Reply #21: ''Oil of Russia'' is a great read: ''FATHOMING THE SECRETS OF ENERGY DIPLOMACY''

[Octafish]

Thanks for the heads-up on Trotsky, BolivarianHero.

I think you led me to find the money making major my relatives often remind me I missed:

FATHOMING THE SECRETS OF ENERGY DIPLOMACY

Oleg Alexandrov
Oil of Russia
September 2010

The International Institute for Energy Policy and Diplomacy manages to combine the best traditions of Russian higher education and foreign best practices

The rapid development of the global oil and gas business today demands a new generation of experts who are capable of responding to the difficult challenges of the 21st century. The International Institute of Energy Policy and Diplomacy holds a leading position in the system for training highly-qualified personnel in the fields of energy diplomacy, geopolitics, and global economics for the companies and organizations of Russia's fuel and energy complex. In the last ten years, it has contributed heavily to the development of the country's higher education in oil and gas.

Forging personnel for energy diplomacy

One of today's most important tasks is optimizing international cooperation in the area of the fuel and energy complex and stepping up energy diplomacy at the government and corporate levels. Because of the need to carry out these tasks, there is a substantial demand for the training in Russia of international experts for major companies and organizations of the domestic fuel and energy complex.

"The International Institute for Energy Policy and Diplomacy (IIEP) was created on February 8, 2000, as part of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Moscow State Institute for International Relations," says Prof. Valery Salygin, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute's director. "Its operational strategy was developed on the basis of a number of basic programs drawn up in the area of higher education, including the Priority Lines of Development for the Educational System of the Russian Federation and the Energy Strategy of Russia in the Period up to 2030."

In consideration of the importance of the tasks facing the IIEP, an Oversight Committee was set up for the Institute in 2001 and is now headed by RF Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Among the members of the committee are the heads of the administrations for the country's 10 largest oil-producing regions, along with the directors of the 30 leading companies in Russia's fuel and energy complex, including, LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov, Gazprom President Alexey Miller, and Surgutneftegaz President Vladimir Bogdanov.

"The IIEP," Prof. Salygin continues, "is the sole higher educational institution in Russia to train experts in the field of international energy cooperation, and in the spheres of energy diplomacy and geopolitics. Our programs provide a balanced blend of fundamental academic and effective practical training for future experts, thanks to the combined academic and practical potential of leading Russian scholars and highly-qualified specialists from leading domestic and foreign energy companies. In the last ten years, we've become convinced that our choice was the correct one. We now have more than 500 students, master's candidates, and other graduate students from 34 regions of Russia and 18 foreign nations."

The IIEP is home to three specialized faculties, and each one is unique. The Faculty of International FEC Affairs is headed by Nikolay Laverov, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The master class on Russia's Foreign Energy Policy, currently headed by Academician Nodari Simonia, Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of World Economics and International Relations, invariably draws huge interest on the part of both undergraduate and graduate students. The Faculty of FEC Legal Regulation operates under the direction of Prof. Veniamin Yakovlev, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and well-known scholar and RF presidential advisor on legal issues. In 2007, members of the faculty prepared and published a fundamental work, entitled International Energy Law.

CONTINUED...

http://www.oilru.com/or/42/874/

Instead of plastics, if only my high school counselor had mentioned "Energy" and "Russia"...