Pushchino State University is an unique example of a university established by a joint initiative from the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Science, Higher Education and Technology Policy. This initiative at the level of the federal government reflects both the University's mission to integrate teaching and research and also its structure as a university based on the intellectual capital and research facilities created by the Russian Academy of Sciences over the course of thirty years in its leading center for biological research.

Focus of Educational Programs

PSU is the only university in Russia to focus on development of Master's programs, designed to offer students the opportunity

• to receive additional professional training in the fields of their undergraduate study and/or employment as less-time consuming and more practically-oriented option to study in Ph.D. programs and

• to more readily change fields or focuses after undergraduate study.

Since 1992 the departments at PSU have developed and begun conducting 20 original Master's programs in fields of biology, ecology and soil science. The Master's programs submitted by PSU for approval to the State Committee on Higher Education have been distributed to other universities beginning Master's programs as a model. The University also offers education at the advanced undergraduate level in two fields, and Ph.D. programs in 13 fields; expansion of undergraduate programs is planned for the future, contingent upon the resolution of difficulties in housing large numbers of students.

During the initial stage of its development, the University focuses on those fields in which faculty at the institutes of Pushchino Research Center offer a high level of expertise. It devotes particular attention to the areas of environmental, agricultural and medical biotechnologies as well as other environmental applications of the life sciences. Current priorities of PSU for new programs and courses are in complementary areas: agricultural and resource economics, land use planning, resource management, and further emphasis on the agricultural sciences.

The strategy for strengthening these areas includes close collaboration with U.S. universities to offer intensive courses for students and at the same time train faculty in the latest developments in these fields. A second approach to the expansion of the range of subjects at the University is the affiliation with other local educational institutions. Mechanisms for the incorporation of Pushchino Higher Agrobiotechnological College and the Pushchino Branch of the Moscow Academy of Instrumentmaking are currently under consideration.

As a research university, PSU devotes particular attention to extended field and/or laboratory research practicals (typically 7 - 9 weeks per year), which are a required element of a PSU education at all levels. Laboratory practicals are held in the laboratories of the Center; field laboratories have been conducted at locations ranging from the immediate environs of Pushchino (Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, Oka River Basin) to the Sochi dendrarium, a number of regions of Central Russia (Vladimir, Iaroslavl, Rostov Velikii and others), the Carpathians, and even participation in international Arctic expeditions in Novaya Zemlya. PSU students have also participated in foreign study programs in Lundt University (Sweden), Institute of Biochemical Engineering (Stuttgart, Germany) and Slippery Rock University (USA) and have given papers at international conferences in England and Sweden.

Faculty and Students at PSU

The ratio of students to faculty positions (full time equivalents) is approximately 4:1. The standard ratio for Russian public universities is 8:1, as determined by the State Committee on Higher Education. PSU has received special permission to exceed the standard number of faculty. [Figures for students include undergraduates and Master's students, but not graduate students.]

Enrollment at PSU

The greatest part of the students at PSU received undergraduate training at universities in the former Soviet Union which are well-known for their strong programs in the natural sciences. As the premier biological research center in the country, Pushchino has traditionally maintained contacts with these universities through their alumni working in the Center. These contacts have made it possible for PSU to recruit well-prepared and talented students. The emphasis PSU has placed on Master's programs also helps it compete for the best students, since the number of institutions offering Master's degrees in Russia is still rather limited.

Students at PSU come from a wide range of geographical and ethnic backgrounds, including distant regions within Russia, 11 countries of the former Soviet Union, as well as China.

The University is well-equipped with lecture halls, classrooms and laboratories supplied by the institutes which form the basis for PSU: 2600 square meters of laboratories and approximately 5000 square meters of classroom and office space have been made available for the use of the University by the institutes of the Center. Housing for new faculty and students, on the other hand remains problematic. PSU has acquired 1456 square meters of living space in dormitories, housing 202 students, but further increases in the size of the student body and the range of major fields will depend upon the acquisition of adequate housing for both students and the new faculty necessary to teach additional subjects. The University has been allotted 5.6 hectares of land for construction, and an additional 30 hectares have been reserved for a future University campus. The next stage of the development of PSU will require significant funding for construction of dormitories and other buildings on these lands.