Russian Language School in St. Petersburg - University Courses

Ziegler & Partner, Moscow:
The Educational Centre at Lomonosov Moscow State University (MGU) was set up in 1995 with the aim of providing top quality language courses. The school is acclaimed for its foreign language courses. MGU offers courses of all levels. Subjects can be chosen from standard grammar, conversation, phonetics, or literature to more specialized subjects such as Russian for scientists, teaching Russian, Russian law, business Russian etc.. Every year, more than 300 students are enrolling in such courses, from countries all over the world. To learn the Russian language, we highly recommend individual classes which guarantee maximum efficiency for and a specific focus on your needs.

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On a whole MGU now caters for 30,000 students are enrolled at 16 different faculties. MGU was the alma mater of many famous artists, politicians and scientists, such as Mikhail Gorbatschev or Jegor Gaidar.

All our teachers are certified as the teachers of Russian for foreigners, know at least two foreign languages and many of them have some scientific works and publications in the domain of Philology. The classes are held in new modern classrooms. Our students are people of different ages and occupations from European countries, the USA and Japan.

Standard Russian Courses; Specialized Russian Courses; Russian Group Courses; Individual Russian Lessons; Crash Courses; Senior Course 50+; Semester in Russia.

Every two weeks on Saturday, our guide Mila Popova will take you for a tour in Moscow or its surroundings in order to show you the city, its secret places and famous monuments. Tours are in Russian: an excellent way to practice what you learnt during the week! You can also book other excursions right at the MGU. With your Russian student card, you will benefit from substantial reductions on air and train fares, museums and tickets for theater, ballet, circus and opera - you will actually pay the Russian student price. Don't miss this opportunity! We also have further travel info on our tips and tricks page.

We are delighted to help organizing your travel in Russia. Every year since 1993, we have been touring with 8-12 people on a unique Trans Siberian journey from Moscow to Beijing. If you are interested in this unique guided tour Moscow-Beijing. For individual travelers, we also offer a number of Trans-Siberian railroad tours.

We can offer newly renovated rooms in the guest hostel of MGU right in the main building of the University Campus. All rooms have shower and a separate toilet, and some of the rooms are equipped with television, fridge and phone. For short term stays (less than 2 months), students can stay at the MGU Student Guest House, which works like a hotel. See a more detailed description with pictures. Some rooms have spectacular views on downtown Moscow, about 10 miles away.

Inquire early for reservation as rooms are booked out early, especially during summer. Every floor has its own kitchen and a room for conversion and discussions. Also, there is a reception desk (open 24h, 7 days a week) on each floor to ensure maximum convenience and safety. The MGU University Campus is considered a very safe place with strict entry control (you need a student card and a "propusk" to enter the gate of the campus and the guest hostel). Fore more about security, read a posting about security on our message board.

Moscow, a city of 10 Mio people, extends on a surface of 880 km2 and is undoubtably Russia's most booming city. The reform process and economic climate has transformed the Russian capital from a gray moloch into a colorful and pulsating metropolis with charm and many surprises.

The Kremlin is Russia's mythic refuge, a self contained city with a multitude of palaces, armories, and churches, a medieval fortress that links the modern nation to its legendary past in the ancient state of Kievan Rus'. As the dominance of Kiev faded and its empire fragmented under the weight of foreign invasion and internecine strife in the 11th and 12th centuries, regional princes gained power. In 1147, as Kievan Rus was experiencing its final death throes, a chronicler recorded that a feast was held at the hunting lodge of Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy, ruling prince of Rostov and Suzdal. The lodge was perfectly situated atop a hill overlooking the Moskva and Neglina rivers, prompting its development (in such troubled times) as a fortified town, or Kremlin.

Within a century, the town had risen to become an independent principality within the Mongol empire. By the middle of the 14th century, its princes had gained such pre-eminence that Moscow was made the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church. With Ivan the Great (1462-1505) at its helm, Muscovite rule extended over all of Russia, and the Kremlin became more magnificent, befitting its role as the seat of Russian power. By 1480 the once modest hunting lodge had become an imposing fortress city. Its stone walls were graced by the magnificent Cathedral of the Assumption, where Ivan defiantly tore up the charter binding Moscow to Mongol rule. Over the next two centuries, until Peter the Great transferred the capital of Russia to St. Petersburg, the Kremlin served as the central stage for the magnificent and occasionally horrific history of the Tsars.

With the shift of power to St. Petersburg, the city and the Kremlin declined. However, the Bolsheviks' choice of Moscow as their capital in March 1918 returned it to preeminence, and during Soviet rule the Kremlin experienced its second life as a great center of power. Although the Soviet state certainly left its mark on the Kremlin, the centuries-old citadel very much retains the aura of early Tsarist Russia. Especially in Cathedral Square, where the spirits of Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov, and the early Romanovs loom much larger than those of Stalin or even Lenin himself.