On April 24-25th MGIMO-University, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Peoples' Friendship University and National University of Science and Technology "MISIS" hosted the Global University Summit 2014. The Summit was organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Ministry of Education and Science of Russia. The Summit was a unique opportunity for famous statesmen and public figures, for Rectors and director of research centers, for representatives of international and economic organizations to discuss burning issues of global agenda and matters of international higher education and science.

The Summit gathered more than 450 academics and experts from Russia and abroad, including those from USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. More than 100 Rectors, Vice-Rectors and professors have represented almost 80 leading universities of Russia. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, and his counterpart from the Ministry of Education and Science, Dmitry Livanov, hold opening speeches at the Summit. Andrei Fursenko, Assistant to the President of Russia, hold a welcome address on behalf of Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. Eleonora Mitrofanova, Permanent Delegate of the Russian Federation to UNESCO, hold a speech on behalf of Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO.

Among the moderators and speakers of the plenary sessions and special sections were Anatoly Torkunov, Rector of MGIMO-University, Viktor Sadovnichiy, Rector of Lomonosov Moscow State University,Vladimir Filippov, Rector of Peoples' Friendship University, Louise Richardson, Rector of the University of St Andrews, Konstantin Kosachev, Director of Rossotrudnichestvo Federal Agency, Gennadiy Onishchenko, Assistant to Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Salamatov, Director General of World Trade Center Moscow, Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General,Nikolay Evgrashenkov, Aid to Director of Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation, Bernd Meyer, Rector of TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Robert Legvold, Professor Emeritus of Columbia University, Ilya Rogachev, Director of the Department for new challenges and threats in the Russian Foreign Ministry, and Frederik Paulsen, Chairman of Ferring Pharmaceuticals' Board.

The work of the sections was organized as an open discussion. While listening to the distinguished speakers, the participants also had an opportunity to ask questions and propose their solutions to the raised problems.

Issues to discuss were international educational ratings, network university cooperation, E-learning, graduation requirements for students and common educational dimension. Other discussions were dedicated to global problems of the modern world, such as regional security, managing risks of natural disasters and man-made hazards, economic growth, combating terrorism, Middle East conflict settlement, food and ecology aspects of sustainable development and healthcare. A special MGIMO section was dedicated to the cooperation of educational institutions and business, which ended in an agreement to create a Universities’Endowment Association.

Within the discussions special attention was paid to the Report to Global University Summit-2014 participants “Universities on national and global agenda”, drawn by a group of authors from MGIMO-University and Ministry of Education and Science headed by Veniamin Kaganov, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Russia. The report, presented at “The Pashkov House”, was an attempt to summarize key tendencies of higher education development in the world, predict the future of universities and assess their role in evolution of society and state. Taken into consideration the results of the discussion, the report is to be revised based on the views of Summit participants, and its ideas are to be proposed for practical use.

Sergei Ryabkov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Veniamin Kaganov, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Russia, Mikhail Margelov, Head of the Committee on International Relations of the Council of Russia and Anatoly Torkunov, Rector of MGIMO-University took part in the final plenary session of the Global University Summit. They were united in their high evaluation of the event, profound studying of its subjects and contribution to the promotion of international relations.

The “entertainment” part included the official reception on behalf of the Mayor of Moscow at “The Pashkov House”, “Knyaz Igor” Opera at the Bolshoi Theatre, boat trip along the Moskva river, music concert by students from MGIMO-University, Moscow State University, MISIS, Peoples' Friendship University and the reception on behalf of Rector of MGIMO and Rectors of partnering universities. The ITAR-TASS new agency provided information support of the Summit. Leading Russian TV channels (Channel One, Russia, Russia 24 and Russia Today) covered the event and broadcast interviews with key speakers. The interviews and reports also appeared in printed and online newspapers (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, etc.) Students of “Kommersant” Academy of journalism produced comprehensive articles on each section of the Summit. These articles were published online by MGIMO-University and “Kommersant” itself.

Meanwhile, a series of “sister” events took place in MGIMO-University - the 8th Convention of Russian International Studies Association, the Conference of Spanish studies, the meeting of Association of Ukrainian studies in commemoration of the anniversary of Taras Shevchenko. All these events brought together almost 1000 people in MGIMO-University, which gave the Summit a truly global character.

On behalf of all the organizers we would like to thank all the participants of the Summit. We really hope you enjoyed the event and believe that it will help us to start new projects and enhance our partnership ties.