The aim of the ExpREES is to train experts who are specialized both in their own discipline as well as in Russia, Eurasia and Eastern Europe. The multidisciplinary approach of the ExpREES helps to give you a wide perspective on the history, present and future of these areas.

ExpREES is suitable for students from a number of disciplines, from the humanities and social sciences to business and technology. Studying in ExpREES will enable you to develop skills and competences which will be seen as an advantage when applying for various positions in academia, public administration or business. Contact teaching, online courses, summer schools and excursions will help you find your strengths and develop your career, not to mention completing your Master's thesis!

Graduates may find employment in different national and international organizations, work as researchers focusing on Russia, Eurasia and Eastern Europe as well as pursuit a career in the field of their own discipline. The programme strives also to enhance students’ employability skills creating connections between the studies and work life.

The ExpREES has a multidisciplinary curriculum which compiles various courses offered by the network universities into a comprehensive package from which students may choose courses best suited to strengthen their own expertise. In addition to the coordination of optional courses offered by the network universities, the Aleksanteri Institute organises three compulsory courses: ExpREES summer school, Master's thesis seminar and a multimodal course. ExpREES also offers annual study trips abroad. ExpREES encourages its students to go on student exchange through the exchange programmes of their home universities', and also offers possibilities to participate in courses and summer schools abroad. The ExpREES is coordinated by the Aleksanteri Institute, Finnish Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies, at the University of Helsinki.

• ExpREES studies are part of the student’s Master’s degree in one of the network universities.
• Students are enrolled to their home universities while carrying out ExpREES studies. ExpREES studies include both compulsory (15 cr) and optional (minimum of 10 cr) courses on Russia, Eurasia and Eastern Europe provided by the network universities. As an ExpREES student you can choose the most interesting and relevant optional courses for your own degree. Please note that the three compulsory courses are given in Finnish. If your Finnish for academic purposes is not yet at such a level that you can take these courses,  we will find other suitable courses to compensate these three - so no worries! 
• Student’s master’s thesis (30-40 cr) has to be related to Russia, Eurasia and/or Eastern Europe. The main supervisor comes from student's own field of study in her/his home university. In addition, ExpREES offers multidisciplinary Master's thesis seminars for ExpREES students. These seminars are designed to complement seminars in student's own field of study offered by their home university.
• Students graduate from their home university, so the degree is awarded by one of the network universities. As an ExpREES student you will get an additional certificate for completing the ExpREES programme.

The uniqueness of ExpREES lies in its nationwide network, flexibility and multidisciplinarity. ExpREES studies are available for students from a wide variety of academic disciplines, as long as you are enrolled as a Master's student in any of the twelve universities in the network (see How to apply). ExpREES is also exceptional thanks to its historical perspective: the programme has been running since 1998 (first as the Master's School in Russian and East European Studies). Its teaching, organisation and activities have been developed systematically, based on the feedback from students and teachers for more than twenty years. To date, over 600 students have graduated from the programme and the alumni can be found working as specialists both on private and public sectors all the way to ministers and high officials.