The Moscow Commercial Institute was founded in 1907 on private donations of merchants, bankers and manufacturers, gathered by initiative of the Moscow merchant Alexei Vishnyakov. It was essentially the first institute in Russia which prepared qualified businessmen for rapidly developing branches of industry. Prior to the revolution of 1917 about 2000 specialists were graduated from the institute. In 1924 it was renamed for Marxist thinker Georgy Plekhanov. In the 1960s the Institute was merged with the Moscow Governmental Economic Institute and became one of the major centers of scientific education in the country. After 1991 the institute obtained its current name. Recent years were marked with rising international cooperation, such as the foundation of the Africa Business House. Now the university deals with more than 80 partners in 52 countries. Among its graduates, there are many prominent politicians and businessmen, such as Soviet statesman Mikhail Suslov, liberal democratGrigory Yavlinsky, and faculty member Ruslan Khasbulatov, former Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR and later Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation.
Faculties (schools)
The university offers 4-year undergraduate, 2-year graduate and postgraduate courses in different academic fields as well as many non-degree courses. Some courses are available in English, but majority of them is taught in Russian. A course may be completed at one of the university's schools
Institute of Management and Socio-Economic Projecting
Faculty "Business School of Marketing and Entrepreneurship"
Faculty "International Business School and Global Economics"
Faculty "Integral Plekhanov Business School"
Faculty of Hotel, Restaurant, Tourism, and Sports Industry
Faculty of Distance Learning
Faculty of Additional Professional Education
Faculty of Marketing
Faculty of Mathematical Economics, Statistics, and Information Technology
According to the latest ranking of Russian universities, based on the average score of the Unified State Examination, Plekhanov University is among top 30 overall and among top 10 institutions specializing in social sciences. The university unites 14 faculties. Two hundred seventy-eight professionals completed their Ph.D. courses and 102 academics finalized their doctorate studies. In 1994 federal and regional research projects were started in "Peoples of Russia: Revival and Development", " Universities of Russia" "Preserving and Developing the Intellectual Potential of Russian Higher Education". Of special interest is the establishment and accreditation of two laboratories dedicated to commodity expertise—in foodstuffs and microbiology. These laboratories were the basis for a Certification and Expertise Centre licensed in 1995. During the last five years 33 books were published by Plekhanov faculty members, as well as 58 collections of articles, 279 textbooks, and 1224 articles. Two hundred seventy-eight dissertations were presented in the same period. Plekhanov University collaborates with many universities from all over the world. It has established double degree programs primarily through its International Business School, IBS. Currently, Plekhanov University is working on attaining EQUIS accreditation.
Media
PRUE has its own bilingual TV channel called "Plekhanov TV", available at every TV set on the campus, as well as "Plekhanovets" newspaper and "Plekhanov Studio" magazine. Some faculties release their own newspapers, e.g. "FinFAQ" magazine by Faculty of Finance. All of them are distributed for free within the university.
Campus
The university occupies eight buildings on one campus in the south of Moscow, half an hour's walk from the Kremlin. The campus includes educational buildings each with classrooms, offices and laboratories, as well as a theatre, a pool, and a students' dormitory, which is only 5 minutes' walk away from the other buildings of the University. The university library locates in building 6, International Office - in building 1. Students can also participate in practical placements in the restaurant, stock-exchange and risk analysis laboratory, all of which are specialized departments. Every building of the university has free Wi-Fi access. The campus is near the Moscow Metro stations Serpukhovskaya and Paveletskaya.
Partners
PRUE has more than one hundred partner schools in Europe, Asia and North America.
Notable alumni
University alumni are employed in different spheres of Russian and world economy and politics. Its graduates include: