The School of International Relations of Saint Petersburg State University (, romanized: Fakul'tet mezhdunarodnykh otnosheniy Sankt-Peterburgskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta; abbreviated FMO SPbGU and SIR SPbU) is an academic and research division of Saint Petersburg State University in Russia. The university's Academic Council approved its establishment on March 28, 1994, and an order opening the school was signed on April 14 that year. It occupies premises in the Smolny Convent complex in Saint Petersburg.

The school provides bachelor's, master's and postgraduate research education in international relations. Its curriculum combines the history and theory of international relations, international law, international economics and foreign languages. Sixteen master's programs were offered in September 2024, including two taught in English. Irina Novikova became dean in 2011.

History Background (18th–20th centuries) The establishment of the school followed earlier traditions of legal, historical and Oriental studies at Saint Petersburg University. The university's 1999 chronicle identifies humanities, history and law among the subjects taught in the 18th century. Legal education developed after the transformation of the Main Pedagogical Institute into the university in 1819. In the second half of the 19th century, Fyodor Martens was associated with its Department of International Law and the development of the Saint Petersburg school of international law.

The Faculty of Oriental Studies, opened in 1855, also trained specialists for diplomatic and consular service. Among its scholars was Vasily Pavlovich Vasilyev, who joined the faculty as a professor in 1855 and served as dean from 1878 to 1893.

In the 1940s, the Faculty of History at Leningrad University had a Department of the History of International Relations and Foreign Policy of the USSR. It was closed in 1950 in connection with the Leningrad affair. According to the later school's first dean, Konstantin Khudoley, subsequent proposals to restore the department were rejected. He also reported restrictions on publishing works about contemporary international relations in Leningrad during the 1970s and early 1980s. Research continued on international relations before the First World War, while publications on contemporary affairs began to appear during perestroika.

Khudoley related the creation of the new school to efforts to overcome the consequences of the 1950 closure. In preparing the project in the early 1990s, its organizers drew on the university's existing expertise in international law, economics and foreign-language teaching.

Establishment in 1994 The proposal for a school of international relations emerged as Russian regions, businesses, research institutions and cultural organizations expanded their international contacts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In Khudoley's account, the proposal prompted debate over the place of professional training in a classical research university, the available research expertise and the redistribution of resources during cuts to university funding. Some teaching posts became available following the closure of the Department of the History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Supporters of the project included the university's rector, Stanislav Merkuryev, and the dean of its Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics, Gennady Leonov. Khudoley also identified historians Aleksandr Fursenko, Boris Ananich, Valentin Shishkin and Rafail Ganelin among its supporters. They regarded the project as an opportunity to restore a field of study that had previously had a dedicated department at the university.

Obtaining a license to teach international relations was a separate part of the founding process. According to Khudoley, the support of Saint Petersburg deputy mayor Vladimir Putin helped advance the licensing procedure at the federal level. Mayor Anatoly Sobchak supported developing the field but initially proposed establishing a political science faculty first and subsequently separating a school of international relations from it.

The Academic Council approved the school on March 28, 1994. On April 14, acting rector Lyudmila Verbitskaya signed Order No. 171/1, opening it on the basis of the Department of Political History. The school was allocated premises at Entrance 8, 1/3 Smolnogo Street. Its first 52 students began classes in September 1994. The university's 1999 chronicle dates the school's opening to December 19, 1994.

The organizers studied the experience of MGIMO, the College of Europe in Bruges and the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California. They adopted an interdisciplinary curriculum combining international history, international relations theory, international law and international economics with foreign-language training. Khudoley described this as an alternative both to a predominantly language-based approach and to treating international relations solely as a branch of political science.

Deans Khudoley was the school's first dean. Yury Kuzmin was elected to the position in 2010, and Novikova became dean in 2011.

+ Deans of the school Tenure Dean 1994–2010 Konstantin Khudoley, professor and Doctor of Sciences in history 2010–2011 Yury Sergeyevich Kuzmin, Candidate of Sciences in history Since 2011 Irina Novikova, professor and Doctor of Sciences in history

Stages of development In his account published for the school's thirtieth anniversary, Khudoley divided its history into three stages.

+ Stages identified in Khudoley's 2024 account Period Characterization Developments described 1994 – mid-2000s Establishment Recruitment of staff and students; creation of departments and degree programs; adaptation of the Smolny premises for teaching and research; development of the library, European Union Documentation Centre and Council of Europe Information Centre; and organization of international conferences. Mid-2000s – early 2020s Expansion of teaching and research Introduction of additional master's programs and the university's own educational standards; growth in enrollment and the number of staff with advanced academic qualifications; expansion of analytical work and international cooperation; and establishment of a department specializing in international relations in the post-Soviet area. Early 2020s onward Adaptation to changing educational and international conditions Remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic; development of online courses; introduction of a master's program in artificial intelligence and international security; congresses of international relations researchers in 2022 and 2024; and changes in the geographical focus of international cooperation.

An Area Studies program was introduced in 1995, followed by the European Studies master's program in 1996. The Ministry of General and Professional Education licensed master's-level teaching by Order No. 356 of November 22, 1996, before the first bachelor's cohort had graduated. The first graduates of the specialist program in International Relations and the bachelor's program in Area Studies completed their studies in 1999. A bachelor's program in International Relations was introduced in 2001.

From 2001 to 2015, the school and the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics jointly provided a specialist program in Applied Informatics in International Relations.

Structure Departments The school's official departmental list in September 2026 contained seven departments: American Studies; European Studies; Latin American Studies; International Humanitarian Relations; International Relations in the Post-Soviet Area; Theory and History of International Relations; World Politics.

The departments of World Politics, Theory and History of International Relations, and Area Studies were established in 1994. The last was divided into European Studies and North American Studies in 1996, and International Humanitarian Relations was established in 1998. North American Studies became American Studies in 2009, and the Department of International Relations in the Post-Soviet Area was established in 2012. The university issued Order No. 10230/1 on the establishment of a Department of Latin American Studies on July 31, 2026.

Research centers Research centers were established to coordinate work on particular subjects. The school's historical chronology records the following centers and their dates of creation.

+ Research centers recorded in the school's chronology Center Establishment Centre for Ibero-American Studies 2014, replacing the Ibero-American Documentation Office established in 2002 Centre for Eurasian Studies 2019 Centre for Canadian Studies 2020 Historical and Diplomatic Centre 2022 Centre for Balkan Studies 2023

The activity of the Centre for Balkan Studies at the school was also documented in a December 2023 report by the HSE University Centre for Mediterranean Studies about a lecture by historian A. A. Pivovarenko.

Academic staff Vatanyar Saidovich Yagya headed the Department of World Politics from 1994. Khudoley identified him as a participant in the school's establishment. His historical account also discusses Svetlana Mikhailovna Vinogradova, head of the Department of Theory and History of International Relations, and V. G. Burkov, the first head of the Department of International Relations in the Post-Soviet Area.

Anatoly Sobchak was a professor in the Department of European Studies in 1996–1997. Part-time teaching staff described in the 2024 account included practitioners from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Saint Petersburg city administration and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly.

According to the same account, 25 members of staff defended dissertations for the Russian Doctor of Sciences degree during the school's first thirty years. The proportion of full-time teaching staff holding that degree rose from 16% to 27%. Khudoley also described the presence of successive generations of scholars in the teaching staff. These figures and observations refer to the period covered by the 2024 publication.

Educational activities Curriculum and program governance The school provides bachelor's and master's programs and postgraduate research training. Historical, political, legal, economic and language studies form part of its curriculum. Following the university's acquisition of the right to set its own educational standards in 2009, standards for International Relations were adopted in 2010 and 2018.

Master's programs have advisory councils that consider curricula, proposals for new courses and topics for final research projects. In Khudoley's 2024 account, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov was identified as chair of the BRICS Studies program council. The involvement of practitioners in these councils and examination boards was described as a form of cooperation with employers.

Bachelor's program The university's course catalogue for the 2026 cohort lists a bachelor's program titled International Relations (with the additional qualification of Specialist in Translation), under field code 41.03.05.

As described in the 2024 review, second-year students could choose a World Politics module or a regional module covering the post-Soviet area, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, East Asia or South Asia. Third-year professional modules addressed diplomacy and public service, international business and entrepreneurship, or the media and non-governmental organizations. Fourth-year students could select individual courses. Research requirements included course papers in the first three years and a final qualification paper in the fourth year.

Master's programs