Санкт-Петербургийн Улсын Их сургууль

Saint Petersburg State University (SPbU; Russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет, romanized: Sankt-Peterburgskiy gosudarstvennyy universitet) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, it is one of the oldest universities in Russia and has had a focus on fundamental research in science and engineering since its creation.

It is made up of 24 distinct departments and institutes, the Academic Gymnasium, the Medical College, the College of Physical Culture and Sports, Economics and Technology. The university has two primary campuses: one on Vasilievsky Island and the other one in Peterhof. During the Soviet period, it was known as Leningrad State University (Russian: Ленинградский государственный университет). It was renamed after Andrei Zhdanov in 1948 and was officially called "Leningrad State University, named after A. A. Zhdanov and decorated with the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labour." Zhdanov was removed in 1989, and Leningrad in the name was officially replaced with Saint Petersburg in 1992.

History

1724–1821

It is disputed by the university administration whether Saint Petersburg State University or Moscow State University is the oldest higher education institution in Russia. While the latter was established in 1755, the former, which has been in continuous operation since 1819, claims to be the successor of the university established along with the Academic Gymnasium and the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences on 24 January 1724, by a decree of Peter the Great.

Between 1804 and 1819, Saint Petersburg University officially did not exist; the institution founded by Peter the Great, the Saint Petersburg Academy, had been disbanded, because the new 1803 charter of the Academy of Sciences stipulated that there should not be any educational institutions affiliated with it.

The Petersburg Pedagogical Institute, renamed the Main Pedagogical Institute in 1814, was established in 1804 and resided in a part of the Twelve Collegia building. On 8 February 1819 (O.S.), Alexander I of Russia reorganized the Main Pedagogical Institute into Saint Petersburg University, which at that time consisted of three faculties: Faculty of Philosophy and Law, Faculty of History and Philology and Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. The Main Pedagogical Institute (where Dmitri Mendeleev studied) was restored in 1828 as an educational institution independent of Saint Petersburg University, and trained teachers until it was finally closed in 1859.

1821–1917

In 1821, the university was renamed Saint Petersburg Imperial University. In 1823, most of the university moved from the Twelve Collegia to the southern part of the city. In 1824, a modified version of the charter of Moscow University was adopted as the first charter of the Saint Petersburg Imperial University. In 1829, there were 19 full professors and 169 full-time and part-time students at the university. In 1830, Tsar Nicholas returned the entire building of the Twelve Collegia to the university, and courses resumed there.

In 1835, a new Charter of the Imperial Universities of Russia was approved. It provided for the establishment of the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of History and Philology, and the Faculties of Physics and Mathematics, which were merged into the Faculty of Philosophy as the 1st and 2nd Departments, respectively.

In 1849, after the Spring of Nations, the Senate of the Russian Empire decreed the rector should be appointed by the minister of national enlightenment rather than elected by the Assembly of the university. However, Pyotr Pletnyov was reappointed rector and ultimately became the longest-serving rector of Saint Petersburg University (1840–61).

Admissions

Admission to Saint Petersburg State University is competitive. Undergraduate admissions for domestic state funded students are decided through the Unified State Exam. The average Unified State Examination score of applicants to the university in 2023 was 90 points (out of a possible 100). In the 2023 admission campaign, more than 106,000 domestic students applied to the university for bachelor's and specialist programs, with only 4,617 being accepted. The same year, over 21,000 international students from 100 different countries applied to the university for state-funded scholarship programs, with only 1,000 being accepted. This reflects an overall acceptance rate of around 4% for both domestic students and international students studying on scholarships.

Organization

Governance

The university is a federal state institution of higher education managed by the government of the Russian Federation. It has 24 faculties and institutes which are further subdivided into departments, and other main structural subdivisions.

The superior body of self-government of the university is its Assembly, which elects the rector and the Academic Board of the university for a five-year term. The Assembly consists of the members of the Academic Board of the university and the staff delegated by the general assemblies of the main structural subdivisions according to quotas set by the Academic Board of the university. The general administration of the university is vested in the Academic Board, which consists of the rector, who presides over it, as well as the president of the university, vice rectors and representatives of the main structural subdivisions.

Likewise, the general administration of a faculty is vested in its respective academic board elected by the faculty assembly for five years. The procedure of election and department quotas are decided by the faculty-level academic board itself. The dean, who leads the faculty and presides over its academic board, is elected for five years by the faculty academic board.

Academic year

The academic year in St. Petersburg State University according to the Routine Regulations normally starts on 1 September. One lesson normally lasts an hour and a half (two academic hours). The academic year is divided into two semesters. The first semester (term) ends by late December, the second starts in mid-February and lasts until late May. Each term is followed by a series of preliminary tests (in the last week of December/May) and exams (in January/June).

Campuses

The university has two main campuses: on Vasilievsky Island in the historic city center and in Peterhof (formerly Petrodvorets), a southwestern suburb, which can be reached by railway from the city's Baltiysky Rail Terminal. The main building of the university, Twelve Collegia, is on Vasilievsky Island and includes the Library, the Faculty of Biology and the Institute of Earth Sciences. The Faculty of Philology and the Faculty of Oriental Studies share the nearby 18th-century Petrine Baroque building on Universitetskaya Embankment of the Bolshaya Neva, designed by Domenico Trezzini and originally built as the Palace of Peter II of Russia. The New Gostiny Dvor designed by Giacomo Quarenghi and built in the 19th century in that part of the island is occupied by the Institute of History, Institute of Philosophy. The Faculty of Psychology is in front of it on Admiral Makarov Embankment of the Malaya Neva. The Graduate School of Management, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry and Medical Technologies, Faculty of Law and Faculty of Military Studies are on Vasilievsky Island, but farther to the west. Four other social science faculties are east of the city center on the southern bank of the Neva: the Faculty of Economics is not far from the Chernyshevskaya metro station, while the Faculty of Sociology, Faculty of Political Science and the School of International Relations occupy historical buildings of Smolny Convent.

International collaboration

The university is a member of the University of the Arctic. UArctic is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of more than 200 universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arctic region. The collaboration has been paused after the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022.

Rankings

In international rankings, the university was ranked 35th by The Three University Missions Ranking in 2022, 242nd by the QS World University Rankings in 2022, 652nd by U.S. News & World Report in 2023, 601-800th by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and 301–400th by the Academic Ranking of World Universities in 2021.

Notable people

Politics

Saint Petersburg State University has a strong reputation in the field of politics, having educated:

• Vladimir Putin, 2nd and 4th president of Russia (2000–2008, 2012-present), 5th and 9th prime minister of Russia (1999–2000, 2008–2012)
• Dalia Grybauskaite, 8th president of Lithuania (2009–2019)
• Ion Inculeţ, 1st president of the Moldavian Democratic Republic (1917–1918)
• Levon Ter-Petrosyan, 1st president of Armenia (1991–1998)
• Gabriel Narutowicz, 1st president of Poland (1922)
• Antanas Smetona, 1st president of Lithuania (1919-1920, 1926-1940)
• Dmitry Medvedev, 3rd president of Russia (2008–2012), 10th prime minister of Russia (2012–2020)
• Vladimir Lenin, 1st leader of Soviet Russia (1917–1923) and the Soviet Union (1923–1924)
• Jazep Varonka, 1st prime minister of the Belarusian National Republic (1918)
• Augustinas Voldemaras, 1st and 12th prime minister of Lithuania (1918, 1926–1929)
• Boris Shturmer, 5th prime minister of the Russian Empire (1916)
• Pyotr Stolypin, 3rd prime minister of the Russian Empire (1906–1911)
• Alexander Kerensky, 2nd minister-chairman of the Russian Provisional Government (1917)
• Liudmyla Denisova, 3rd ombudsman in Ukraine (2018–2022)

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)