The Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (Shaninka) closed the Liberal Arts faculty, which the Moscow prosecutor's office accused in the spring of "destroying the traditional values of Russian society and distorting history." RBC was told about this by two sources close to the university, and was confirmed by the press service of the educational institution. At the same time, the "functions and opportunities" of the program will remain within the framework of the "broad bachelor's program" that Shaninka announced earlier, the interlocutors of the publication say.
“Indeed, there is an order that from July 1, the faculty of Liberal Arts as a structural unit ceases to exist,” one of RBC’s sources said.
As part of this program, students will be able to transfer to any discipline of the "broad bachelor's degree". “For example, if he entered the management of social communications, he can transfer to journalism, etc., the transfer of disciplines will remain,” the source said.
The press service of the RANEPA told the publication that enrollment for Liberal Arts courses will cease from the new year.
“All obligations to current students under education agreements will be fulfilled,” the press service added.
Freshmen will be admitted to 22 bachelor's programs, of which eight programs will exist within the framework of the "broad bachelor's degree": strategic company management, public policy and government strategies, media journalism, psychology and others.
The Liberal Arts programs at the RANEPA are implemented by the Institute of Social Sciences, previously headed by Sergey Zuev. Since November 2021, he has been in jail on a fraud case. On June 30, RANEPA Rector Vladimir Mau was detained in the same case.
Claims from the Moscow prosecutor's office against Liberal Arts arose in April. The prosecutor's office told RANEPA that ten Liberal Arts programs do not comply with Art. 38 and Art. 43 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation (concerning the care of children and their education), as well as the principles of the national security strategy. The agency came to the conclusion that the model of these programs "is aimed at destroying the traditional values of Russian society and distorting history," and also "helps to reduce the subject-methodological and educational component in the preparation of future graduates."
According to an unnamed Kommersant interlocutor at the university, the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ inquiry refers to ten teachers, including political scientist Yekaterina Shulman, sociologists Grigory Yudin and Konstantin Gaaz, and historian Ilya Budraitskis. From Shaninka, according to him, they demanded their employment contract, information on payroll, time sheet and other documents.
