National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute)

Today, MEPhI has nine main departments (faculties or institutes):

• Institute of Nuclear Physics and Engineering
• Institute for Laser and Plasma Technologies
• Institute of Engineering Physics for Biomedicine
• Institute of Nanoengineering in Electronics, Spintronics and Photonics
• Institute of Cyber Intelligence Systems
• Institute of financial and economic security
• Institute of international relations
• Faculty of Physics and Technology
• Faculty of business informatics and complex systems management

The university offers bachelor, masters (and similar degree ‘Specialist’), and post-graduate degrees in physics, mathematics, computer science and other areas. MEPhI facilities include a 2.5 MW (thermal) pool-type research reactor and Neutrino Water Detector NEVOD. The university has about 35,000 students at branches in Moscow and other towns. In Moscow are around 7,500 students (including over 1300 foreigners). It normally takes 4 - 5.5 (some sub-departments take six) years for a student to graduate from MEPhI. The curriculum of the first two years consists exclusively of required courses (core), with emphasis on mathematics, physics, experimental work and English. After the two first years of studying students on a competition basis enroll to the sub-departments which specialize in different branches of physics, computer science, information security, mathematics, etc.

Starting with the fourth year, some students have a choice to make their diploma thesis, working at base science institutes. Most of them are research institutes, usually belonging to the Russian Academy of Sciences. For instance, Lebedev Physical Institute, Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Kurchatov Institute etc.

The MEPhI curriculum is, indeed, considerably more extensive compared to an average American or European college. In addition, MEPhI programs usually focus more on research and less on classroom education.

Among MEPhI graduates are Nobel Prize winners, members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and winners of national prizes. Its professors and alumni have made major contributions to various fields of theoretical and experimental physics, mathematics, cybernetics, and computer sciences.

Traditional university rankings are based on the universities' research output and prizes won by faculty. In contrast, many distinguished professors teaching at MEPhI are officially on staff at the base institutes like Kurchatov Institute. Student research work is typically carried out outside of MEPhI, and published research results do not mention MEPhI. In effect, many MEPhI professors are not considered as such for the rankings, and student research is not earning any ranking points for MEPhI. This effectively hides MEPhI from the academic radar, an effect welcome during the Cold War era when leading scientists and engineers of the Soviet arms and space programs studied there.

In recent years, the institute has been working to improve its curricula in the humanities, economic sciences, and foreign languages.

The student population, especially on natural science departments, is predominantly male. During the first years from MEPhI's foundation there was a ban against accepting women. In recent years this situation has changed and in 2010 more than 30% of first year students were females.

It is a fifteen-minute walk (or a five-minute bus ride) from the university to the Kashirskaya station on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. Its campus is one kilometre from the famous Kolomenskoe park and museum.

During 2016-2018 MEPhI increased its presence in online educational platforms, namely Coursera(Rus), edX (Eng), Universarium (Rus) and CLP4NET (Eng). By the end of 2018, MEPhI had provided 43 courses via those platforms, including 25 on Coursera and 11 on edX. In 2018, the number of students that joined MEPhI's online courses on the leading online platforms reached approximately 160,000 persons from 150 countries.

• Nicolay Gennadiyevich Basov (Николай Геннадиевич Басов) - Nobel Prize
• Alexander Mikhajlovich Baldin (Александр Михайлович Балдин)
• Anatoly Ivanovich Larkin (Анатолий Иванович Ларкин)
• Alexander Balankin (Александр Сергеевич Баланкин)
• Igor Tamm (Игорь Евгеньевич Тамм) - Nobel Prize
• Anatoly Stepanovich Dyatlov, physicist
• Igor Kurchatov (Игорь Васильевич Курчатов)
• Lev Gor'kov (Горьков Лев Петрович)
• Evgenii Feinberg (Фейнберг Евгений Львович)
• Yuri Oganessian (Юрий Цолакович Оганесян) - element 118 in Periodic Table be named oganesson to honor Oganessian
• Isaak Pomeranchuk (Исаак Яковлевич Померанчук)
• Pavel Cherenkov (Павел Алексеевич Черенков) - Nobel Prize
• Ilya Mikhailovich Frank (Илья Михайлович Франк) - Nobel Prize
• Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov (Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров) - Nobel Prize
• Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov (Николай Николаевич Семёнов) - Nobel Prize
• Lev Okun (Лев Борисович Окунь)
• Sergei Avdeyev (Сергей Васильевич Авдеев), - Russian engineer and cosmonaut, record for time spent in space: 747.59 days
• Vyacheslav Starshinov (Вячеслав Иванович Старшинов) - Olympic champion, world champion
• Alexei Kornyshev - Humboldt Prize
• Igor Irodov - author of a series of handbooks on general physics.
• Lev Artsimovich - known as "the father of the Tokamak"
• Dmitry Kholodov (Дмитрий Холодов) - Journalist who investigated corruption in the military and was assassinated on 17 October 1994

• (in Russian and English) English language and Russian language official website of National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute)
• (in Russian and English) Profile on the official website StudyInRussia

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