Astrakhan State University joint research and innovative projects, joint courses for students, international conferences. ASU successfully realizes its agreements on “double diplomas” signed with Université de Sophia Antipolis (France) and with Clark University (Worcester, Massachusetts, USA). The agreements concern joint Masters’ programs. ASU has been chosen by Harvard University (USA) as a pilot site in Russia to organize an educational program in international competitiveness. The two-year experience gained by ASU’s Russian Language Summer School for American students has made it possible for the parties to sign a cooperation agreement till 2012. ASU has become one of 16 basic Russian Universities to form the
President of Harvard University importance in large institutions such as Harvard. Some have criticized this trend to the extent it has prevented the president from focusing on substantive issues in higher education. Each president is professor in some department of the university and teaches from time to time. Harvard's current president is Lawrence Bacow, formerly the president of Tufts University. At Harvard's founding it was headed by a "schoolmaster", Nathaniel Eaton. He was soon dismissed, however, and when in 1640 Henry Dunster was brought in he adopted the title "president". The origins of this title have been grounds for a certain amount of speculation;