Moscow State University

   M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) is Russia’s oldest and largest university and the premier university in Eastern Europe. It is the most important and prestigious center for education and research in the Russian Federation. It was founded in 1755 by Mikhail Lomonosov, Russia’s most prominent Enlightenment figure. Since 1953 its main campus has been on the Sparrow Hills (known as Lenin’s Hills during the Soviet period) in Moscow. Its main building is one of seven tiered neoclassical towers that Joseph Stalin ordered built after World War II. It remained the tallest building in Europe until the 1990s. In 1992 the university was granted a unique status in the Russian educational system: it is funded directly from the state budget, bypassing the Ministry of Education and thus ensuring a significant degree of independence. The rector of the university is Viktor Sadovnichy. Since 2005, he has used the university’s special status to oppose Russia’s educational reforms and integrate MSU into the panEuropean Bologna process. MSU has 30 schools and over 300 departments, as well as a large number of research centers. The university has an undergraduate population of 40,000, and 90 percent of students do not pay any tuition fees. It also possesses one of the largest libraries in Russia.