Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University) (Russian: Московский государственный институт международных отношений (Университет) МИД России, often abbreviated МГИМО, MGIMO) is the diplomatic school of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. It is the oldest and the most renowned school in Russia for preparing specialists in international relations and diplomacy. MGIMO has a reputation for being elitist (for example, it is usually considered common knowledge in post-USSR countries that, at least during the USSR times, admission to MGIMO was mostly reserved to children of the Party and government nomenklatura). Many of its current students are from families of political, economic and intellectual elites in Russia. It is also known for having one of the best teaching teams in Europe. Many of the current professors of MGIMO were ambassadors or ministers. MGIMO, which, in Russian, stands for Moscow State Institute of International Relations, was founded on October 14, 1944 when the USSR Council of People’s Commissars reorganized the recently created School of International Relations of the Moscow State University into an independent institute.