According to the selection results of the Erasmus Plus 2020 call for proposals, Lobachevsky University confidently takes the 2nd place in the All-Russia ranking in terms of the number of projects supported by this European Commission program. In 2020, Lobachevsky University won three projects: two of them will be implemented at the Faculty of Social Sciences and one at the Faculty of Law.

In particular, the IMCEERES International Master's Project ("Central and Eastern European, Russian and Eurasian Studies") being implemented by the Faculty of Social Sciences was once again supported by the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree grant until 2024. This ambitious project that attracts the most talented students from the world's leading scientific and educational centers, which are included in the top 200 subject and top 500 institutional rankings, is being implemented by a consortium of leading European universities, headed by the University of Glasgow (UK) and the University of Tartu (Estonia). On successful completion of their studies under this project, students will be issued degree diplomas from 3 member universities of the consortium.

The second project, initiated by the UNN Faculty of Social Sciences and supported by the Erasmus Plus program, is aimed at implementing the Jean Monnet Module in European Interdisciplinary Studies. The project "Jean Monnet Module in European Interdisciplinary" was prepared by a team of UNN faculty members representing the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Institute of World History and International Relations and the Faculty of Law in order to implement a new educational module in existing educational programs and to increase the attractiveness of Lobachevsky University in the international research and education space.The academic supervisor of this project is Alexey Gromyko, President of the Association of European Studies, Head of the UNN Department of History and Theory of International Relations, Director of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Political Science, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, The objectives of this Jean Monnet project that will run from September 2020 to August 2023 include the promotion of knowledge about the European Union; improvement of teaching methods and quality of education on European integration; development of research in the field of European studies; training of experts in various disciplines of social sciences (political science, international relations, sociology, history, law, etc.) related to European studies; stimulating the introduction of European educational experience and practices.

The third Erasmus Plus Jean Monnet project to be implemented at the UNN Faculty of Law has the title "Shifts in the EU Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: Multi-Dimensional Analysis". It is headed by Andrey Leonov, senior lecturer at the Department of European and International Law, who has already implemented successfully two other Jean Monnet projects at Lobachevsky University.

In addition to the educational component, the research performed by the members of the

academic teams of these projects that is reflected in their thematic publications in the leading Web of Science and Scopus journals, as well as a number of events centered on European studies with the participation of leading Russian and international experts, should contribute to the further development of European studies in Russia and abroad, while improving Lobachevsky University's scientometric performance and its reputation.