An agreement was signed on implementing the Master's degree programme "Languages, Culture, Media" in 45.04.01 "Philology" in network with Europa-Universität Flensburg (Germany). According to the terms of the agreement, PSU students entering the master's degree programme "Languages, Culture, Media" in "Philology" will have the opportunity to take the joint degree programme at Europa-Universität Flensburg. To do this, it will be necessary to pass an additional competitive selection in the second semester.

Students who have successfully passed the competitive selection will be sent to study at Europa-Universität Flensburg in the third semester and enrolled in the German university for the programme "Kultur - Sprache - Medien". The selection criteria are as follows: GPA in the previous education diploma, GPA for the first semester, at least B2 level of language ability in German and English (confirmed by a profile diploma and international language certificates), portfolio. Every year the German university is ready to accept up to 10 PSU students who have successfully passed the competitive selection.

In the fourth semester, students continue their studies at PSU and write their master's degree thesis in English or in German under the guidance of two scientific advisors - from PSU and from EUF. The thesis is defended online with the participation of PSU and EUF commission.

At PSU, the joint degree programme is implemented at the Department of Foreign Languages and Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages, Faculty of History, Languages and Literature, Institute of Teacher Education; at EUF – at the Department of Languages, Literature and Media.

It should be especially noted that the training within this educational programme both at PSU and EUF is carried out only in foreign languages: English and German. Entrance tests at PSU for this educational programme are conducted in foreign languages (the programme of entrance examinations).

The students who have fully completed the curriculum and passed the final state certification receive two master's degrees and get the following qualifications:
- at PSU - Master's degree in 45.04.01 "Philology",
- at EUF - the degree of Master of Humanities in the programme "Kultur - Sprache - Medien".

It should be especially noted that, according to the terms of the signed agreement, German students will also have the opportunity to study at PSU during the third semester, and in case of completing the curriculum at PSU and passing the final state certification, they will receive a PSU diploma.

Training at the German university is free, but the students will have to pay a student fee (Studiengebühr). Training at PSU in 2021 is possible both on a budgetary basis and with payment of tuition fees (in this case, the student pays for the full course of study at PSU, including the period of stay at EUF).

This is the first joint degree programme at PSU which is implemented with a European partner. The signing of the agreement became possible thanks to the long-term collaboration with Europa-Universität Flensburg, which began back in 2012. Since then, numerous educational and research projects have been implemented, since 2013 the annual congress "Penza-Flensburg" has been held. Since 2018, preparatory work has been going on to prepare and approve of the agreement, educational documentation, regulations for implementing the educational programme, in which many employees of PSU and EUF have been taking part.

The key decisions on the terms of implementing the joint degree programme were discussed and adopted at the online working meeting "Penza - Flensburg" on September 23, 2020, which was attended by Gleb Sintsov, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of PSU, Olga Surina, Director of the Institute of Teacher Education, Ekaterina Aleshina, Head of the Department of Foreign Languages and Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages, Andrei Borisov, Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs of the Faculty of History, Languages and Literature, Vitaly Solovyev, Head of the Educational and Methodological Department, Aleksandr Pervushkin, Head of the Department of Academic Affairs, International Education Office, Institute of International Cooperation,  Tatyana Razuvaeva, Head of the International Projects Department, from EUF - Prof. Dr. Matthias Bauer, Head of the master's degree programme “Kultur – Sprache – Medien“, and Dr. Sibylle Machat, Deputy Head of the master's degree programme.

The signing of the agreement was also largely possible thanks to the support by the administration of EUF and PSU.

If you have questions about the training on the joint degree programme, you can contact:

- Ekaterina Aleshina, head of the master's degree programme, Head  of the Department of Foreign Languages and Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages, Faculty of History, Languages and Literature, Institute of Teacher Education (e-mail: alcatherine@yandex.ru);
- Tatyana Razuvaeva, coordinator of the master's degree programme,  Head of the International Projects Department (e-mail: intoffice@pnzgu.ru).