Saint Petersburg State University (
Russian ?????-????????????? ??????????????? ???????????, Sankt-Peterburgskiy gosudarstvenny universitet) is a
Russian federal state-owned
higher education institution based in
Saint Petersburg and one of the oldest, largest and most prestigious universities in the country. It is made up of 19 specialized faculties, 13 research institutes, Canada College, Faculty of Military Studies, and a Chair of Physical Culture and Sports. As of 2004, the university had a teaching staff of 4,055. The university has two main
campuses on
Vasilievsky Island and in
Peterhof.
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, itself claims to be the successor of the university established on January 24, 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, together with the Academic Gymnasium and Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Immanuel Kant State University of Russia in Kaliningrad also claims to be the successor of the Albertina founded in East Prussia in 1544, though there is hardly any degree of continuity at all.
In the period between 1803 and 1819, Saint Petersburg University officially did not exist; the institution founded by Peter the Great - Saint Petersburg Academy - had already been disbanded, because the new 1803 charter of the Academy of Sciences stipulated that there should be no educational institutions affiliated with it. The Petersburg Pedagogical Institute, renamed Main Pedagogical Institute in 1814, was established in 1804 and occupied a part of the Twelve Collegia building.
On February 8, 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, and enrolled several dozens students. Since there is some degree of continuity between the Academy, the Pedagogical Institute, and the University, Saint Petersburg State University may be considered the oldest university in Russia. 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 beyond the Fontanka. In 1824 the amended charter of the Moscow University became the first charter of the Saint Petersburg Imperial University. In 1829 there were 19 full professors and 169 regular and irregular students in the university. In 1830 Nicholas I of Russia passed the entire building of the Twelve Collegia to the university, and the courses returned there back from the south of the city. In 1835 a new charter of imperial universities of Russia was approved. According to it during the following years the Faculty of Law was established and the Faculty of History and Philology and Faculty of Physics and Mathematics were merged into the Faculty of Philosophy as the 1st and 2nd Departments, respectively.
