On September 1, 2023, the MGIMO pedagogical team began its work at the school for employees and contractors of the ROSATOM State Corporation, which is building "Akkuyu" - the Russian nuclear power plant in Turkey. "Akkuyu" NPP School is a large-scale educational project that unfolds in the suburbs of Mersin Province - the picturesque ancient city of Silifke, former Cilicia, a few dozen kilometers from the world's largest construction site of nuclear power plants. The project is being implemented as part of the development of the "Priority 2030" network of "Russian Schools Abroad" and is a continuation of the development of the MGIMO cluster of pedagogical programs.

 MGIMO Rector, Academician A.V. Torkunov, describes the key tasks of MGIMO in pedagogy as follows: "We need to work on updating the teacher's competency model and forming school teams that will be able to implement a human-centered approach, the world's best pedagogical practices, and create new ideas and approaches." The cooperation between MGIMO and ROSATOM in the development of a multimodal educational model, including full-time and blended learning, fully meets the tasks set by the Rector of the University, and is unique in its impact on the development of Russian-Turkish humanitarian relations and the promotion of Russian educational standards abroad.

 The school's educational campus combines a preschool stage - two kindergartens, as well as an elementary, middle and high school for 1300 students in the current academic year. Not only the scale of construction, but also the scale of social work of the AKKUYU NPP is record-breaking - more than 160 students went to the first grades this year - this is eight first grades in one parallel.

 The first school day at the school was opened by D.V. Romanets, Deputy General Director for Construction of "AKKUYU NUCLEAR". Dmitry Vladimirovich shared his story of professional development and gave parting words to the students: "We are used to the stereotype that you need to be able to endure. This is not always necessary. It is important to love what you do, to move forward, to take on different things. Most often simple sequential steps lead us to tangible results and a great future."

At the opening ceremony of the new academic year, the head of MGIMO pedagogical programs, advisor to the Rector R.I. Kotov and the director of the "AKKUYU" NPP school A.V. Kuzmina addressed to the high school students.

 "We have a unique chance to be a part of the history that your parents are creating – thanks to their efforts, the construction of the century is being born before our eyes – the world's largest nuclear power plant under construction today. This makes us more responsible for ourselves and our relationship to the world around us. I wish you to make it more interesting, better, and safer," R.I. Kotov wished the children. 

 "In every sense, this is an international initiative that has no analogues. We begin to build a school of dialogue in which everyone feels like a subject, a space of expression, action, and continuous movement. Our students and graduates are ambassadors of our culture, country, future leaders who want to change the world and the society in which they live for the better," said A.V. Kuzmina about the concept of the educational environment.