the category of students to the category of teachers, such as Igor Istomin) proves that this work of ours has been successful.

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

Do we have questions to Professor Shashikhina? Professor Entin, have we fulfilled our agenda? The date and the place of the next meeting. Item 8: Composition of the Governing Board – the agenda says I am supposed to speak on this item. We wanted to ask for your support for co-opting Alexandra Khudaykulova to the Governing Board. Well, I do not any opposition to the proposal. We congratulate you, and hope you will work very fruitfully.

I also call on our colleagues from the European Union to come up with proposals on other new members of the Governing Board for the duration of our joint work and beyond the official time limits. So, we should start thinking about how we can use the expertise, the expert potential that we have accumulated. Not only thinking about the formal time limits of the Contract. We should consider how we can do it jointly beyond the Contract.

Mr. Anatoly TORKUNOV

Let the Executive Committee start considering these prospects.

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

Yes, but let us think about this together as well. If there are no other comments, we can conclude our deliberations.

As to the next date of the Governing Board, our usual practice is to ask all the esteemed members of the Governing Board to consider, for example, Thursday, October 25. I think Thursday is convenient for everyone, is it not? I see some people nodding, and others shaking their heads. So, it is not convenient for everyone. If not the 25th, maybe 26th of October? You mean September? You want it to be September? I am open to any proposals. If you believe we should not wait till October but have a meeting in September, let us meet in September.

Mr. Gerhard Hafner

The next Governing Board meeting will have to decide on the new Director. And so the question is – when is the new Director to take up his /her duties? And before that we have to hold the Governing Board meeting.

Mr. Anatoly TORKUNOV

It can be either the beginning of October or a Deputy Director can first serve as acting Director before we confirm him /her. He or she can be an acting Deputy Director.

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

For practical reasons, I think we cannot have two sessions – in September and October. And as to the decision on selecting the Director, I think that we shall put off the beginning of Mr. Entin’s other career until we hold a GB meeting. So, he will keep on working till the end of September or beginning of October. So, technically speaking, that is not a problem.

Mr. Gerhard Hafner (?)

Shall we meet just before October? If Mark’s mandate expires at the end of September…

Mr. Anatoly TORKUNOV

I see no problem here. Even if the Rector is to stand for re-election, we still can have some interval between the end of his term and election date. The previous Rector continues as an acting Rector even after his contract has expired. I do not see a problem here. But even if Mark Entin changes his job and is unable to carry on performing his duties, we have two deputies. And we can always ask one of them to serve as acting Director. Tamara Shashikhina can do it, for example.

What about the date? (one of the GB members from the EU asks)

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

The date is up to you, after all, we are the hosts, and you have priority because you are the guests. 4 October?... Or 27 September?

Mrs. Tamara SHASHIKHINA

The four of October is a public holiday in Russia.

Mr. Gerhard Hafner (?)

Does anyone have objections to holding the meeting on September 27?

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

Ok. September 27. Is this settled? Yes.

Mr. Anatoly TORKUNOV

I suggest Brussels as the venue. But for this the European Commission has to invite us there. And they have expressed their willingness to invite us. But they are not here, are they? Nicola is here... The weather will be nice in Brussels...

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

So, we will not make a final decision on the venue. (Jokingly) Professor Torkunov insists on Brussels, but we shall wait for the invitation. But the date is settled – September 27th, which is Thursday. So Thursday is convenient for you, isn’t it?

Mr. TRIANAPHYLLOU

I have a suggestion...If we do go ahead to Brussels, and from what I understand, we will, there is a suggestion that we should maybe link this to some sort of public event as well. We are going to have a Board meeting. I think it is a great opportunity - being in Brussels, working together with the External Actions Service and the Commission, to have some meeting on Russia-EU relations. And so we need to plan it, so that you know it is two days, where we make our presence felt in Brussels, as well.

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

If our colleagues from Brussels are prepared to host such an event, we'll start planning. If not, - well, nothing doing. We shall look forward then to your coming to Moscow.

Mr. Anatoly TORKUNOV

I would like to support your proposal and say that if we decide to go to Brussels, it will be important not simply to have a meeting of the Governing Board, but to turn it into an event. To meet high-ranking officials from the European Commission, to talk to them, to tell them about our Institute. This will be an important public relations event.

Catherine Ashton? (the voice of one of the GB members from the EU)

Mr. Sergey PRIKHODKO

What is most important is for this not to be shocking news for our colleagues in Brussels. Ok, the date is settled. Moscow is always ready to receive you, and if we are invited to come to Brussels, we will come to Brussels. Thanks to everyone. Thanks for your attention and your patience. We have done good work. Thank you.