ARCHIVES, MUSEUMS AND COLLECTIONS IN THE RUSSIAN AND GERMAN UNIVERSITY: THE HISTORY, LEGAL STATUS, MEANING AND PROSPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT (an etude on the beginning of cooperation between the Ural State Law University and the University Halle-Wittenberg)

The article reflects the growing cooperation between two universities – Russian (Ural State Law University – USLU) and German (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg – MLU). The mutual cognition of university archives, museums and collections and the exchange of relevant experience are possible areas of such cooperation. The said university “treasures” form educational, research and cultural diversity that mitigates the consequences of globalization processes. The research focuses on juridical, historical and legal content of scientific discourse about the university, its archives, museums, and collections. The article contains briefs about partner universities and the development of their cooperation. Historical characteristics of Russian-German educational and academic relations emphasize the role of Halle University. The authors show the first joint activities of USLU and MLU including the Round Table «Specific Features of Museum and Archive Work in Higher Educational Institutions (by the Example of the Ural State University and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)» held in June 2016. Comparative characteristic is given to the historical development of university archives, museums and collections, their legal status, organizational and management structure, current and prospective activities. Besides functional similarities of the mentioned institutions (a key role in preserving and developing educational, academic, and legal tradition), the authors emphasize interesting differences of functioning. The range of peculiarities is wide – from the fund formation and independence of universities in determining their fate to the problem of professional training and specifics of participation of students, including future lawyers, in their work. The article analyzes interaction of university archives and museums, their role in understanding, organizing and clarifying the meaning of university anniversaries. The researchers use comparative methods (comparative-historical, comparative-law), historicallegal analysis to achieve the objectives. Various illustrations help to confirm, substantiate and problematize presented reasoning and summarized conclusions including the thesis about the perceptive of scientific component for stable partnership between universities.