Buryat State University

Buryat State University (Бурятский государственный университет) is an institution of higher education in Siberia and the Russian Far East, located in the city of Ulan-Ude, Buryat Republic, Russia. Courses are taught in Russian and Buryat. It was established in 1932 as the Buryat State Teachers' Training College, and became a university in 1995. It is a member of the University of the Arctic.

Founded in 1666, Ulan-Ude is situated 5500 km from Moscow, the capital of Russia, and 450 km from Ulaanbaatar.

History of Buryat Pedagogical Institute
Buryat Pedagogical Institute was one of the oldest institutes of higher education in Siberia. It was organized by the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 10 January 1932 on the basis of the Buryat-Mongolian branch of the Irkutsk State Pedagogical Institute. The composition of the institute included four departments: physics and mathematics, science, literary and linguistic, and socio-economic. The first intake, of 146 students, was in autumn 1932.

In 1932 the high school employed 22 teachers. The institute was housed in a three-story brick house on the corner of Lenin and Working streets (now Sukhbaatar). The education building had 10 classrooms and labs and one lecture hall. In the hostel, students were allocated a stone building of the former House of Farmer with 90 seats.

In autumn 1932, the institute opened pedrabfak (faculty for workers) with a four-year period of study for training, and admission to college for boys and girls with seven- and nine-year school education. In January 1933, the correspondence department was opened. In September 1934, the teachers' institute was opened. It was at the pedagogical institute and trained teachers for the seven-year schools.

Buryat Pedagogical Institute ran from 1932–1995. More than 95% of the teachers of Buryatia, and many educators in Agin and Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrugs, Irkutsk and Chita regions are graduates of the institute.

Establishment of Buryat State University
Buryat State University, one of the oldest universities in Siberia, has been formed in accordance with Presidential Decree of 30 September 1995 and Government Decree dated 2 November 1995 on the basis of the Buryat State Pedagogical Institute (founded 1932) and the Buryat branch of Novosibirsk State University in Ulan-Ude.

BSU is a system-building educational institution, training specialists in the fields of education, science, management, economy, healthcare, social services, etc. It is named after the Buryat academic Dorzhi Banzarov.

Faculties

 * Biology and Geography
 * Chemistry
 * History
 * Law
 * Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism
 * Physics and Engineering
 * Social Work and Psychology

Institutes

 * Economics and Management
 * Mathematics and Computer Science
 * Medical
 * Oriental Studies
 * Pedagogical
 * Philology and Mass Communications

BSU branches

 * BSU campus in Aginskoye, Zabaykalsky Krai
 * BSU campus in Bokhan, Irkutsk region

College

 * College of post-secondary education

Other Structural Units
and others.
 * Centre for career-guidance
 * Institute for continuous training
 * Institute of Inner Asia
 * Centre for Eurasian Cooperation
 * Testing language centre for foreigners
 * Confucius Institute

Academics
Research at BSU includes information and telecommunications technology and electronics, space and aviation technology, new transportation technology, new materials, ecology and rational nature-usage, and energy-saving technology.

International links
BSU cooperates with academic and research centres in many countries. Every year, more than 150 international students study at BSU and the university carries out non-commercial students and lecturers' exchange with its foreign partner organizations. The university organises annual Lake Baikal summer camps for foreign students and teachers.

International students have the opportunity to take courses in the Russian and Buryat languages, in which they can also learn about Russian and local cultures.

BSU students study in partner universities in China, Mongolia, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, and Germany.

Education for international students
The university offers courses of Russian as a foreign language. The department "Russian as a Foreign Language" was founded in September 2002 at the Philology Faculty. There is a Master's programme for the direction "Philology" (Russian language/Russian literature) for international students.