Smolny Institute St. Petersburg State University

What Smolny Institute St. Petersburg State University does

Smolny Beyond Borders (SBB) is an online liberal arts education initiative founded in 2021 as a direct continuation of Smolny College, the 1997 dual-degree partnership between St. Petersburg State University and Bard College. After the Russian Prosecutor's Office declared Bard College an "undesirable organization" in summer 2021—the first college or university to receive that designation—Smolny College was dismantled, and SBB was created to preserve liberal arts education for Russian-speaking students whose education was interrupted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent political persecution. The platform is operated by 28 staff and delivers synchronous online seminars through the OSUN Terradotta application portal, with cross-campus instruction shared with Bard College Berlin.

SBB's core product is a two-year online Associate of Arts degree from Bard College requiring 64 academic credits across four distribution areas (Arts; Languages and Literature; Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science; Social Studies). Three certificate programs supplement the degree: a Philosophy Certificate (Main Methods in Philosophy), a Human Rights Certificate via GHEA21, and a RIMA Certificate on Data Science for Social Good in partnership with the Russian Independent Media Archive. Individual open courses (4 US credits / 8 ECTS each) are also offered without degree enrollment.

The business model combines tuition ($5,000 per year before financial aid, with discounts up to 90% and full waivers in special cases) with donations processed through Bard College Berlin's portal, with a stated fundraising goal of €50,000 to cover two years of tuition and basic expenses for one transfer student. Students must be located outside Russia, Belarus, and North America. Distribution is exclusively online, leveraging the OSUN network, GHEA21 alliance, and the New University in Exile Consortium for referrals.

Name

Smolny Institute St. Petersburg State University

Legal name

Smolny Beyond Borders

Website

https://smolny.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Smolny Beyond Borders is an online liberal arts education initiative serving Russian-speaking students displaced by the war in Ukraine and political persecution, offering a Bard College Associate of Arts degree, certificate programs, and open courses via the OSUN platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Tuition Revenue: The primary revenue stream comes from tuition payments for the Smolny Associate Degree Online Program. Base tuition is $5,000 per year before financial aid. The organization offers significant financial assistance including discounts up to 90% and full tuition waivers in special cases. Revenue is supplemented by donations and fundraising campaigns targeting supporters of exiled Russian education.
2. Donations and Fundraising: SBB operates fundraising campaigns to support graduates of the Associate Degree Program who transfer to Bard College Berlin. The stated goal is 50,000 euros to cover tuition and basic expenses for one student for two years. Donations are processed through Bard College Berlin's donation portal.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Smolny Beyond Borders (SBB) is an online liberal arts education platform that delivers the two-year Smolny Associate Degree Online Program, awarding an Associate of Arts degree from Bard College. It supplements the degree with three certificate programs (Philosophy, Human Rights via GHEA21, and RIMA 'Data Science for Social Good') and individual open courses. All offerings are delivered synchronously online in seminar format, primarily to Russian-speaking students displaced from Russia and Eurasian countries.

Product overview

Smolny Beyond Borders (SBB) is an online liberal arts education platform operated by former faculty of Smolny College (a partnership between St. Petersburg State University and Bard College). The core offering is the two-year Smolny Associate Degree Online Program leading to an Associate of Arts degree from Bard College. This is supplemented by three certificate programs: the Philosophy Certificate (Main Methods in Philosophy), the Human Rights Certificate through GHEA21, and the RIMA Certificate 'Data Science for Social Good' for archival research. Individual open courses are available for enrollment separate from the degree programs, covering humanities, social sciences, arts, and data science disciplines. All offerings are delivered online in seminar format, with courses taught in English and Russian, and students can participate from anywhere outside Russia and Belarus.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Smolny Associate Degree Online Program: Two-year online associate degree program awarding Associate of Arts degree from Bard College
• Gagarin Center for the Study of Civil Society and Human Rights

Products and services

• Smolny Associate Degree Online Program Two-year online liberal arts associate degree program awarding the Associate of Arts degree from Bard College; includes mandatory courses (Writing and Thinking, First-Year Seminar, Science and Civil Society, Academic Writing in English) and electives across four distribution areas; serves Russian-speaking students displaced from Russia and Eurasian countries.
• Philosophy Certificate (Main Methods in Philosophy)

Quantifiable outcome

• Graduates can transfer to Bard College Berlin to complete bachelor's degree
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability6 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and supporting.

• Bard CollegecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1997Bard College is the founding partner of Smolny Beyond Borders. Originally, Smolny College was established as a dual degree partnership between St. Petersburg State University and Bard College in 1997. After the dismantling of Smolny College in 2021, Bard College continues as the primary institutional partner, awarding the Associate of Arts degree and accepting SBB graduates for transfer to Bard College Berlin.
• GHEA21 (Global Higher Education Alliance for the 21st Century)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSBB participates in the GHEA21 network, offering the Human Rights Certificate through this alliance. Students can access GHEA21 online courses as part of their curriculum, and the partnership expands the educational offerings available to SBB students.
• Open Society University Network (OSUN)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOSUN provides the Terradotta application portal infrastructure used by SBB for course registration and program applications. OSUN is an initiative of the Open Society Foundations supporting accessible higher education globally.
• Gagarin Center for the Study of Civil Society and Human Rights at Bard CollegemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFormerly based at Smolny College, the Gagarin Center (supported by the Gagarin Trust) now operates at Bard College. It allows Russian scholars forced to leave Russia to continue research and educational activities on contemporary social, economic, and human rights issues. Faculty from SBB are affiliated with this center.
• New University in Exile ConsortiumsupportingChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSBB faculty members lecture as part of the New University in Exile Consortium, which supports academics fleeing persecution. This partnership expands the reach and accessibility of SBB programs to displaced scholars.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights10 records

Emerging players

• Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU): A Ukrainian higher education institution that has rapidly expanded online offerings and support for displaced students since the 2022 invasion. Comparable audience overlap (Russian/Eurasian war-displaced learners) and online liberal-arts-adjacent pedagogy.
• Kiron Open Higher Education: A nonprofit online higher-education platform specifically serving refugees and displaced populations with pathways into accredited degree programs. Directly comparable audience (displaced learners globally) and online free/subsidized delivery model, though focused on refugee recognition and credit transfer rather than a single credential.
• University of the People (UoPeople): A tuition-free, accredited online university serving globally distributed learners, including refugees and displaced students. Comparable in online-only delivery, low-cost/financial-aid-dependent economics, and global displaced-learner audience, though UoPeople is broader and degree-portfolio-driven.

Broad incumbents

• Bard College: Founding parent and credentialing institution for SBB. Directly comparable as the source of the liberal arts curriculum model, faculty expertise, and degree-granting authority that SBB delivers online to displaced learners.
• Central European University (CEU): A larger, established institution that similarly relocated from Budapest to Vienna under political pressure and serves graduate and undergraduate students from the region. Comparable in operating in a politically constrained cross-border academic context, though at significantly larger scale and broader scope.

Others

• New University in Exile Consortium: A consortium of academic institutions supporting scholars and students forced into exile. SBB faculty lecture through the consortium and leverage its network for referrals; it is an adjacent ecosystem participant rather than a competing degree provider.
• Sciences Po: A broader incumbent European institution with a long-standing regional college network and programs for international/displaced students. Comparable in offering structured multi-year humanities/social-science programs with a global applicant base, though at much larger scale.
• Open Society University Network (OSUN): SBB operates on OSUN's Terradotta application platform and benefits from OSUN's broader infrastructure for at-risk higher-education initiatives. OSUN is an ecosystem enabler rather than a direct competitor, but it is materially comparable as a network serving displaced learners globally.

Direct peers

• European Humanities University (EHU): A leading exile university model: EHU was forced out of Belarus and re-established in Vilnius to serve students whose home-country education was disrupted by political repression. Directly comparable in mission, displaced-student audience, and exile-institution delivery model.
• Bard College Berlin: Direct downstream partner and institutional peer: SBB graduates transfer to BCB to complete bachelor's degrees, and courses are taught jointly across campuses. Both serve the same displaced Russian-speaking and broader international student audience with a US liberal arts model in Berlin.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/smolny-institute-st.-petersburg-state-university

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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