Petrozavodsk State University
Petrozavodsk State University (PetrSU) is a classical university in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russia. It was founded in 1940 as the Karelian-Finnish University and was renamed in 1956 to Petrozavodsk State University. The rector of Petrozavodsk State University is Prof. Anatoly V. Voronin. General information There are 16 departments offering a range of disciplines. The university includes 10 faculties, 6 educational institutes, 79 departments, 84 laboratories, development and project departments, 27 innovative departments, 28 small enterprises, 2 techno parks, a publishing house, a scientific library, a botanical garden, and the "Onego" swimming pool. 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 study at PetrSU. Academic degrees and diplomas awarded: Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Science. Language of instruction: Russian. Language courses offered: Russian, English, Finnish, German, and French. History Foundation of the University On April 24, 1940 the congress of the Communist Party KFSSR was held, where the leader of Karelo-Finnish SSR G.N. Kupriyanov showed his report. It claimed that it's needed to pay special attention to the development of higher education in the region in order to improve the economic and cultural life and science of the country. On June 2, 1940 a decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of People's Commissars of the Karelo-Finnish SSR "About opening of the Karelian-Finnish State University" was published. The leadership of the USSR supported this decision, and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution No. 1209 about the opening of the Karelian-Finnish State University (based on the Karelian State Pedagogical Institute) on June 10, 1940. The university was called KFGU in abbreviated form, consisted of 4 faculties: historical and philological, physical and mathematical, biological, geographical and hydrogeological. The goal of university was preparing a large number of specialists for the national economy and the development of scientific research. Formation of the University turned out to very tricky process. A lot of difficult problems had to be solved connected with the simultaneous building of classrooms, accommodation for teachers and students, purchase of the necessary equipment and appliances, integration of scientific university libraries, the development of work plans and teaching aids. However, all these problems have been solved, and in autumn 1940 17 departments, which counted 62 teachers, including 5 PHD (professors) and 32 associate professors began work in the university. On September 2, 1940, more than 700 students of all courses began their studying at a young university, 417 people of them were freshmen. On September 7, 1940 a grand opening of the university took place. Tuuri Ivanovich Lehen was appointed as the first head of the university. Konstantin Dmitrievich Mitropolsky was appointed as the vice-president on Academic Affairs and Research. Faculty deans were appointed: M.G. Nikulin – History and Philology Department, A.A. Raykerus – Physics and Mathematics Department, E.D. Manevitch – Department