Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (IKBFU; ) is a

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

located in the

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the city of

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

was transferred to

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

according to the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...

, and the city was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946. The University of Konigsberg, commonly known as Albertina, was closed and the remaining German population were expelled, by the terms of the Potsdam Agreement. Today, the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University claims to maintain the traditions of the Albertina.

History

It was known as the University of Koenigsberg (Albertina), which was founded in 1544. Also, this higher educational institution is also known for the fact that one of its graduates is one of the most outstanding European philosophers —

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

. It was

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

's sole university and was specially regarded for its mathematics and astronomy. The campus was severely damaged by British aerial bombing in August 1944 during

. The Albertina was closed after Königsberg was captured by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in 1945. In 1947, the university, already under new leadership, resumed work, but now as the Kaliningrad State Pedagogical Institute (KSPI). Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University remembers its continuity from the Königsberg University ("Albertina") and considers it its predecessor. Kant_Kaliningrad

After the war, Königsberg was renamed Kaliningrad and the

Russophone This article details the geographical distribution of Russian-speakers. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the status of the Russian language often became a matter of controversy. Some Post-Soviet states adopted policies of Derus ...

''Kaliningrad State Pedagogical Institute'' used the old campus from 1948 to 1967, including the main Albertina building inaugurated in 1862. In 1967, the institute received the status of a university and became known as ''Kaliningrad State University''. In 2005, during the celebrations of the 750th anniversary of the founding of Königsberg, President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

of Russia and Chancellor

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

of Germany announced that the university would be renamed ''Immanuel Kant Russian State University'' in honour of

. As of 2005, the university consisted of twelve faculties with courses ranging from

Natural Sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

to the

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

. It had approximately 12,800 students enrolled, both

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

and post-graduate, and 580 faculty staff. IKSUR's Kant Society was created to study Kantianism, or Kantian philosophy. The university is also interested in the historical connections between Königsberg and Russia as far back as the 16th century. In 2010–2011, the university underwent an enlargement and rebranding process which will lead to changing its name from Immanuel Kant Russian State University to Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University.

Education and training

The Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University of today is an educational, scientific, cultural and enlightenment centre of the westernmost region of Russia. * The university implements more than 300 educational programmes in the fields of secondary, vocational and higher education as well as continuing and post-university education. * The university employs 900 teaching staff. * The total number of students and doctoral students exceeds 14,000. * List of the IKBFU educational programmes participating in the "Best educational programme of innovative Russia" project, which is being carried out by the Guild of professional education experts, the National centre of public accreditation and the editorial board of the Akkreditathsiya v obrazovanii magazine: ''Social and cultural services and tourism; Law; Services; Interpreting and translation studies; Applied mathematics and informatics; Marketing; Mathematical maintenance and administration of information systems; Tourism; Mathematics; Philosophy; Journalism; Transport management and logistics.'' Percentage of students according to the major fields of study * Humanities 37.2% * Economics and Management 12.4% * Services 10.7% * Natural Sciences 10.4% * Physical and Mathematical Sciences 8.2% * Transport 5.8% * Education and Pedagogy 4.4% * Healthcare 4.0% * Information Security 2.8% * Electronic and Radio Engineering and Communications 1.6% * Social Sciences 1.5% * Culture and Arts 1.0%

Ranking

In 2020, the university was ranked #1,000+ in the Times Higher Education World University Ranking (THE WUR), and in 2022 it was ranked #2,350 in the Webometrics Ranking Web of Universities.

Innovation

A science park was set up at the university in 2008. The major task of the park is the concentration of research potential.

International cooperation

The level of international cooperation places IKBFU amongst the top ten higher educational institutions of Russia. The aim of the International Office is managing and coordinating international activities of the university as a whole, its students and Ph.D. candidates, teachers and staff members.

References

External links

*
Official website in English
(Archive) * {{coord, 54, 43, 29, N, 20, 31, 41, E, type:edu_source:kolossus-ruwiki, display=title Universities and colleges established in 1948 Buildings and structures in Kaliningrad Universities in Kaliningrad Oblast 1948 establishments in the Soviet Union Federal universities of Russia University of Königsberg Sanctions and boycotts during the Russo-Ukrainian War Sanctioned corporations