Smolny Beyond Borders launches online Smolny Associate Degree program for displaced Russian-speaking students

Smolny Beyond Borders has launched the online Smolny Associate Degree, a program intended for Russian-speaking displaced students from the Eurasian region affected by the war in Ukraine or by authoritarian regimes in the former CIS states. The two-year online degree, available from August 2025, prepares students to be engaged citizens and to promote open inquiry, intellectual ambition, and creativity.

This degree provides an invaluable opportunity for students to complete core liberal arts courses and a variety of art, literature, science, and humanities electives in virtual, seminar-style classrooms alongside students from across Bard’s global network, learning with and from each other.

The Smolny Beyond Borders initiative was established in 2022 to support the mission and former faculty of Smolny College, a collaboration between Bard College and St. Petersburg State University that offered dual-degree liberal arts programs until June 2021, when Bard College was labeled an "undesirable organization" in Russia. Since 2023, the office of Smolny Beyond Borders has been located at Bard College Berlin.

The Associate degree program builds upon Bard’s expertise in the liberal arts—an approach to learning that centers on the individual, primarily through small group seminars designed to foster thoughtful, critical discourse in an inclusive environment. 

Upon successful completion of the program, graduates are awarded an Associate of Arts degree from Bard College. The degree provides exiled students a valuable pathway toward higher education abroad, whether at Bard Network institutions or by transferring their credits to other universities.

Learn more about the degree curriculum and admission information here.

Post Date: 07-25-2025