Russia nixes accreditation of school linked to West

MOSCOW — One of Russia’s bestknown graduate schools has lost its state accreditation amid fears of a wider clampdown on educational institutions with strong Western connections.

Russian government auditors last month revoked the accreditation of the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, the second time in a year in which a private school that partners with a European university has been downgraded.

“They are closing down independent intellectual centers,” said Mikhail Gelfand, a biotechnology professor at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

Known colloquially as Shaninka — after British sociologist Theodor Shanin, who founded it in 1995 — the school routinely tops Russian university rankings and launches students into prestigious careers. Shaninka, which graduates about 450 students a year, runs a joint program with the University of Manchester in Britain, and students can receive both a Russian and a British degree.

The government audit in May started out routinely, said Konstantin Gaaze, who teaches sociology at Shaninka, but three days later the auditors left abruptly, without sharing preliminary findings, as is normal.

A month later, the education oversight agency announced it was stripping Shaninka of its accreditation, citing violations.