Filipino Scholar Graduates with Highest Honors from Russia’s St. Petersburg University

Sharmaine Marmita holds her Красный диплом or red diploma at the graduation ceremony held on 12 July 2018 at St. Petersburg State University in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Moscow PE photo)

Editor's note, 24 July 2018: The earlier version of this press release stated that Sharmaine Marmita hails from Palo, Leyte. In the latest version of this release, we have updated Ms. Marmita's hometown to Jaro, Leyte.

MOSCOW 23 July 2018 – Sharmaine Marmita—a Filipino scholar from Jaro, Leyte—graduated with highest honors from the St. Petersburg State University (SPbU) with a degree of Master of Arts in International Relations.

Marmita was awarded the Красный диплом or red diploma, the highest rank in the Russian academic honors system equivalent to summa cum laude, at the graduation ceremony held on 12 July 2018 at the SPbU Twelve Collegia in St. Petersburg, Russia. 

She also received an excellent mark for her thesis on “ASEAN Responses to the ISIS Expansion in the Southeast Asian Region: The Security Sector”, which she prepared under the guidance of Professor Denis Sergeevich Golubev.

Marmita was a scholar of the Russian Government under the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independence States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo). She applied for the scholarship through the Russian Embassy in Manila.

“I warmly congratulate Ms. Marmita for her outstanding academic accomplishment. I hope that more Filipinos will follow her example and pursue advance studies in Russia. This is a country with so much to offer in the sciences, humanities, and other areas of higher learning. We thank the Russian Government, particularly Rossotrudnichestvo, for including the Philippines in its scholarship program,” Philippine Ambassador to Russia Carlos D. Sorreta said.

The SPbU was founded on 28 January 1724 by Emperor Peter the Great. It accepts more than 3,000 foreign students every year for various degree and non-degree programs.

Famous SPbU alumni include Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. END

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Sharmaine Marmita (first row, second from left), together with the other graduates.