European experience and foreign professorship at the stage of establishing Moscow University

¹ State University of Management, Institute of Human Resources Management for Social and Business Communications, Moscow, Russia
² State University of Management, Department of Public Administration and Political Technologies, Moscow, Russia
³ State University of Management, Institute of Public Administration and Law, Department of Public Administration and Political Technologies, Moscow, Russia

^* Corresponding author: r.alexei2017@yandex.ru

Abstract

The article reviews the history of establishing Moscow University and the first decade of its performance in the context of considering the European experience and the role of visiting foreign professors. Attention is drawn to the use of the experience of European universities in the projected management system of Moscow University and ensuring its autonomy by M.V. Lomonosov. The authors show the role of the I.I. Shuvalov, the favorite of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, in implementation of the project of Moscow University, and analyze the developed hierarchy of the university’s governing bodies, the structure of administrative positions, and the system of privileges granted by the government. The dominant role of visiting professors in establishing and functioning of the university’s faculties is revealed in detail, as well as the conditions created for their work in Moscow, and the personal role of each of the invited professors in the educational process during the first years of Moscow University. The authors reveal the conflicts between Russian and foreign professors and show their inevitability at the stage of establishing Moscow University, drawing attention to the transition of the educational process to the Russian language as the teaching language during the first years of the reign of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia.