For many years now, there has been a certain structure for the existence of universities in the world. Classical university assumes the presence of faculties in many forms of training, centers for continuing education, summer schools, scientific laboratories, etc. In the proposed article the authors will describe in detail the experience of RUDN University, where on the basis of the Faculty of Philology was created Institute of Modern Languages, Intercultural Communication and Migration (IMLICaM). The activities of IMLICaM are aimed primarily at improving the academic reputation of the university and promotion in the subject ranking of Modern Languages. Today RUDN University is placed Top-200 in the subject ranking "Modern Languages" and Top-300 in "Linguistics", which proves the successful performance of IMLICaM. The aim of the article is to describe the steps undertaken to make IMLICaM a ground-breaking subdivision, its main activities (joint research laboratory, students exchange programs, enhancing reputation and establishing close business relationships, etc.), challenges and perspectives.