5th Anniversary of the University Consortium

Alexander Cooley, UC Principal, Harriman Institute, Columbia University

As we celebrate the 5th anniversary of the UC, I am struck by how quickly it has established itself as an integral part of the Harriman community. Currently enrolled students in our MA program enthusiastically apply to participate in the sessions, while past fellows eagerly return to enrich conversations and help advise their peers. In other words, the UC has already become a multi-generational network for shared experiences and the expression of viewpoints about the state of US-Europe-Russia relations...

Andrey Sushentsov, UC Principal, MGIMO

The UC is a rare and valuable network for education of upcoming professionals in Russia, EU and the US. The UC helps them develop empathy and cognitive skills necessary to navigate often conflictual foreign relations in the Euro-Atlantic. Widespread problems with analysis and decision-making on international issues testify to a dramatic fact - the still deep imperfection of a humankind armed with the destructive tools of the modern technological world...

Kerri Matulis

When I arrived at my UC event, I thought it would be a number of lectures and presentations. I also thought that the UC would be more competitive, where students from each university would aim to prove their point at any cost. Instead, I found the UC to be an entire experience, and one of the highlights of my graduate school career. I thoroughly enjoyed the lectures, the simulation, and the individual presentations, as well as the many discussions shared amongst scholars, professors, and students. This experience is critical for anyone interested in Russia and the West...

Nicole Grajewski

The UC’s mission is something that has always strongly resonated with me because of my own personal beliefs about the importance of a stable Euro-Atlantic security order and the maintenance of strategic stability. The history of sustained dialogue during the Cold War positively contributed to clarifying conceptual discrepancies and elucidating the superpowers’ respective positions in both regional and functional domains...

Lisa Becker

Thinking about lessons learnt, I must admit, I sometimes catch myself citing the overarching guiding questions that Julie Newton and Alex Pravda raised at the beginning and the end of the module - namely "How did we get here?" and "Where do we go from here?" or "Chto delat'?".
I remember discussing the role of China in Russia-West relations and the difficulties for European countries to position themselves vis-à-vis growing US scepticism towards China...

Daniel Shapiro

I remember being very intimidated by the UC; there were a lot of very respectable people dressed up in suits at one of the nicest buildings in downtown London. This was my first big conference as a graduate student, and it was a little overwhelming at first. Even today, I still sometimes get star-struck; the UC manages to bring in a lot of excellent speakers and guests. But the UC means something a lot different to me now: some of my closest friends and colleagues have been made through the UC. I keep in touch with many UC fellows and professors...

Anya Osetrova

I am currently working with eleven other UC Fellows at European Leadership Network, thanks to the opportunity shared with us by the University Consortium. It feels great to have so many coworkers with similar backgrounds and goals! Some others supported me invaluably both as friends and as experienced professionals on many occasions.

For all the future Fellows, or the people who are unsure if they want to commit to being one:
Being a part of this community will be one of the most emotionally and professionally rewarding things in your life! ...

Nikita Gryazin
First, please receive my warmest congratulations on fifth anniversary of the University Consortium. This initiative does mean a lot to me. It changed me in some way I cannot properly describe. Perhaps, I became even more ‘open’ and ‘global’ than I could possibly imagine I would. I was never involved in such a wide-scale and cosmopolitan initiative like UC before my first UC event at Harvard University in March 2018...

Lev Sokolshchik

I would like to sincerely congratulate the Consortium. The UC today is a large scientific and educational project that brings together leading international researchers and young leaders in the international relations from the United States, Russia and Europe. The UC is a unique international platform that provides excellent opportunities for ambitious researchers and practitioners to improve their professional skills. Also the UC is an actively developing network of experts with the potential over time to contribute to solving some of the most significant problems...

Yulia Timofeeva

The UC is a project, with a strong educational dimension, uniting people from around the world. The UC provides an opportunity to make new friends and connections, learn new ideas, reflect upon controversial issues and get more inspired to move on with research. In the run-up to the module, I thought that the UC is a kind of conference, and one may say I was correct to some extent, but the UC is much more than a conference.
I learned at least two lessons. First, that asking questions and expressing opinion are the things we should do during such academic events...

Anna Davidson

When I arrived at my first event with the UC, I thought the UC was a convening talks with postgraduate students similar to myself who are interested in relationship between Russia and the West. I learned that the UC works towards much more than this by training fellows in different techniques to approach understanding this relationship and also works to cultivate the relationship itself by building connections between fellows from different areas and a basis for future collaboration and friendship through our careers...

Marc Friedli

My major lesson learned is that there are biases everywhere, in my thinking as in the thinking of others. Being aware of this helps to remain patient, inquire further and arrive at having better academic as well as academic exchanges! I’m more curious about what others think and how they see things. Instead of taking things for granted, it is always good to ask twice and listen carefully.

Also, the freedom to think and discuss as we do in the UC is a privilege we do not enjoy once we enter government institutions...

Hanna Notte

Reflecting on the UC´s role for next five years in the wake of the 2020 US presidential elections, I believe that the relevance of the UC will only grow in the coming years. Independent of any particular US president, fundamental issues and challenges in Russia-West relations will prevail, and fissures will possibly deepen. Those relate to arms control, the European security architecture, conflicts in third regions such as the Middle East, but also more fundamentally the nature of the emerging multipolar order. ...

Thomas Brewis
The University Consortium has given me a chance to understand issues in great depth, meet new people and, now that I have started working, keep in touch with an area of study I enjoy. I have greatly enjoyed writing for the Consortium; it has helped me to improve my writing style and allowed me to express my thoughts. I have participated in and enjoyed many UC events, including the recent Corona Conversations which I liked a lot. I think the best event I attended, however, was the negotiation at the Oxford Module in 2019...

Tinatin Japaridze

In the current era of tumultuous relations between Russia and the West, the University Consortium is in an historically unique position to serve as an effective mediator that shows that instead of further alienating Russia as a strategic partner from the rest of Europe and the U.S., we must work on devising norms of behavior and developing the habits of cooperation. The first step towards this otherwise far-fetched goal of trust-building is dialogue.
Being a UC Fellow was certainly one of the highlights of my time in academia...

Eva Jovanova

I already had some idea about the UC, since the professor who nominated me and the previous UC Fellow from my university told me all about it. They both more or less told me: "It is a way to have some intellectual and cultural exchange, hearing both Russian and Western experts, however, arguments with Russian students can make it feel like a failure. Be prepared to argue with some of them!" I was so glad that this wasn't the case in my year...

5th Anniversary of the University Consortium

Reflections of our Fellows and Principals on their UC experience