University College London

UCL was established in 1826 to open up education in England for the first time to students of any race, class or religion. UCL was also the first university to welcome female students on equal terms with men. Academic excellence and conducting research that addresses real-world problems inform our ethos to this day. Indeed, UCL is now a modern and world-leading multidisciplinary university, its achievements publicly acknowledged by a whole range of performance tables, including the QS World University Rankings (2012) in which UCL was fourth. More than 4,000 academic and research staff at UCL are dedicated to research and teaching of the highest standards.

The UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) is the UCL department which leads the IMESS programme. It is the largest national centre in the UK for the study of Central, Eastern and South-East Europe and Russia and one of the leading centres globally in this field. More than 60 staff teach and conduct research in the economics, history, politics, sociology, anthropology, culture, literature and languages of these countries.

All IMESS students spend the first year at UCL SSEES where they are trained in discipline-specific theory and methods, through the lens of area and comparative studies. At the same time, during the first year, students have the opportunity to learn the basics of one of the partner languages, to take electives in their study track and to prepare for their research dissertation. Students from all 3 tracks also take a year-long course in Interdisciplinary Area Studies which, along with a number of non-assessed dissertation preparation sessions, prepares them distinctively for leading-edge and innovative research in area studies. UCL SSEES is the only department in Europe (and possibly worldwide) that can deliver this ambitious preparation for the second year of the programme; indeed, it is the remit of UCL SSEES to strive to do so.

In addition to the assessed courses, students from all tracks participate in a number of non-assessed, but nevertheless important, activities including: Research and Information Skills training; attendance at research seminars, workshops and conferences; optional courses within UCL’s graduate skills development programme; and non-native English-speakers can take advantage of IMESS specific English-language training for academic purposes.

For information UCL SSEES modules, visit our Current Students Pages

If you have an interest in the fascinating and globally important  region which spans from Northern and Central Europe, through Eastern and South Eastern Europe, across Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus and on to the door step of China and the emerging Asian powers, then UCL SSEES and IMESS is the programme for you!