(06.10.17) At the beginning of October, the National Research University Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (MGSU) and Bauhaus University Weimar celebrated the 50th anniversary of their partnership in Moscow. During a multi-day meeting of representatives from both universities, there was a specialist seminar, a presentation of dissertations and an official ceremony attended by a German delegation from Bauhaus University Weimar led by the university’s President, Prof. Dr. Winfried Speitkamp. As supporters of the partnership, representatives of the scientific section at the German embassy in Moscow, the DAAD in Moscow, the federal state of Thuringia and the Director of the DFG’s Moscow office accepted the invitation to give a few words of welcome at the event.

The DFG supports cooperation between individual researchers and universities in Germany and Russia in a variety of ways. It has maintained close links with MGSU since 2010 and has previously given financial support to the partnership between the two universities in various forms. This included the funding of an international construction materials conference in Weimar with Russian participation, start-up funding for international collaborations and funding for the German-Russian Week of the Young Researcher at MGSU in 2016, the theme of which was “Urban Studies: City of the Future” and which was opened by DFG Secretary General Dorothee Dzwonnek. Another instrument for the support of scientific cooperation and a building block in the strategic establishment of university partnerships is the announcements, normally without prescribed research topics, issued by the DFG together with its Russian partner organisations, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) and the Russian Science Foundation (RSF). This three-year project funding enables researchers to collaborate with Russian partners, who receive financial support from the Russian agencies.

MGSU fulfils a special role within the structure of the Russian university landscape. The university was founded in 1921, and today it is Russia’s leading civil engineering university. In 2010, MGSU was accorded the status of a National Research University, making it one of a select circle of ‘Leading Universities of the Russian Federation’. In the past, it has been regularly involved in the planning and execution of large international projects, such as the Aswan Dam in Egypt, hydroelectric power plants in Asia, the infrastructure for the Winter Olympics 2014 and stadiums for the World Cup 2018 in Russia. In 2016, MGSU celebrated its 95th anniversary.

Its partnership with Bauhaus University Weimar is with a university that joined the DFG as a new member in 2017. In recent years the German university has placed its cooperation with MGSU in the context of the development of ‘strategic partnerships’ – a DAAD programme designed to strengthen collaborations of this kind.

Further Information:

• Working Together for 50 Years: Delegation from Bauhaus University Weimar Strengthens Cooperation with Partner University in Moscow
• 50 Years of University Cooperation: High-Ranking Delegation from Moscow Celebrates Anniversary in Weimar
• Visiting Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (MGSU) for Week of the Young Researcher 2016
• Moscow State University of Civil Engineering