History of Technical Education in Russia

Russia has contributed significantly to engineering education internationally.

Engineering education in Russia started with the foundation of the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences in Moscow in accordance with Tsar Peter the Great's Decree dated 27 January 1701 (new style).

The total number of students at the School was defined as 500, but at times went up to 700 persons. The School taught mathematics, geodesy, sea sailing, cartography, astronomy and a number of other engineering and technical subjects. It was soon placed in the building of Sukharev Tower, which incorporated special laboratories equipped for practical studies and an observatory. By the time of establishment, the School was the first and the biggest educational institution in Europe of its type.

Soon after the Navigational School, the Artillery-Engineering School was organized (1701). In 1703, the Moscow Engineering School was formed, then the St Petersburg Engineering School in 1713. The Mining College was founded in St. Petersburg in 1733, which was equal in status to academies.

Since the beginning of the 19th Century, the process of establishing higher technical schools in Russia continued, although the process went on at an extremely slow pace. In 1828, The St Petersburg Practical Technological Institute was founded, which was followed in 1830 by the Moscow Handicraft Education Institution for preparation of skilled workmen with theoretical knowledge.

The preparation of highly qualified technical specialists was carried out at professional higher educational institutions. The first to start such preparation of engineers were: the Mining Technological Institute; the Practical Technological Institute; and the Kharkov Technological Institute. One characteristic of most of the higher technical educational institutions was their multi-profile nature. They mostly had four departments: mechanical, chemical, engineering-construction and economics.

The end of the 19th Century and the beginning of 20th Century were characterized by establishing a number of higher technical educational institutions: the Moscow Engineering College, the Kiev and Warsaw Polytechnic Institutes, the Yekaterinoslavl Higher Mining College, the Tomsk Institute of Technology, and the Electro-technical Institute in St Petersburg, the Petersburg Polytechnic Institute.

After the 1917 revolution, and during the industrialization of the country, especially after the war, higher engineering education in Russia developed at a very fast rate. At the beginning of the 1960s, some of the best higher technical engineering schools of the world were established in Russia. The quality of higher engineering education in Russia was, and still is, acknowledged all over the world.

Recent advances have led to the formation of a technical university in Russia, which is a centre of science, education and culture that realizes mostly fundamental research and professional training, generally for scientific and technical activities in a wide spectrum of directions and specialties.

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