The School of Russian and Asian Studies has outgrown its name and has made some significant changes.
When we first formed, we were based in Moscow and looking mostly eastward. We established programs across Russia, in Siberia and the Russian Far East, as well as Central Asia. We introduced students to the wide diversity of the land, people, and cultures – and to the shifting post-Soviet economic, political, and diplomatic landscapes.
More than that, we discovered a passion, in ourselves and others, for quality study abroad programs in challenging locations. Many like-minded people we met along the way became our students and clients, our colleagues and partners. And these wonderful, open-minded, and intelligent people became sources of new ideas and new directions, and we continue to grow – including in new geographic directions.
In recent years, we’ve launched programs in Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Our geography has thus grown more complex than our focused name conveys. Further, what defines us today is not so much geography, but by our passion for developing the educational opportunities that challenging locations afford.
Thus, we have left behind the old name of “The School of Russian and Asian Studies” and will continue to develop as simply “SRAS,” our shorter and perhaps better-known acronym. We believe that this simple move will allow us more room to freely grow as an organization. We have also updated our logo, developed a new family of websites, and a new system for managing increasing enrollments.
SRAS will not forget its roots. We will remain focused on where our expertise currently lies: the broad swath of the Eurasian landmass. We also remain the same organization of enthusiastic professionals offering innovative programs, unique student experiences, and free, student-driven study resources for anyone interested in diverse languages, governments, peoples, and cultures.
