Moscow State University

• 1. Imperial Foundations And Early History

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  Russian Empress Elizabeth signed a decree on the 25th of January 1755 to establish Moscow State University. Ivan Shuvalov and Mikhail Lomonosov promoted the idea of this new institution in Moscow. The first lectures were given shortly after the decree was issued. MSU originally occupied the Principal Medicine Store building on Red Square from 1755 until 1787. Catherine the Great transferred the university to a different location on Mokhovaya Street between 1782 and 1793. Matvei Kazakov designed the new building that replaced the old storehouse. A fire consumed much of Moscow in 1812, leading to a rebuild by Domenico Giliardi. In the 18th century, the university operated with three departments: philosophy, medicine, and law. A preparatory college affiliated with the university existed until its abolition in 1812. Nikolay Novikov ran the university press during the 1780s. His publication became the newspaper Moskovskie Vedomosti in Imperial Russia. Student unrest reached deep roots into the nineteenth century. A social-democratic organization emerged at the university in 1905 calling for the overthrow of the Czarist government. The imperial government repeatedly threatened to close the school. In 1911, 130 scientists and professors resigned en masse over protests about troops on campus. Names like Nikolay Dimitrievich Zelinskiy and Pyotr Nikolaevich Lebedev appeared among those who quit.

• 2. Soviet Era Expansion And Political Shifts

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  After the October Revolution of 1917, the institution began admitting children of the proletariat and peasantry. Joseph Stalin's first five-year plan ran from 1928 to 1932 while the university expanded significantly. In 1919, the university abolished tuition fees to help working-class children prepare for entrance examinations. A 2014 article titled Math as a tool of anti-semitism discussed antisemitism in the Department of Mathematics during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1970, the university imposed a 2% quota specifically targeting Jewish students. The Dean of MSU law faculty was dismissed in the mid-1980s for taking bribes. After 1991, nine new faculties were established within the university structure. The following year, the university gained unique status by being funded directly from the state budget. This funding model bypassed the Ministry of Education entirely. Jean Michel Jarre used the front of the university as a backdrop for a concert on the 6th of September 1997. That concert attracted a paying crowd of half a million people.

• 3. The Main Building And Architectural Legacy

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  Since 1953, most of the faculties have been situated on Sparrow Hills in southwest Moscow. Joseph Stalin ordered seven tiered neoclassic towers to be built around the city in the post-war era. The MSU main building was constructed using Gulag labour like many other Great Construction Projects in Russia. O. A. Zinovieva published a book in 2009 claiming GULAG prisoners built the first stage of construction. Her theory has no scientific confirmation according to experts working with archival historical documents. The central tower stands 240 meters tall and reaches 36 stories high. It held the title of tallest building in Europe until 1990. The building houses the Faculty of Journalism, the Faculty of Psychology, and Institute of Asian and African Countries along with administration offices. The Museum of Earth Sciences and faculties of Mechanics and Mathematics also reside within this massive structure. A number of faculty buildings are located near Manege Square in the centre of Moscow. Campuses exist abroad in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well.

• 4. Academic Excellence And Global Rankings

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  As of 2017, 13 Nobel laureates had been affiliated with the university alongside 6 Fields Medal winners. One Turing Award winner also counted among its notable alumni. Writers Anton Chekhov, Boris Pasternak, and Ivan Turgenev studied here before achieving fame. Politicians Mikhail Gorbachev and Mikhail Suslov attended classes at MSU. Mathematicians Vladimir Arnold and Grigory Margulis contributed to the institution's reputation. In world rankings, MSU was ranked between 101st and 150th by the Academic Ranking of World Universities in 2024. QS World University Rankings placed it at 105th in 2026. The university has contacts with universities throughout the world exchanging students and lecturers regularly. It houses UNESCO International Demography Courses and Hydrology Courses for international cooperation. In 1991 the French University College opened on campus along with the Russian-American University. The Institute of German Science and Culture was established that same year. Annually, the university hosts approximately 2,000 students from around the world. More than 40,000 undergraduates and 7,000 advanced degree candidates are enrolled today.

• 5. Modern Controversies And International Sanctions

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  In March 2022, Victor Sadovnichy signed a public statement endorsing the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Academia Europaea suspended his membership as president of the Russian Union of Rectors immediately after. Yale University suspended its longstanding relationships with the university that same month. The Hamburg University of Applied Sciences cut ties while the University of Potsdam did the same. HKU Business School also ended their joint master's degree programme with Moscow State University. Intel and AMD reacted by suspending deliveries of processors to Russia since they power the supercomputer there. Nvidia joined them in halting processor shipments to the country. The institution's academic reputation was severely undermined because of its support for the invasion. The university employs more than 4,000 academics and 15,000 support staff currently. Approximately 5,000 researchers work at the university's research institutes and facilities globally.

• 6. Internal Corruption And Ethical Scandals

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  MSU Rector Viktor Sadovnichy called corruption in Russia's education system a systemic illness in 2007. He had seen an ad guaranteeing a perfect score on entrance exams for a significant fee. In November 2012, Mikhail Basharatyan was fired for taking a bribe from a pupil. Andrei Andriyanov resigned as head of the Kolmogorov Special Educational and Scientific Center in February 2013. An investigation concluded he included fake references in his doctoral thesis. A criminal case opened against Basharatyan in October 2012 under article receiving a large-scale bribe. A young man applying to graduate school contacted police after being offered admission for 30,000 euros. The suspects received 1 million rubles as part of previously reached agreements before being caught red-handed. According to Dissernet online expert community data from December 2020, MSU ranks 4th among Russian universities for employees convicted of dishonesty. There were 232 cases recorded significantly behind Plekhanov Russian University of Economics which led with 382 cases. Lyudmila Grigorieva demanded students join harassment of an eco-activist in early March 2021. She called the MSU Initiative Group a gang and Western liberals fed by the West.