The Pushkin State Russian Language Institute

The teachers, who genuinely care about their students, are the only redeeming part of this university . The administration is an absolute mess and communication is non existent. They only reply to you when it comes to paying them. Good luck trying to get crucial information from them, it will all come through your teacher on a WhatsApp message. More than half of the time I came to ask about my visa the room was locked. Emails and phone calls go unanswered. It seems the university only cares about squeezing as much money out of you as possible and nothing else.

Life-changing experience. They will push you to speak russian well very quickly. Costs of monthly course+accomodation was cheaper than expenses that you would spend for hostel in Moscow for same period.

I spent here 8 months - not recommendable for people who really want to study the language in depth or intensively. Bad quality of teaching in comparison with European standards - teachers do not know how to work with adults and have no mentality of a service provider whatsoever (you have to pay of course). Furthermore some teachers feel free to pass on any personal opinions and values to students, about marriage, religion, professions etc etc. no use of any audio or video material, and actually NO preparation for the official language tests! This is considered to be outside the scope of the courses..I did progress somewhat, but really had to post this as it is very difficult to get any information from the institute before actually arriving there. If you can live outside the institute, and have enough Russian knowledge to arrange an individual study plan for you, you can benefit - as they do have a lot of skilled teachers, but do not know how to use them!!!

I studied her many (and I mean MANY) years ago and it was a life-changing experience; it helped forge my career and I made many friends with whom I am still in regular contact. Life was primitive back then - no mobiles or WiFi, and sometimes even food was hard to find. It was one huge year-long party and we loved it. Пять заслуженных звёзд!

Never ever come, study, sleep in this institute... I took summer courses in 2015 and they are only thieves ! 1) The dormitory is awful ! my bed was broken, but no one there care about it. The cleaning lady came only once in a 4 week stay... (in the website it was supposed to be once a week...)... the building is so old, they are cockroaches, electrical outlets are really not safe (mine was not fixed into the wall, it was hanging....), there are cracks on the walls, wifi didn't work well. In a "suite" there are 2 rooms (one with 2 beds, and the other with 3 beds) and a shared bathroom. You have to know that rooms are really tidy. The bathroom was so dirty, and old... There will have no privacy... Before arriving, you can ask to have your own room but they specify "if there is an additional room left when you arrive)... I asked, and when I arrived they said there is no room left for a single person... but I still doubt about it... It was summer, most of students were back home...so don't believe that you will have your own room there.... I have pics of the institute and rooms... I hope I can download somewhere in the internet to show you that.... 2) Lessons : you have to know that you pay for russian courses for 4 weeks... and it is not teachers who will teach you russian... but russian students ! Mine were nice, but well, they didn't know grammar like a russian teacher can know.... Moreover, it was complicated to communicate sometimes... because they only speak russian , they didn't know a single word in English... The courses are from 9:30 to 15:00. (with lunchtime break). and you go to class from monday to thursday (so free on friday, saturday and sunday) 3) the neighborhood... Well if you are a girl, and wants to come back late at night... even if you are dressed in a sweatshirt and baggy trousers, know that you will be disturbed in the street of the institute... it often happens that cars stopped and followed me in this street and yelling at you to go with them.... .they did not assaulted me but i really didn't feel comfortable with that... . but just, be careful. Otherwise there are 2 malls . they are each one close to a metro station (the orange line). One is 15/20 minutes walk, the other 20/25 minutes walk..