St. Petersburg State Transport University

Emperor Alexander I St. Petersburg State Transport University was one of the first technical universities in Russia. Its earliest precursors date back to 1798-1809 as a part of the training provided in the Department of Water Communications by N. P. Rumyantsev.

The University was established on 2 December (O.S. 20 November), 1809, by a manifesto issued by Emperor Alexander I. The grand opening took place on 13 November (O.S. 1 November) 1810.

The aim of University establishment was specialized training for construction of land and waterway lines of communication. Waterways were the most developed communication lines at that time. The main disadvantage of shipping was evident in winter, when ships had to stand idle until navigation could start. In the summer ships were driven upstream by burlaks.

The first head of the Institute was Agustín de Betancourt y Molina (1758—1824) as a general inspector. The institution was opened as a cadet corps and was connected closely to the leading institutions of higher education, located in the capital. The ones were the Academy of Sciences, Main Engineering School of Russian Empire and Saint Petersburg State University. The institute was a paramilitary boarding school. Duration of the education course including the gymnasium was 8 years. Graduates obtained the degree of engineer of communication lines and the rank of poruchik or podporuchik.

A museum was founded in 1813 at the Institute (now the Russian Federation Central Museum of Railway Transport).

In 1993 University was renamed as Petersburg State Transport University (Emperor Alexander I St. Petersburg State Transport University, PGUPS).

The University has 11,142 students (as of 2018). The University is a center for the training of conductors in St. Petersburg.

Every year since 2016, the State Museum monument St. Isaac's Cathedral hosts a solemn ceremony of awarding diplomas with honors to graduates of the St. Petersburg state University of Railways of Emperor Alexander I.

The research division coordinates the activities and provides administrative guidance to all departments conducting research, organizes fundamental, search and applied research and development work, as well as other types of work related to the implementation of scientific activities of the University.

The University has formed a detailed structure of the research complex, which includes research institutes, research centers, and research laboratories. Every year the University holds a scientific conference.

Researchers of PGUPS with colleagues-scientists traditionally conduct round tables and seminars on improving the activities of railway transport and the introduction of innovative scientific developments of scientists of PGUPS in the main activity of the company "Russian Railways".

The main building, designed in 1952 by architect V. I. Kuznetsov, is at the corner of Moskovsky prospect and Fontanka embankment.

In 2018, Forbes ranked the university fourteenth on its list of the top 100 best universities in Russia.[1]

The British consulting company QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) presented the ranking of the best universities "QS University Rankings: Eastern Europe and Central Asia". For the first time, it included the Russian railway University – University. Every year it represents Both an international global rating and a rating by region (Arab region, Asia, Latin America, BRICS, Eastern Europe and Central Asia), and a subject rating by 46 directions. For the first time in 2018, our PGUPS was included in this rating. The assessment was conducted on 10 indicators: academic reputation, reputation among employers, the ratio of scientific and pedagogical staff and students, the number of publications per employee, international scientific relations, the impact of the University on the Internet, the proportion of employees with a PhD degree, the number of citations publications per article, the proportion of foreign employees and the proportion of foreign students.[2][3]

The University's ranking on the RIA "Novosti", improved from 9th to 7th in 2018. This is the best result among the universities of St. Petersburg and the transport industry.[4]

According to the rating of Russian universities "National recognition 2019", PGUPS is in the top "Best universities 2019" in Transport, Construction (Architecture), and Environmental Protection (Human ecology).[5]

The building of the PGUPS Physical culture club

The PGUPS Physical culture club is the center of sports and mass work with students and staff of the University. Sports and fitness sections (swimming, mini-football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, weightlifting, aerobics, yoga, etc.) work in PGUPS Physical culture club.

Throughout the 19th century, the Institute of railway engineers was the only transport University in the Russian Empire. The Institute, as a forge of high-class engineering personnel,had the status of a research, cultural and educational center, having multidisciplinary laboratories.

• Russian Railways
• Russian Union of Engineers
• Transport in Russia
• Education in Russia

• "Railway University" article in the "Encyclopaedia of Saint Petersburg"
• АНАЛИЗ ПУБЛИКАЦИОННОЙ АКТИВНОСТИ ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ