The Ural Federal University

The Ural Federal University is one of the biggest and most prestigious institutions of higher education in Russia. In 2010 our University will celebrate its 90^th anniversary on October 19.

The history of its foundation and development is closely connected with the history of training engineers in the country as a whole and the development of the Ural in particular.

The Ural Polytechnic – UPI was founded on October 19, in 1920 on the basis of the Ural State University and got the name of the Ural Industrial Institute. The 1^st rector of the UPI was Professor A. E. Macovetsky, the head of the chemical department, the dean of the chemical engineering faculty. There were only metallurgical, mechanical, chemical faculties at the institute. But the institute grew and developed and in 1929 the construction of the student’s town began. In 1934 the institute was named after S. M. Kirov.

During the years of the Great Patriotic War many volunteers including students, lecturers and workers went to the front to defend our Motherland. Many of them were killed in the war, some of them having become the Heroes of the Soviet Union. The monument to those who had perished in the war was erected on May 9, 1961 in front of the metallurgical faculty. On February 27, 1948 the UII was renamed into the Ural Polytechnic. It was connected with the creation of some new faculties: physical engineering (1949), radio engineering (1952) and silicate technology faculty (1953). In December 1992 the Ural Polytechnical Institute was renamed into the Ural State Technical University – UPI.

At present it is one of the largest higher schools not only in the Ural, but in Russia as well. The student body of the university is over 43000 more than 25000 study full-time.

There are 49 subdivisions which are involved in training process of future specialists including 19 faculties, the 16 ones being the full-time, and 6 institutes, 35 branches and representative institutions all over Russia; 16 educational and scientific centres; 21 research laboratories.

The academic staff consists of more than 2800 lecturers and scientists. Among them there are 425 doctors, professors, 1534 assistant professors having different degrees, 5 Active Members and 11 associate members of the Russian academy of sciences, 116 members of public academies of Russia. Over 200000 specialists have graduated from the University since its foundation. A Diploma of the UrFU is a reliable confirmation of the specialist’s high qualification not only in Russia, but on the international level as well.

At present educational programmes of higher professional technical, technological, economic and social-humanitarian are realized.

The University occupies 8 study buildings, housing laboratories, workshops, auditoriums and lecture halls. The University library has over 2 million volumes. There are several dormitories. There is a hotel, a kindergarten, shops, dining-halls and a hospital on the campus. At the University there are opportunities for successful study and research work of students staff. Those who like sports can go in for various kinds of sports at the stadium and athletic grounds or go to sport camps out of the town. The University has sport camps in the Ural and on the Black Sea coast.

The UrFU today is a powerful centre of education and science in the Ural and Siberia regions. An integral part of the academic and educational process is research work of students and researchers. Professional appreciation of the students’ work is provided by traditional “Days of Science contests, scientific conferences. Supervision of the students and post-graduates is provided by the readers, lecturers and scientists. Our University participates in 32 scientific programs in Russia.

As to the international contacts by its 80th anniversary our University had trained 1,524 specialists from 23 countries of Europe, Asia, Africa. And some students and post-graduates of our University study at the Universities in the United States of America and Germany.

There is a Faculty of Improvement of Professional Skills for the teaching staff.

There are many interesting traditions at the UrFU, one of them being the traditional Festival “UrFU Spring”. A remarkable tradition of the festival is a memorial gathering in honour of the students and employees of the University who were killed during the Second World War.

In 2008 the university was named after the first President of Russia B. N. Eltsin, the former graduate of this university.

In 2010 the USTU-UPI was united with the Ural State University and got the name of the Ural Federal University (UrFU).

In spite of its age the University is still young because of the youth. It is growing, developing and educating future intellectuals of Russia.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1623