School of Advanced Studies (SAS) (2024)

Anthropology and Sociology are two of the broadest disciplines within social sciences. While many may think that anthropologists only see the meaning of their life in measuring bones and cultural relics and skulls and that sociologists are people obsessed with unreliable numbers, the professors at SAS invite you to challenge these misperceptions.

Anthropology and Sociology major is designed to provide students with the foundation and research skills that facilitate rigorous studies on the social dynamics of human interactions, group processes, cultures and cultural developments, and social relationships. SAS major allows students to master the key contemporary concepts of human, society, and culture.

SAS also offers an intellectual immersion in affiliated disciplines that deal with the most pressing developments in the contemporary world such as market expansion, environmental degradation, digitalization, and intercultural communication.

Specifically, in the first two years of the SAS program, before the selection of their major, students acquire broad knowledge in diverse disciplines including ancient philosophy and quantitative methods. The purpose of this approach to education is to boost student motivation, goal-orientation, and readiness for challenging methodological training – the qualities required for successful passage through the whole spectrum of complex disciplinary courses associated with the SAS major.

At SAS, by means of critical and creative anthropological and sociological practices, students will be led to analyze vital questions about societal behaviors, popular culture, social control, social support, and deviance. In other words, Sociology and Anthropology major at SAS is designed to promote critical thinking about the world of social interactions and to promote evidence-based decision making.

SAS offers a unique platform for studying culture in its widest range of forms. Our School is home to a diverse internationally-trained faculty, with academic specialties including critical theory, art history, literary studies, performance studies, philosophy, anthropology and cultural history. This is why Cultural Studies at SAS is home to an interdisciplinary blend that offers diverse pathways into studying culture as an intersectional and criss-crossing phenomenon.

At SAS, we treat culture, cultural formations and expressions as complex objects of study, demanding nuanced and interdisciplinary approaches. Our aim, in putting our specialties into contact with one another, is to develop a truly vibrant program, one that will set Russia’s unique artistic heritage and cultural production into dialogue with global cultural critique.

By choosing Cultural Studies Major at SAS, students will be committing to learning how to blend diverse methodologies, theories, practices and critical perspectives to create innovative new interpretations of literature and culture, which in turn will help them become a cultural critic and expert yourself. Each major core course is designed to deepen and develop student's knowledge of the practices of cultural criticism, while electives are designed to broaden their intellectual and cultural horizons. Finally, together, we aim to establish the Major as a locus of artistic and humanistic endeavor by encouraging events, readings, plays and student publishing alongside our teaching whether in exclusively in Tyumen or broadly in Russia.

Economics major at SAS is designed to provide students with a solid foundation in the fundamentals of economics, while also offering specialized courses that enable students to pursue their individual interests and career goals.

Basic courses such as microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics and statistics provide students with a strong theoretical background, while specialized courses such as finance and banking, game theory and others offer students the opportunity to delve deeper into particular areas of interest.

Furthermore, students at SAS also gain a unique perspective by studying experimental and behavioral economics, which prepares them to analyze and understand economic decision-making processes from a multidisciplinary perspective. This knowledge makes SAS graduates particularly valuable in the Russian market, where understanding consumer behavior and preferences is critical for successful economic outcomes.

In addition to classroom learning, Economics major also emphasizes independent research projects, which provide students with hands-on experience in conducting research and analyzing data by using modern economic approaches. Through this process, students reinforce their understanding of the current state of economics and its methodology, while also developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are essential for success in the field.

Film and Media major at the SAS offers the opportunity to study the complexities and nuances of contemporary media and audiovisual cultures.

SAS allows to study the field within a broad interdisciplinary context in an institution that brings together faculty from different disciplines and different countries trained at some of the world’s leading universities. While gaining a better awareness of the highly mediatized and interconnected world in which we live, Film and Media students learn to dissect the historical, cultural, economic, and political forces that shape our present through the production and circulation of moving images and media content.

Selecting this major, students will develop the necessary skills to analyze and contextualize audiovisual representations, ranging from photography and cinema to online media, within and across national traditions.

In addition, students will be able to choose from a wide range of electives that will help them to gain practical skills and knowledge in the field; for example, Scriptwiting and Media Production courses will offer them insights to the pre-production, production and post-production phases of the content making of different genres of films. Practicioners from Russia and beyond are often invited to students' ideas pitching sessions and film screenings.

This major is being implemented in collaboration with School X in Rostov-on-Don. Third- and fourth-year students will study at Rostov in close collaboration with multiple IT companies and industrial partners from IT sector.

The modern world demands the adoption of digital technologies in all areas of human life. However, the gap between specialists using digital solutions and developers who can design them is growing wider. Nowadays, the industry operates in various ways, and companies apply different approaches to teamwork, especially in IT. This creates an opportunity for professionals capable of solving problems at the system level in multiple subject domains.

The IT Major at the School of Advanced Studies focuses on educating future product owners in IT. These students will be able to create their own startups in the digital age. The curriculum is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the current state of digitalization in the world by combining wide range of humanities and IT field specific courses. Additionally, it equips them with the skills and knowledge necessary to develop innovative IT solutions that meet the needs of modern businesses through tight collaboration with industrial partners involved in the delivery of parts of the program.

Through a multidisciplinary educational model, students will develop a systematic and coherent worldview, and will have the opportunity to delve deeper into subject domains that interest them the most. By combining this knowledge with IT competencies in their 3rd and 4th year, students will be well-prepared to enter the workforce as skilled and knowledgeable IT professionals. They will be capable of growing their product to the market level and running their own startup.

International Relations major at SAS is a unique and interdisciplinary profile that focuses on the global challenges and opportunities facing the world today. With the help of faculty from 10 different countries, students are able to delve into the complexities of international relations in an increasingly interconnected and rapidly changing world.

IR major is designed to offer students a multidisciplinary approach to the study of international affairs. The program encompasses a range of fields, including history, anthropology, political science, economics, and sociology, allowing students to gain a broad understanding of the social, cultural, and economic factors that shape global dynamics. In addition, the program provides students with opportunities to gain practical experience through internships, study abroad programs, and research projects.

One of the key strengths of IR major at SAS is its focus on the national manifestations of global issues. The program encourages students to engage with different cultures and perspectives, and to develop an understanding of the diverse ways in which global issues are experienced and addressed in different regions of the world.

Through comparative study approach students gain a deep understanding of the political, economic, and social factors that shape global issues and their impact on individual nations. Students are encouraged to examine global issues from a critical perspective and to develop a nuanced understanding of the complex factors that contribute to global challenges.

Faculty about Major

Philosophy major at SAS provides students with the fundamentals of human thinking: by learning how thinking as such functions, Philosophy virtually opens endless opportunities to self-realization across disciplines.

Studying philosophy at SAS is going to expose students to a plethora of philosophical approaches, as the program offers both a traditional and an experimental approach to the discipline, bringing to students’ attention philosophical dialogue from cross-cultural and trans-historical perspectives. This is abetted by the fact that philosophy at SAS is taught by a team of interdisciplinary-minded philosophers coming from different countries and working at divergent intersections of philosophy, which ensures a diverse and multiparadigmatic learning environment.

As a student in philosophy at SAS you will also be able to take courses from other disciplines as well and receive insights about philosophical problems related to those disciplines. Students will study both traditional courses on philosophy (such as epistemology and ontology) and various electives offering present-day and millenia-old questions and solutions at the forefronts of experimental thinking.

As the essence of philosophy is rooted in dialogue, at SAS we strive to teach philosophy as a form of dialogue across disciplines and cultures. It also investigates the foundations and contingency of knowledge, human agency, morality, etc. Students will be trained to analyze and compare a variety of diverse patterns of thinking, forms of knowledge, and worldviews, from mythology and cosmology via history of ideas to quantum physics.

Faculty about Philosophy