The semester at the Moscow International Institute of International Relations at MGIMO University is over and therefore also the 11^th cycle of GSR.

The improvements of each student we saw this year – as much in the field of academics as in the knowledge of German language – was astonishing. For them, the political system of Germany, its economic and legal system and its international relations, are no longer a secret. This is, of course, due to the excellent lecturers.

The semester started with a class about the political system of Germany given by Dominik Sonnleitner from FU Berlin. In the winter term followed seminars about German and European law given by Dr. Stephan Heidenhain from Prague and the German media system held by Prof. Jaroslav Skvortsov from MGIMO University. One of the highlights of the winter term was the annual GSR Christmas party in the German Embassy.

The students had only a short break before they had to prepare themselves again for the summer term, when they attended the seminar “Germany’s economic system” by Prof. Larissa Kapitsa (MGIMO) and Germany’s international relations by Prof. Klaus Segbers, head of the Center for Global Politics. Despite some hardships the students mastered these classes in an exemplary manner.

We hope that our new experts on Germany will be able to make good use of their knowledge in their future careers and help to improve the Russian-German relations.

Our special thanks goes out to the tutors Nora Korte and Hans-Jürgen Wittmann (in the winter term) and Sonja Schiffers and Alexandre Dantec (in the summer term), who did a great job in teaching and supporting the students.

We would also like to thank our partners at MGIMO University for the support and the cooperation in new projects. Namely we are grateful to Prof. Alexej Dimitrievitch Vosskressenski from the Chair of Political Theory, Dr. Ksenia Petrovna Borishpolets from the chair of Political Theory, Prof. Sergei Valentinovitch Evteev of the Chair of German Language and Prof. Alexandra Viktorovna Khudajkulova, Vice Rector for Program Development.

We wish the students a good time in their internships which will take place in Germany, the rest of Europe or Russia, and, of course, an enjoyable summer.

We are already looking forward to the next cycle of enthusiastic students, who will start in September.