‘We Managed to Create a Unique Space for Inter-University Cooperation’

HSE University and the Russian Orthodox Church Saints Cyril and Methodius Institute for Postgraduate Studies (IPS) have celebrated a decade of cooperation and signed an agreement to continue their collaboration. Over the years, 45 people have graduated from each of the two joint master's programmes, an inter-campus minor is operating, and the HSE Centre for Religion and Law has been established.

Opening the anniversary meeting, Nikita Anisimov, Rector of HSE University, recalled that the first joint programme ‘Philosophy and History of Religion’ was launched in 2016. Today, 45 people have already graduated from HSE University from this course. In 2018, a joint programme ‘Church. Society and State. Legal Regulation of Religious Organisations’ – ‘Canon Law’ was created, which has also been successfully completed by 45 people.

‘Our university is now actively involved in the development of various theological research fields. Over the past years, eight of our graduates have entered postgraduate programmes at IPS, which is a very important indicator of the effectiveness of our cooperation,’ – said the Rector.

In addition, HSE University has been operating an inter-campus minor – ‘Orthodox theology in the modern tradition’ – for three years, and it is increasingly popular with students. An open theological club ‘Metanoya" is running, which, according to Nikita Anisimov, can be described as ‘an academic space for dialogue between church, society and state’.

HSE University has become one of the country's largest centres of expertise in the field of state-confessional relations, as well as one of the key centres of competence in the field of legal regulation of state-confessional interaction. ‘Our university is the only one in Russia training specialists in this field of law today,’ said the Rector. The University has established the Centre for Religion and Law, which provides expert support to various state bodies.

Nikita Anisimov stressed that the University's success is due in no small part to its cooperation with IPS. ‘We have managed to create a unique space for inter-university cooperation. HSE University is a secular university whose mission is based on certain values. The Saints Cyril and Methodius Institute for Postgraduate Studies is a spiritual educational organisation, the internal regulations of which we respect. Our cooperation can serve as an example for many,’ he concluded.

Rector of IPS, Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, noted that these joint educational projects ‘have become an important achievement not only in the context of cooperation between our universities, but also in a broader context – between secular and spiritual education.’ They have shown that such interaction provides opportunities for mutual enrichment.’ According to Father Maxim, now ‘we constitute a single field of higher education in our homeland’.

The head of the Legal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, Abbess Ksenia (Chernega), added that ‘in the last 10 years, some 200 legal acts affecting the status of religious organisations have been adopted in one way or another’. This indicates the demand for relevant education in this field.

‘There has always been an atmosphere of enquiry at our University – not only within the academic environment, but also characterised by an openness towards societal issues,’ emphasised Yaroslav Kuzminov, HSE University Academic Supervisor, who, as recalled by the moderator of the event, Professor Dmitrii Kuznetsov, Director of the Higher School of Law and Administration at HSE University, was present at the very beginning of this cooperation.

‘The spiritual experience of the world religions is very important for us, especially Orthodoxy, which has become one of the key factors in our spiritual development, going beyond the community of church-going people,’ Yaroslav Kuzminov emphasised. When the agreement was signed 10 years ago, the Russian Orthodox Church was at the beginning of the path to restoring its academic and educational potential. Since 2013, spiritual and educational organisations at the state level have received the right to implement educational programmes in theology and receive state accreditation for them. In 2016, theology was recognised as a scientific field in which dissertations can be defended. ‘We are pleased that one of the two doctoral theses in Orthodox theology was successfully defended by the then master's student, today our professor, Abbot Serapion,’ said the HSE University Academic Supervisor. ‘I am glad that 10 years ago we took a step towards a common educational space with the church,’ he added.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary, who, along with Yaroslav Kuzminov, was key to the establishment of these joint master's programmes, participated in the anniversary meeting online. ‘These programmes are unique for the Russian educational space, they are to some extent the hallmark of both educational institutions,’ he said.

At the end of the event, Sergey Roshchin, HSE University Vice Rector, and Hieromonk Pavel, IPS Vice Rector, signed a new agreement of cooperation.