The Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences (formerly Smolny College) of Saint Petersburg State University (Russian: Факультет свободных искусств и наук СПбГУ) is the first Department in Russia (Saint Petersburg) to be founded upon the principles of liberal education.

The Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences emerged from Smolny College (officially the Arts and Humanities Program), which was created in 1994 by Saint Petersburg State University in close collaboration with Bard College (U.S.).

In the fall of 1997 the Smolny Center announced a program of open courses to be attended by students from SPSU and other St. Petersburg universities.

In 2021, Bard College was declared to be "a threat to the fundamentals of the constitutional order and security of the Russian Federation" by the office of the Prosecutor-General of Russia.

Saint Petersburg State University administrators subsequently announced their plan to terminate Smolny's long-term relationship with Bard College.