Belgorod State University

The National Research University "Belgorod State University" /
(BelSU)

Белгородский государственный национальный исследовательский университет (НИУ БелГУ)
File:GerbBigB.GIF
Type	Public
Established	1876
Rector	Oleg Nikolaevich Polukhin
Location	Belgorod , Russia
Website	bsu.edu.ru/en/

The National Research University "Belgorod State University" (BelSU) (Russian: Белгородский государственный национальный исследовательский университет (НИУ БелГУ)) is one of the oldest universities in Belgorod, Russia.

History

The history of Belgorod State National Research University (abbreviated as BelSU) is closely connected with the history of pedagogic education in Russia. The reforms of the 1860s (following the Russian Emancipation Edict of 1861) promoted the speeding-up of economic, military and scientific development of the country and brought about an increase in the number of educational establishments. After 1872, special educational institutions in Russia started to appear – teaching institutes. On September 26, 1876 in the district town of Belgorod, the Teacher's Training Institute – the ninth of that kind in Russia – was founded by the order of the Russian Ministry of Public Education. That was the beginning of a challenging but eventful history of the University, throughout which it has had different names and organizational structures: Belgorod Pedagogical Institute (1919), Belgorod Institute of Public Education (1920), Belgorod Practical Institute of Public Education (1922), Belgorod Pedagogical Vocational School (1923), Teacher's Training Institute (1939), Belgorod Pedagogical Institute (1954), Belgorod М.S.Olminsky State Pedagogical Institute (1967), Belgorod M.S.Olminsky State Pedagogical University (1994) and, finally, Belgorod State University (since 1996). The University had to temporarily suspend its operation in 1941 due to the outbreak of World War II and resumed its work only when the area had been completely liberated from fascists – in 1944, but in a new place – the town of Stary Oskol (Belgorod region) because Belgorod came out of war almost totally destroyed. Since 1957, the University has been located in Belgorod: first, it was placed into a building in Kommunisticheskaya Street (today it’s the building of the Social-Theological Faculty at 78 Preobrazhenskaya Street), and in 1966, the Institute moved into a new building in Zhdanova Street (now it is 14 Stydencheskaya Street). Nowadays the University has several campuses in and out of Belgorod. In the early 2000s, the University complex began to develop and expand fast due to new buildings with modern equipment. The number of students over the last 7 years has grown more than three times.

Symbols of Belgorod State University

The arms of Belgorod State University include the classic heraldic symbols: in a French coat of arms (widely used in Russian heraldry) there is a silver Pegasus against a green background; above Pegasus is a seven-pointed golden star and silver abbreviation BelSU (in Russian); at the bottom of the shield is the date of foundation of the University – 1876 (in golden figures). The colors and symbols of the arms have a single ideological and graphic meaning: green in heraldry symbolizes renewal and rejection of the obsolete and old; silver (white) means purity of intentions; golden (yellow) means nobleness. Pegasus is the oldest symbol of creative inspiration, and a seven-pointed star represents the pursuit of excellence. The symbolism of the colors and the main objects in the shield reflects the real essence of the university. The song about Belgorod State University (lyrics by Vitaly Schigolev, music by Alexander Mosienko) is a component of the University’s corporate culture. Using the anthem helps to add an emotional and ideological charge to the University’s events, influencing the thoughts and spirit of the students, faculty and staff.

University Today

In 2009, Belgorod State University was selected along with other 27 finalists of the national competition of higher education institutions development programs to be awarded the category of national research university.

In 2009, the University became the base institution of The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Network University, in the priority areas of Nanotechnology, Regional Studies and Ecology.

On April 26, 2010, following the secret voting, the Contest Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation selected the universities to be awarded the title of national research university. It was the second round involving the best of the best – 32 Russian universities out of 128 university-applicants. Only 15 out of those 32 universities became the winners, Belgorod State being one of them. Over five years the University received 2 billion rubles of federal funding, which allowed the University to complete the projects within some research programs, to build a new dormitory for 1,000 residents and an 80-apartment house for young scientists.

In 2012, BelSU joined the rank of the 30 best national universities, following a study of 103 Russian state universities and 500 branches. As of the end of 2013, all the major indicators of another stage of the National Research University Program were reached, by which the University proved its national research university status and effectiveness.

In 2012 and 2014, BelSU won in the competitions of development programs for students’ associations. Successful implementation of the programs along with the federal financial support amounting to about 55 million rubles encouraged the development of the BelSU Students’ Union and helped the student self-government to move to a new high-quality level in various fields of the University’s life.

Belgorod State University consists of several campuses. The central campus includes 8 academic buildings, a research library, a publishing house, a museum of BelSU history, a University newspaper editorial office, a Career Counseling Center, Youth Cultural Center, a dormitory, an apartment block for University faculty, St.Gabriel’s University Church and an administrative building. This campus provides facilities for professional training of future lawyers, philologists, translators, biologists, chemists, doctors, pharmacists, journalists, geologists, geographers, managers, economists, and programmers.

All the buildings of the central campus were built at the beginning of the 20th century.

The campus of the Faculty of Theology and Social Sciences is located in the renovated building of the former His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh’s men's classical school. The building is an original monument of eclectic architecture and is under protection of the state. The apartment block for faculty, put in operation in 2010, is located nearby. Yet another University campus houses classrooms, research laboratories, Distance Learning Center, 5 dormitories, Burevestnik (shearwater) Sport Complex, Center of Preclinical and Clinical study, and BelSU Clinic. Academic facilities on this campus are mostly used by future school teachers of Russian and Foreign languages, Physics and Mathematics, History, Primary school and Fine arts, Physical culture, as well as speech therapists and psychologists.

Today BelSU is home to 25,000 students from 85 regions of Russia and 76 countries of the world. The University offers programs for specialists, bachelors and masters in 180 fields of studies and majors, as well as 26 areas of training and 80 educational programs for PhD students and those pursuing the Doctor of Science degree. In the University, there are 12 Scientific Dissertation Councils. The fundamental and applied research is carried out in 50 areas. The University has nine educational and research innovation complexes; 50 research centers and laboratories, including:

• 21 research and educational centers;
• 26 research centers and research laboratories;
• 3 common use centers of scientific equipment;
• BelSU High-tech Solutions Tech Park with a business incubator[1];

In 2015, on the basis of BelSU there was established the Regional Microbiological Center[2]

The Youth Cultural Center at BelSU houses 16 amateur art groups for students. The University library system includes 11 reading rooms (including three rooms with open access to the Library collection), 9 lending libraries, and over 1.2 million items in the Library collection. The University has 9 museums: Museum of BelSU History; Museum of Forensic Science, Museum of Zoology, Museum of Forensic Medical Examination, Museum of the Faculty of History and Philology, Museum of the Department of Mining and Natural Resources Management, Museum of the Institute of Pedagogy, Museum of the International Office, and N. Strakhov Library and Museum. Besides, the University has the University Clinic, the Equestrian School, the Botanical Garden and Nezhegol Recreational Complex.

The Botanical Garden is a unique educational and scientific, socio-cultural and natural object. The garden collection includes more than 2,500 species and varieties. The garden area is 71 hectares.

Svetlana Khorkina Educational and Sports Complex

Svetlana Khorkina Educational and Sports Complex The 36.7-thousand-square-meter complex houses a 50-meter swimming pool with springboards (up to 10 meters high), an athletics arena, a universal arena, a chess club guided by Grandmaster Alexander Alexandrovich Ivanov (Belgorod), gyms, rooms for table tennis, rooms for dance and aerobics. On the campus at Studencheskaya Street there is Burevestnick (shearwater) Sport Complex.

University in rankings

In 2008 World Higher Educational Institutions Ranking by an independent ranking agency "ReyOr" (Russia), Belgorod State University was ranked 320th in the world and 14th among the universities of the CIS and Baltic countries. In 2014, Belgorod State University was assigned rank D (meaning "acceptable level" of training graduates) by Expert RA Agency (Russia). In QS University Rankings: BRICS 2014, Belgorod State University was in Top-200 (rank 151). In the Fifth Annual National University Ranking for 2013/2014 academic year by International Information Group Interfax and radio station Ekho Moskvy, Belgorod State University was ranked 37 among 161 Russian universities. In the Expert RA Webometric ranking of University web visibility, Belgorod State University was ranked 14th among the top 100 Russian universities in 2014. In the Ranking of Universities of the CIS countries, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia conducted by International Information Group Interfax, with the participation of QS Team and support by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Belgorod State University got a rank 40+ among 405 universities (2014). In 2014 Cybermetrics ranking, Belgorod State University was ranked 19th among 1,197 universities of the Russian Federation and 1,766th among 15,000 universities in the world. In the National University Ranking by International Information Group Interfax in the field of Life Sciences (2014) among the best Russian universities, Belgorod State University was ranked 10th by Technological entrepreneurship and 17th by Research. The University has a Youth Media Holding, which includes an Editorial office of a youth supplement to the News of BelSU newspaper – “Nota Bene”, BELyy GUs (White Goose) Radio, and TUT (“Here”) TV. The site of the Youth Editorial Office

Departments and Institutes

* Institute of Law * Institute of Pedagogy

          * Faculty of Physical Education 
          * Faculty of Preschool, Primary and Special education 
          * Faculty of History and Philology 
          * Faculty of Mathematics and Science Education 
          * Faculty of Foreign Languages 
          * Faculty of Psychology 

* Institute of Medicine

          * Faculty of medical Affairs and Pediatrics 
          * Dental faculty 
          * Faculty of Pharmacy 
          * Medical College 

* The Institute of Cross-cultural Communications and International Relations

          * The Preparatory Faculty 

* Institute of Management * Institute of Economy

          * Faculty of Business and service 

* Institute of Engineering Technology and Natural Science

          * Faculty of Information Technologies and Applied Mathematics 
          * Faculty of Engineering and Physics 
          * Faculty of Biology and Chemistry 

* Faculty of Mining and Natural Resource Management

* Faculty of Journalism

* Faculty of Theology and Social Sciences

* Alexeyevka branch

* Stary Oskol branch

Research Centres and Laboratories

* Recreational Education Community (REC)

    * BelSU Regional Cross-Border Cooperation Science and Education Centre 
    * Centre for Construction Ceramics and Engineering Prototyping 
    * Centre for Mediation 
    * Centre for Montessori Pedagogy 
    * Clinical and Preclinical Studies Centre 
    * Cognitive Lingoculturology Science and Education Centre 
    * Jurist-Expert, a BelSU Science and Education, Research, Training Centre 
    * Mediaperspective, Science and Education Centre for Communication and Media Research 
    * Nanostructured Materials and Nanotechnologies SE & Innovation Centre 

* Basic Scientific and Research Laboratories (SRL)

   * Demographic Processes RL
   * Environmental Engineering SRL
   * Historic Anthropology SRL
   * Human Molecular Genetics Self-sustained SRL
   * Information Measurement and Control Complexes and Systems, ESL
   * Intellectual automated control systems SRL
   * Mechanical Properties of Nanoscale and Heat Resistant Materials SRL
   * Mineral Processing SRL
   * Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy SRL
   * Political Psychology SRL
   * Population Genetics and Genotoxicology SRL
   * Problems of Ion-plasma Technologies Development and Implementation SRL
   * Radiation Physics Laboratory
   * Scientific and Research Laboratory of Chemical Materials Science
   * Three Dimensional Nanostructured Materials SRL 

* Scientific and Production Departments

   * BelSU Botanical Garden 

* Scientific and Training Centres

   * Globus Linguistic Centre
   * Scientific and Training Center of Foreign Languages 

* Common Use Centres

   * Centre for Aerospace and Ground Monitoring of Objects and Natural Resources
   * Diagnostics of Nanomaterials' Structure and Properties, CUC
   * Processing Equipment BelSU CUC

External links

• Belgorod State University Home Page in English official website
• Innovations market of SRU "BSU"
• Regional Microbiological Center