St Petersburg International Management Institute

Age: 22

History: The institute was created in 1989 as the result of a joint venture between Universita Luigi Bocconi in Milan and Leningrad State University. The first version of the part-time IMISP MBA programme was launched in 1996 and the institute continues to produce between 70 and 100 MBA graduates each year. The MBA course was developed by the IMISP lecturers with the help of others at SDA Bocconi, Henley Business School, EM Lyon and ESADE.

Address: In its own building on Vassilyevsky Island, a prestigious neighbourhood in downtown St. Petersburg.

Ambience: The institute's building has been redesigned and renovated for teaching purposes, and includes 11 classrooms and two computer labs. St. Petersburg itself is the “Northern Capital” of Russia and is regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, with warming bars and Czarist architecture.

Vital statistics: The MBA programme is generalist and targeted at top- and middle-level Russian managers. The part-time mode lasts for 24 months and the modular format takes 30 months. After the core courses, students can choose to specialise in corporate finance, marketing, international business or human resource management. IMISP has also developed a number of MBA-level programmes for corporate clients, including Gazprom. The language of tuition is Russian but graduation projects are presented in English in front of the International Academic Council.

Easy to get into? You'll need some sort of higher education as well as two years of managerial experience. The admissions procedure consists of several stages: a written application, structured interview, professional skills test and English language test.

International connections: The institution has its roots in academic cooperation, and representatives of the founding schools are still involved through the International Academic Council.

Glittering alumni: Sergey Naryshkin, chief of administration of the President of Russia; Valery Golubev, member of Gazprom Board; Oleg Andreev, general director of Gazprom dobycha Yamburg JSC.

Gurus: Professors Mikhail Karlik, managerial and accounting finance; Vladimir Kolchanov, marketing and sales management; Fedor Ragin, strategic management; Dr Elena Moll, organisational behaviour; Sergey Mordovin, human resource management.

Student profile: The average age is 34, with a male to female ratio of 85:15.

Cost: Currently, tuition fees for both the part-time and modular MBA are €19,800.

Who's the boss? The rector of the school is Dr Sergey Mordovin, and the MBA academic director is Professor Elena Bondarevskaya.

Prospectus: +7 812 323 9200; www.imisp.ru; mba@imisp.ru