Academy of National Economy, Russia

Age: 34

History: Founded in 1977, MBA courses started running in 1998. A national centre for the training and development of Russian governmental officers and federal staff – nearly 40,000 senior government officials and private sector managers have studied here. The Kingston Russian MBA programme is a collaborative partnership with Kingston Business School in the UK, and successful graduates are awarded an AMBA-accredited Kingston MBA degree as well as a Russian MBA diploma, accredited by the Russian Ministry of Education.

Address: 82 Vernadskogo Prospect, Moscow, Russia.

Ambience: Located in the south-west of Moscow, 30 minutes by underground from the city centre. Students have two libraries at their disposal, and the Academy campus has a hostel, three cafés and a bar. There's even a dispensary with a therapist, dentist, cardiologist and physical therapist, and the sports centre has a swimming pool, a fitness centre and a tennis court.

Vital statistics: The Kingston Russian MBA and executive MBA are two-year, block release courses, which gained AMBA-accreditation in 2000 and 2008 respectively. They follow the Kingston syllabus, but students are encouraged to apply European management concepts to solving Russian problems. The Russian MBA also offers training in special aspects of Russian law, accounting, management and organisation development, and the Kingston-Russian component is taught in English.

Added value: The programme is offered as part of the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (MSSES) which runs four other European Masters programmes, mainly in social sciences, validated by Manchester University. There's also a Masters programme validated by Aberdeen University, and Essex has established a PhD. In 2009 the Kingston Russian MBA was ranked No1 amongst the top 30 MBA programmes in Russia.

Easy to get into? Three-stage interview: the first is with ANE staff, the second with academics from Kingston, and the third the two schools conduct in tandem. Students need communication skills, personality, work experience and ambition, and must attend a preliminary course in English.

Glittering alumni: Peter Chernyshev, Board Chairman, Baltic Beverage Holding, Ukraine; Igor Akulinin, First Deputy of General Director Megafon-Moscow; Alexander Myasoedov, Sales Director of Nokia Siemens; Vladislav Baumgertner, General Director of UralKaly; Angela Gracheva, Vice-President, Head of PR Department of UralSib.

Gurus: Professors Robin Matthews and Phillip Samouel, department of Informatics and Operations Management at Kingston University; and Andrey Mitskevich, Department of institutional economy, State University Higher School of Economics.

International connections: There's considerable interchange with students on the UK, Greece and Cyprus programmes, and an international study week is held in the UK every September.

Student profile: Average age is 30. Most students have five years' managerial experience. Around 40 per cent of students are women, and more than 35 per cent are sponsored by organisations.

Cost: £12,000 for the MBA, £17,000 for the EMBA.

Who's the boss? Professor Vladimir Mau is the rector.

Prospectus: +7 495 434 3600; www.kingston.ane.ru; bell@ane.ru; m.dainty@kingston.ac.uk