Petrozavodsk State University

Petrozavodsk State University
Петрозаводский государственный университет

The main building of the Petrozavodsk State University
Type Public
Established 1940 (1940)
Rector Anatoly V. Voronin
Location Petrozavodsk, Russia
Website petrsu.ru

Petrozavodsk State University (PetrSU) is a classical university in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russian Federation. It was founded in 1940 as the Karelian-Finnish University and was renamed in 1956. The rector of Petrozavodsk State University is Prof. Anatoly V. Voronin.

General information

The university includes 10 faculties, 6 educational institutes, 79 departments, 84 laboratories, a number of development and project departments, 27 innovative departments, 28 small enterprises, 2 techno parks, a publishing house, a scientific library (one of the largest in northern European Russia, with more than 1,179,042 books), a botanical garden, and the "Onego" swimming pool. The faculties of PetrSU are located in 13 separate buildings scattered throughout the city.

PetrSU faculty numbers about 890 (105 doctors of science, 502 candidates of science, 66 professors, and 329 associate professors). More than 11,670 undergraduate and postgraduate students currently study at PetrSU.

PetrSU holds the top spot among Russian universities in the criteria of "internationalization" and the third spot in the promotion of the employment of its students and graduates. PetrSU has 92 international agreements with foreign universities, research organizations, and science-and-production companies in 30 countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, Portugal, the UK, the USA, Canada, Belgium, the Republic of Korea, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Baltic states, among others). Various PetrSU programs have been in heavy demand from international students including short-term programs taught in English, semester-long programs, and exchange programs with partner universities taught in both Russian and English. More than 200 international students (mostly from Northern and Eastern Europe, the UK, the USA, and China) study at PetrSU annually. More than 250 students and staff of PetrSU visit foreign universities annually for reasons such as exchange programs, research, Erasmus Mundus internships, FIRST, and CIMO, among others. PetrSU carries out about 30 international projects annually with the help of funding from the EU, EBRD, USAID, CRDF, IREX, DAAD, the Nordic Council of Ministers, and CIMO, among others.

PetrSU prepares enrollees for university entrance. Students have the opportunity to obtain bachelor's, master's, and specialist's degrees in 13 fields of science and 63 licensed specialties. There is a wide range of areas for the preparation of doctoral theses and the training and retraining of specialists. At present there are 4 Dissertation Councils at the university.

PetrSU is ranked highly among large research centers in many fields including programming, information technology, plasma research, microelectronics, problems of timber, and building. Over 60 international, all-Russian, and regional conferences and seminars are held at PetrSU every year, and dozens of scientific monographs, textbooks, and manuals are published by its publishing house.

There are 16 departments offering a wide range of disciplines. The teaching and research activities of PetrSU are widely based, their focus being on social sciences, humanities, and polytechnic science.

Academic degrees and diplomas awarded: Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Science.

History

University in the Great Patriotic War

Finnish advance in Karelia during the Continuation War. Old border marked in grey.

The first school year was coming to an end, students were passing the session making plans for the summer. But these plans were not realized. On June 22, 1941 at 4.00 am the Great Patriotic War began. In connection with this event on June 28 the general university meeting was held in Petrozavodsk at which the participants expressed their desire to fight against the enemy and to give their strength for the victory over him. During the first months of the war the students, the members of staff, teachers went to the front, also the rector of the university T. I. Lekhen was among them.[1] In total 328 man left to the war.[2] The students and teachers made contribution to the struggle against the enemy not only at the battlefield but also in the rear they worked at the factories, built fortifications.[2]

At the end of the summer 1941 the front was approaching the city of Petrozavodsk (on october 1, 1941 Petrozavodsk was completely occupied by the finnish army). The government decided to evacuate the university. They were able to take a significant part of the university property to the town of Syktyvkar Komi Republic. The university continued its work there cooperating closely with the Komi pedagogical institute. In this difficult period the leadership of the PetrSU was carried by K. D. Mirtopolsky. Vice-rector of two universities was the rector of the pedagogical institute G. P. Balin.[3]

It should be noted that in spite of the hardships of the war the research activities did not cease, although some research topics have changed: now they were focusing on the needs of defense industry, the tasks of the national economic development of the Northern region and an identifying the reserves for military needs. For example, scientists-geologists carried out the exploration of mineral resources in the Republic of Komi and the Urals, and the Department of Plant Physiology studied the frost-resisting ability of potato, the acclimatization of tobacco and sugar beets in the North.[4]

In June 1944 during the Svir-Petrozavodsk military operation there was the defeat of the invaders in the south of Karelia. On June 28 of that year soviet troops entered Petrozavodsk. In autumn the whole territory of Karelia was liberated. In June 1944 the goverment of the Karelo-Finnish SSR decided to return the university to Petrozavodsk. On July 30, 1944 the teachers with their families and students returned to Petrozavodsk from Syktyvkar. During the war the university building was destroyed, all remaining equipment and the library were destroyed. The students and the staff of the university had to make exert every effort on its reconstruction. In the reconstruction the leaders of the Karelian republic took an active part too. The number of teaching staff of the university increased thanks to the teachers who were returning from the front. The new school year 1944 started on October 2, and 242 students began to learn. In summer 1945 the university celebrated its fifth anniversary. In August 1945 in Petrozavodsk State University the new rector V. S. Chepurnov began his activity.[5]

Hard time of the Great Patriotic War the university survived with dignity, it didn't stop its activity and on the contrary - it directed all the energies for the victory. Its students, teachers and collaborators were working hard and were fighting on the front and in the rear. Unfortunately, not all of them were able to live up to a happy Victory Day. During the Great Patriotic War 90 students, teachers and collaborators were killed and were missing. The fate of 42 people is unknown.[6] But in spite of everything in the period from 1942 to 1945 years 65 students graduated from the university, among them there were one geographer, three geologists, six mathematicians, 21 biologists, 34 historians and philologists.[4]

PetrSU in 1970-1985

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Thanks to the coordinated efforts of university employees, the Karelian-Finnish State University's influence grew rapidly in Karelia and the European North.[7]

In 1973, Mikhail Shumilov became the new rector of the university. He had a PhD in History and was well-known for his monographs about the history of Karelia and Northern Europe.[7]

In 1975, the Department of Accounting was opened in the university as a part of the School of Mathematics and Physics. The main impetus behind the opening of this department was the lack of qualified accountants and economists in Karelia. The first class of accounting students graduated in 1979 and consisted of 52 young specialists. In 1980, the School of Economics was opened. It consisted of three departments: political economy, accounting and economic activity, and sectorial economy. The first dean of the school was S. N. Polyakov. In 1982, he was replaced by A. G. Rusakov.[8]

Entrants in the entrance exams (in gym).

To increase the popularity of the University among prospective students, departments and schools of the University put a lot of effort in distributing information about the university in Karelia and neighboring areas. Additionally, a number of special training courses (recruiting about 1,800 people) were organized. University teachers organized meetings with high school students where they talked about opportunities the students would get at the university. The so-called "Open Door Days"[9] were organized regularly. As a result, competition for admission grew to about 2.3 students per available slot.[8]

Special attention was paid to improvement of the level of teacher qualification. Teachers now could take additional vacation to earn master and doctoral (PhD) degrees. The university had 40-50 graduate students each year.[8]

In 1970s special attention was also paid to the technical equipment of the university. Eight classrooms were equipped to display movies and two classrooms became language laboratories. Computer classrooms were also upgraded and the third generation computers ES-1022 and ES-1035 were installed.[10]

PetrSU was one of the first universities that implemented an integrated program of the USSR Ministry of Higher Education called "ICS-university". To improve the work of the university, the university researchers developed a number of software systems including "Entrant", "Number of students", "Session", "Current control", "Social and political practice," "Graduate student," "Control of decision implementation", and "Human Resources Staff".[11]

From the early 1970s to 1985, approximately 14,300 students graduated from the university.[12]

Faculties, Institutes and Centres of PetrSU

The university comprises 9 faculties and 6 institutes:

Institutes of PetrSU

Centers

PetrSU international units

Centers of international language testing

  1. TORFL (Test of Russian as a Foreign Language)
  2. TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)
  3. TOLES (Test of Legal English Skills)

Programs and courses for international students

PetrSU activities

Students of PetrSU fully participate in different activities which include more than 30 creative teams:

Sports

20 sports sections are supported by PetrSU including skiing, basketball, volleyball, football, futsal, track and field, orienteering, kettlebell lifting, chess, checkers, Go, sambo, judo, Wushu, aerobics, and tourism. Training exercises and competitions are held in three modern gyms, a stadium, a swimming pool, and on three modern skiing tracks. PetrSU has had a lot of success training athletes: over 15 years 65 masters of sports have been trained and 50 medals of the World and European Championships have been won.

The student tourist club "Sampo" is one of the leading tourist clubs among Russian universities and has a rich history.

Social Support

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Zolina 1965, p. 11.
  2. 1 2 Shumilov 2005, p. 15.
  3. ↑ Shumilov 2005, p. 16.
  4. 1 2 Shumilov 2005, p. 17.
  5. ↑ Shumilov 2005, pp. 19-21.
  6. ↑ Shumilov 2005, p. 18.
  7. 1 2 Shumilov 2005, p. 216.
  8. 1 2 3 Shumilov 2005, p. 217.
  9. ↑ The special days when people can visit Departments of the University and to get information about University.
  10. ↑ Shumilov 2005, p. 218.
  11. ↑ Shumilov 2005, p. 219.
  12. ↑ Shumilov 2005, p. 228.

Sources

  • History of Petrozavodsk State University 1940-2000 Страницы истории Петрозаводского государственного университета, 1940-2000. Petrozavodsk: Publisher PetrSU. Compiled by M. I. Shumilov, I. P. Pokrovskaya. 2005. p. 540. 
  • Petrozavodsk State University 25 years Петрозаводскому государственному университету 25 лет. Petrozavodsk: Karelian publishing house. Compiled by N. A. Zolina, A. S. Lantratova. 1965. p. 220. 

External links

Coordinates: 61°47′10″N 34°21′10″E / 61.7861°N 34.3528°E / 61.7861; 34.3528

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