Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

, the university from the beginning has had a focus on fundamental research in science, engineering and humanities. During the Soviet period, it was known as Leningrad State University (). 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's was removed in 1989 and Leningrad in the name was officially replaced with Saint Petersburg in 1992. It is made up of 24 specialized faculties (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.

Admissions

Admission to Saint Petersburg State University is extremely 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 around 90 points (out of a possible 100). In the 2023 admission campaign, over 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.

Rankings

In international rankings, the university was ranked 35th by '' The Three University Missions Ranking'' in 2022, 242nd by the ''

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

'' in 2022, 652nd by '' U.S. News & World Report'' in 2023, 601-800th by the ''

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...

'', and 301–400th by the ''

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

'' in 2021.

History

1724–1821

It is disputed by the university administration whether Saint Petersburg State University or

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

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

. 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 occupied a part of the Twelve Collegia building. On 8 February 1819 (O.S.),

Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (, ; – ), nicknamed "the Blessed", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first king of Congress Poland from 1815, and the grand duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russian Empire, Russia during the chaotic perio ...

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 Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev ( ; ) was a Russian chemist known for formulating the periodic law and creating a version of the periodic table of elements. He used the periodic law not only to correct the then-accepted properties of some known ele ...

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). In 1855, Oriental studies were separated from the Faculty of History and Philology, and the fourth faculty, Faculty of Oriental Languages, was formally inaugurated on 27 August 1855. In 1859–61, female part-time students could attend lectures in the university. In 1861, there were 1,270 full-time and 167 part-time students in the university, of them 498 were in the Faculty of Law, the largest subdivision. But this subdivision had the cameral studies department, where students learnt safety, occupational health and environmental engineering management and science, including chemistry, biology, agronomy along with law and philosophy. Many Russian, Georgian etc. managers, engineers and scientists studied at the Faculty of law therefore. During 1861–62, there was student unrest in the university, and it was temporarily closed twice during the year. The students were denied freedom of assembly and placed under police surveillance, and public lectures were forbidden. Many students were expelled. After the unrest, in 1865 only 524 students remained. A decree of the Emperor

Alexander II of Russia Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Poland and Grand Du ...

adopted on 18 February 1863, restored the right of the university assembly to elect the rector. It also formed the new faculty of the theory and history of art as part of the faculty of history and philology. In March 1869, student unrest shook the university again, but on a smaller scale. By 1869, 2,588 students had graduated from the university. In 1880, the Ministry of National Enlightenment forbade students to marry and married persons could not be admitted. In 1882, another student unrest took place in the university. In 1884, a new Charter of the Imperial Russian Universities was adopted, which granted the right to appoint the rector to the Minister of National Enlightenment again. On 1 March 1887 (O.S.), a group of the university students was arrested while planning an attempt on the life of Alexander III of Russia. As a result, new admission rules to gymnasiums and universities were approved by the Minister of National Enlightenment Ivan Delyanov in 1887, which barred persons of non-noble origin from admission to the university, unless they were extraordinarily talented. By 1894, 9,212 students had graduated from the university. Among the scholars of the second half of the 19th century, affiliated with the university were mathematician Pafnuty Chebyshev, physicist Heinrich Lenz, chemists

and Aleksandr Butlerov, embryologist Alexander Kovalevsky, physiologist

Ivan Sechenov Ivan Mikhaylovich Sechenov (; – ) is a world-renowned medical scientist, physiologist, psychologist, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and founder of Russian physiology and psychology, he is a pioneer in the field of central ner ...

and pedologist Vasily Dokuchaev. On 24 March 1896 (O.S.), on the campus of the university, Alexander Popov publicly demonstrated transmission of

radio waves Radio waves (formerly called Hertzian waves) are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the lowest frequencies and the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies below 300 gigahertz (GHz) and wavelengths ...

for the first time in history. As of 1 January 1900 (O.S.), there were 2,099 students enrolled in the Faculty of Law, 1,149 students in the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, 212 students in the Faculty of Oriental Languages and 171 students in the Faculty of History and Philology. In 1902, the first student dining hall in Russia was opened in the university. Since about 1897, regular strikes and student unrest shook the university and spread to other institutions of higher education across Russia. During the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

of 1905, the charter of the Russian universities was amended once more; the autonomy of the universities was partially restored and the right to elect the rector was returned to the academic board for the first time since 1884. In 1905–06, the university was temporarily closed due to student unrest. Its autonomy was revoked again in 1911. In the same year, the university was once again temporarily closed. In 1914, with the start of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the university was renamed Petrograd Imperial University after its namesake city. During the War, the university was the center of mobilization of Russian intellectual resources and scholarship for the war effort. In 1915, a branch of the university was opened in Perm, which later became Perm State University.

1918–1939

The Assembly of Petrograd Imperial University openly welcomed the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

of 1917, which put an end to the Russian monarchy, and the university came to be known as Petrograd University. However, after the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

of 1917, the university's staff and administration were initially vocally opposed to the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

takeover of power and reluctant to cooperate with the Narkompros. Later in 1917–22, during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, some of the staff suspected of counter-revolutionary sympathies suffered imprisonment (e.g.,

Lev Shcherba Lev Vladimirovich Shcherba (commonly Scherba) (; ; – December 26, 1944) was a Russian and Soviet linguist and lexicographer specializing in phonetics and phonology. Early life and education Born in Igumen (Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire,In ...

in 1919), execution, or exile abroad on the so-called Philosophers' ships in 1922 (e.g., Nikolai Lossky). Furthermore, the entire staff suffered from hunger and extreme poverty during those years. In 1918, the university was renamed 1st Petrograd State University, and in 1919 the Narkompros merged it with the 2nd PSU (former Psychoneurological Institute) and 3rd PSU (former Bestuzhev Higher Courses for Women) into Petrograd State University. In 1919, the Faculty of Social Science was established by the Narkompros instead of the Faculty of History and Philology, Faculty of Oriental Languages and Faculty of Law. Nicholas Marr became the first Dean of the new faculty. Chemist Alexey Favorsky became the Dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. Rabfaks and free university courses were opened on the basis of the university to provide mass education. In the fall of 1920, as observed by freshman student Alice Rosenbaum (Ayn Rand), enrollment was open and the majority of the students were anti-communist including, until removed, a few vocal opponents of the regime. Seeing they were educating "class enemies", a purge was conducted in 1922 based on the class background of the students, and all students, other than seniors, with a

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

background were expelled. In 1924, the university was renamed Leningrad State University after its namesake city. In order to suppress intellectual opposition to Soviet power, a number of historians working in the university, including Sergey Platonov, Yevgeny Tarle, and

Boris Grekov Boris Dmitrievich Grekov (; – 9 September 1953) was a Russian Empire, Russian and Soviet Union, Soviet historian noted for his comprehensive studies of Kievan Rus and the Golden Horde. He was a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (19 ...

, were imprisoned in the so-called Academic Affair of 1929–30 on fabricated charges of participating in a counter-revolutionary conspiracy aimed at overthrowing the government. Some other members of the staff were repressed in 1937–38 during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

1940–1999

During the 1941–44

Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad was a Siege, military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 t ...

in World War II, many students and staff died from starvation, in battles, or from repressions. The university evacuated to

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

in 1942–44. A branch of the university was in Yelabuga during the war. In 1944, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union awarded the university the Order of Lenin. In 1948, the

Soviet Council of Ministers The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Совет министров СССР, r=Sovet Ministrov SSSR, p=sɐˈvʲet mʲɪˈnʲistrəf ˌɛsˌɛsˌɛsˈɛr), sometimes abbreviated as Sovmin or referred to as the ...

named the university after Andrei Zhdanov, a deceased Communist official. This decision was revoked in 1989 during

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...

. In 1949–50, several professors died in prison during the investigation of the Leningrad Affair fabricated by the central Soviet leadership, and the Minister of Education of the

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

, former rector Alexander Voznesensky, was executed. In 1966, the Council of Ministers decided to build a suburban campus in Petrodvorets for most of the mathematics and natural science faculties. The relocation of the faculties was completed by the 1990s. In 1969, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union awarded the university the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. In 1991, the university was renamed back to Saint Petersburg State University after its namesake city. The university educated Russian presidents

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 ...

and Dimitry Medvedev, both of whom studied law at the university.

2000–present

Rector Nikolay Kropachev has signed a letter of support for the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In early 2022, the university expelled 13 students who had protested against the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In response to the Russian invasion, in March 2022 the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and

University of Bremen The University of Bremen () is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 18,400 students from 117 countries. Its 12 faculties offer more than 100 degree programs. The University of Bremen has been among the top 50 European rese ...

suspended their longstanding relationships with the university,

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

stopped running its Russian language study abroad program in the university, and CEMS - The Global Alliance in Management Education suspended its partnership with the Graduate School of Management in St Petersburg. In addition, the European

Coimbra Group The Coimbra Group (CG) is an international association of 40 universities in Europe. It was established in 1985. It works for the benefit of its members by promoting "internationalization, academic collaboration, excellence in learning and rese ...

expelled the university, and the European University Association suspended the school. The Council on International Educational Exchange stopped its programs at the university, and relocated students to other non-Russian universities.

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 An academic year, or school year, is a period that schools, colleges and university, universities use to measure the duration of studies for a given educational level. Academic years are often divided into academic terms. Students attend classe ...

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 The Great Neva or Bolshaya Neva () is the largest armlet of the river Neva. It starts near the Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns, Spit of Vasilievsky Island (easternmost tip of the island). The Great Neva is long; the width ...

, designed by Domenico Trezzini and originally built as the Palace of Peter II of Russia. The New Gostiny Dvor designed by

Giacomo Quarenghi Giacomo Quarenghi (; , ; 20 or 21 September 1744) was an Italian architect who was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of neoclassical architecture in Imperial Russia, particularly in Saint Petersburg. He brought into vogue an original mo ...

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 A metro station or subway station is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the syste ...

, while the Faculty of Sociology, Faculty of Political Science and the School of International Relations occupy historical buildings of Smolny Convent. The new suburban campus consists of the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Control Processes, Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics, and Faculty of Physics, which are in modern buildings in Peterhof. Nearby the Peterhof campus there is a park area called Sergievka. In the Sergievka park there are buildings of the Faculty of Biology.

Faculties and Institutes

SPbSU is made up of 24 specialized faculties, which are: * Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Control Processes
*rus

*eng
* Faculty of Biology
*rus
* Institute of Chemistry * Faculty of

Dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the Human tooth, teeth, gums, and Human mouth, mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, dis ...

and Medical Technology
*rus
* Faculty of Economics
*rus
* Institute of Earth Sciences
*rus
* Institute of History
*rus
* School of International Relations
*rus
*

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

* Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences
*rus

*eng
* Saint Petersburg State University Mathematics and Mechanics Faculty
*rus

*eng
*

Faculty of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

*rus
* Faculty of Oriental Studies
*rus

*eng
* Faculty of Artsbr>*rus

*eng
* Faculty of Philology
*rus

*eng
* Institute of Philosophy
*rus

*eng
* Faculty of Physics
*rus

* Faculty of Political Science ( *rus)
*rus

*eng
* Faculty of Psychology
*rus

*eng
* Faculty of Sociology
*rus
* Graduate School of Management * Military Faculty
*rus
* School of Journalism and Mass Communications
*rus

*eng
** Faculty of Applied Communications ** Faculty of Journalism There is also a Department of Physical Culture and Sports.
*rus

International collaboration

The university is a member of the

University of the Arctic The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arcti ...

. 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 The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

in 2022.

Notable alumni and faculty

Politics

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

, 2nd and 4th

President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

(2000–2008, 2012-present), 5th and 9th

Prime Minister of Russia The prime minister of the Russian Federation, also domestically stylized as the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation and widely recognized as the prime minister, is the head of government of Russia and the second highest ranking ...

(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 The president of Poland ( ), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. His or her prerogatives and duties are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president jointly exercises the executive ...

(1922) *

Antanas Smetona Antanas Smetona (; 10 August 1874 – 9 January 1944) was a Lithuanian intellectual, journalist and politician. He served as the first president of Lithuania from 1919 to 1920 and later as the authoritarian head of state from 1926 until the Occu ...

, 1st President of Lithuania (1919-1920, 1926-1940) *

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

, 3rd

(2008–2012), 10th

(2012–2020) *

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

, 1st leader of Soviet Russia (1917–1923) and the

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 ...

(1923–1924) * Jazep Varonka, 1st

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

of the Belarusian National Republic (1918) * Augustinas Voldemaras, 1st and 12th

Prime Minister of Lithuania The prime minister of Lithuania (, , colloquially also referred to as the premier ) is the head of government of Lithuania. The prime minister is appointed by the President of Lithuania, president with the assent of the Lithuanian parliament, th ...

(1918, 1926–1929) * Boris Shturmer, 5th

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(1916) * Pyotr Stolypin, 3rd

of the

(1906–1911) * Alexander Kerensky, 2nd Minister-Chairman of the Russian Provisional Government (1917) * Liudmyla Denisova, 3rd Ombudsman in Ukraine (2018–2022) * Ben-Zion Dinur, 4th Minister of Education of Israel (1951–1955) * Jean-Claude Gakosso, 16th Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Congo (2015–present) * Lyudmila Narusova, Russian Federation Senator from

Tuva Tuva (; ) or Tyva (; ), officially the Republic of Tyva,; , is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. Tuva lies at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the Federal subjects of Russia, federal sub ...

(2016–present) and from Bryansk Oblast (2010–2012) * Anatoly Sobchak, 1st Mayor of Saint Petersburg (1991–1996) and a co-author of the Constitution of Russia

Nobel laureates

Nine graduates of the university are

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

recipients: Leonid Kantorovich 1975

Science and mathematics

Literature and the arts

* Johann Admoni, composer, pianist, teacher, and public person * Alexander Blok, poet *

Ilia Chavchavadze Tavadi, Tavadi (Prince) Ilia Chavchavadze ( ka, ილია ჭავჭავაძე; 27 October 1837 – 12 September 1907) was a Georgians, Georgian journalist, publisher, writer and poet who spearheaded the revival of Georgian nationalism ...

, Georgian writer, politician and public benefactor * Igor Chubais, philosopher, sociologist, and author * Solomon Dodashvili, Georgian philosopher, grammarian, belletrist *

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...

, Russian-born American novelist *

Boris Grebenshchikov Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov (; born ) is a prominent member of the generation which is widely considered to be the "founding fathers" of Russian rock music. He is the founder and lead singer of the band Aquarium which has been active since ...

, founder and lead singer of the band Aquarium * Yehuda L. Katzenelson, writer and doctor * Alexander Kugel, theatre critic and editor * Julian Henry Lowenfeld, American-Russian poet, playwright, trial lawyer, Composer, and translator * Salomon Mandelkern, poet and author * Olga Ozarovskaya, folklorist, storyteller, performer, writer, and an archivist of fairy tales * Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan, Indian historian * Nicholas Roerich, artist * Lyubov Speranskaya, theater artist * Maximilian Steinberg, composer of classical music *

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

, composer *

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ; rus, links=no, Иван Сергеевич ТургеневIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; – ) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, poe ...

, writer Other notable alumni include: Alexander Alekhine, fourth World Chess Champion and Grigory Levenfish, 2x Soviet chess champion, Gennadiy Shatkov, Olympic champion in boxing, and Eduard Vinokurov, Olympic and world champion sabre fencer. Joseph Shor, a student of the School of Mathematics and Mechanics, known as the main protege of Ostap Bender. Igor Artimovich, known for creating Festi. Yakov Rekhter, known for creating

BGP Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is a standardized exterior gateway protocol designed to exchange routing and reachability information among autonomous system (Internet), autonomous systems (AS) on the Internet. BGP is classified as a path-vect ...

. Nikolai Kondratiev, Soviet economist, known for the

business cycle Business cycles are intervals of general expansion followed by recession in economic performance. The changes in economic activity that characterize business cycles have important implications for the welfare of the general population, governmen ...

theory known as Kondratiev waves. Pavel Durov, the Telegram founder, graduated from the department of philology while his brother, Nikolai Durov received his PhD from the department of mathematics. Kyrgyz sociologist Rakhat Achylova received her DPhil in 1988.

Rectors

:1819–1821 Mikhail Balugyansky :1821–1825 Yevdokim Zyablovskiy (acting) :1825–1836 Antoine Jeudy Dugour :1836–1840 Ivan Shulgin :1840–1861 Pyotr Pletnyov :1861 Izmail Sreznevsky (acting) :1861–1863 Aleksandr Voskresensky (acting) :1863–1865 Heinrich Lenz :1865–1867 Aleksandr Voskresensky :1867–1873 Karl Kessler :1873–1876 Pyotr Redkin :1876–1883 Andrey Beketov :1883 (1884)–1887 Ivan Andreevsky :1887–1890 Mikhail Vladislavlev :1890 Ivan Pomyalovsky (acting) :1890–1897 Pyotr Nikitin :1897–1899 Vasily Sergeevich :1899–1903 Adolf Holmsten :1903–1905 Aleksandr Zhdanov :1905–1910 Ivan Borgman :1910–1911 David Grimm :1911–1918 Erwin Grimm :1918–1919 Alexander Ivanov :1919 Sergei Zhebelev (acting) :1919–1922 Vladimir Shimkevich :1922–1926 Nikolay Derzhavin :1926–1927 Vsevolod Tomashevsky :1927–1930 Mikhail Serebryakov :1930–1932 Yury Nikich-Krilichevsky (director) :1932–1933 Viktor Seryozhnikov (director) :1933–1937 Mikhail Lazurkin (director) :1937-1938 Boris Berezin (acting) :1938–1939 Konstantin Lukashev (director) :1939 Artemy Marchenko (acting) :1939–1941 Pyotr Zolotukhin (director) :1941–1948 Alexander Voznesensky :1948–1950 Nikita Domnin :1950 Mikhail Artamonov (acting) :1950–1952 Alexey Ilyushin :1952–1964 Aleksandr Aleksandrov :1964–1970 Kirill Kondratyev :1970–1975 Gleb Makarov :1975–1986 Valentin Aleskovsky :1986–1993 Stanislav Merkuriev :1993(1994)–2008 Lyudmila Verbitskaya :since 2008 Nikolay Kropachev File:Balugjanskij Mikhail A.jpg, Mikhail Balugyansky File:Дегуров Антон А., профессор (1765-1845), 2я четв.XIXв p296 e1t.jpg, Antoine Jeudy Dugour File:Шульгин Иван Петрович.jpg, Ivan Shulgin File:Pletnev.jpg, Pyotr Pletnyov File:Sreznevskiy II.jpg, Izmail Sreznevsky File:Voskresensky A.A.jpg, Aleksandr Voskresensky File:Emil Lenz (cropped).jpg, Heinrich Lenz File:Karl Kessler.jpg, Karl Kessler File:Редкин Пётр Григорьевич 2.jpg, Pyotr Redkin File:Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary B82 11-1.jpg, Andrey Beketov File:Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary B82 01.jpg, Ivan Andreevsky File:Владиславлев Михаил Иванович.jpg, Mikhail Vladislavlev File:Помяловский-Иван-Васильевич (cropped).jpg, Ivan Pomyalovsky File:PV Nikitin.JPG, Pyotr Nikitin File:Sergeevich Vasily Ivanovich.jpg, Vasily Sergeevich File:Гольмстен Адольф Христианович.jpg, Adolf Holmsten File:Жданов Александр Маркеллович.gif, Aleksandr Zhdanov File:Боргман И.И..jpg, Ivan Borgman File:Grimm DD.jpg, David Grimm File:ED Grimm 1916.jpg, Erwin Grimm File:Жебелев Сергей Александрович.png, Sergei Zhebelev File:Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary B82 58-4.jpg, Vladimir Shimkevich File:Mikhail Serebryakov.png, Mikhail Serebryakov File:Artamonov student.jpg, Mikhail Artamonov File:Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov.jpg, Aleksandr Aleksandrov File:Lyudmila Verbitskaya, 2014.jpg, Lyudmila Verbitskaya File:Nikolay Kropachev 2019.jpg, Nikolay Kropachev

References

Bibliography

* — The history of the university, with a particular focus on the law faculty, from the 19th century to the perestroika period

External links

Saint Petersburg State University homepage

History of St Petersburg University
{{Authority control 1724 establishments in the Russian Empire 1819 establishments in the Russian Empire Educational institutions established in 1819 Universities and colleges in the Soviet Union Public universities and colleges in Russia Universities in Saint Petersburg