Tver State University

A Brief History of the University
The Tver State University has had a long and difficult developmental path. The university’s history starts on December 1, 1870, when, in Tver, a private pedagogical school named after P.P. Maximovich was opened. It was later on reformed in 1917 to become the Tver Teachers’ Institute, after which, it became the Kalinin Pedagogical Institute. Before the 1970s, tens of thousands of specialists graduated the Pedagogical Institute with university qualifications. On September 1, 1971, an outstanding event took place in the Institute’s history; it was re-named the Kalinin State University.
In 1990, the Kalinin State University was renamed to Tver State University. Its graduates work successfully at schools, scientific institutions, as well as in economic and social organizations. The university’s scholars have also made a considerable contribution to making up and developing many scientific fields and research areas._…

The University today

Responding actively to modern-day challenges, the institution of higher education is developing dynamically, while preserving fidelity to tradition. TSU ensures the preparation of highly qualified specialists in a sphere of physics-mathematical, natural, human and social sciences, as well as of education and pedagogy, economy and administration among other areas. Being located in the Upper Volga Region, Tver State University considers its mission as a key institution in the innovative development of the area. The process of integration into the world Educational Space is the main goal of the University on the international level. TSU focuses on the development of educational and cultural ties with foreign universities. Today TSU maintains close links with more than 30 universities and carries out various exchange programs.

TSU is comprised of 15 faculties, 82 departments, the Institute of Continuing Learning, the Inter-academic Center for International Cooperation, the Scientific and Academic Center of Innovative Technologies for the Development of Professional Careers Amongst the Youth (SAC ‘Professional Career’), the Regional Center for Job Placement of University Graduates, and the Regional Center of Development of Youth Volunteer Programs.

Our highly-qualified personnel consists of 607 professors, including 98 doctors, full professors and about 400 professors holding a PhD degree, as well as associate professors.

The University implements the instructional rating system, and active instruction approaches are used in our teaching practice, such as case technologies, project, game, and training technologies etc.

The main directions of research and development at the University are carried out in the field of natural and exact sciences: mathematics, mechanics, physics, chemistry, biology, geo-ecology and computer science. There is also a lot of research in the fields of humanities and social sciences, such as sociology, linguistics, literature, history, economics, state and law, as well as in protection of the environment, human ecology and demography. At the University, there are over 20 scientific schools carrying out research in relevant scientific topics of natural sciences and humanities within 15 fields of study. Their activities are recognized internationally, as well as domestically.

University scholars participate actively in implementing projects within the framework of the analytical departmental grant programs of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, “The Development of the Scientific Potential of Higher Education”, “The Scientific and Teaching Staff of Innovative Russia”, as well as grants issued by the Russian Fund for Humanitarian Research and the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation.

Since 2015 TSU has been implementing double degree postgraduate programs that attracts both Russian and international students to study in the University of Tver.

The University’s students are actively engaged in research, with the goal to shape them as creative personalities capable of reasonable and effective solutions to theoretical and practical problems arising in the academic process. Various forms of research and innovation organization are used. They are even required by those taking regular academic courses, as well as those participating in extracurricular activities.

An incentive system for the research activity of young scholars, graduate students and current students has been implemented and elaborated at the University.

The Editorial and Publishing Department plays an important role in expanding the University’s scientific, teaching and cultural traditions. Annually, it publishes over 350 different titles of print production, including monographs, teaching aids, conferences materials, collections of papers etc.

The following series of magazines – ‘TSU’s Newsletter’, ‘Biology and Ecology’, ‘Pedagogy and Psychology’, ‘Applied Mathematics’, ‘Philology’ and others – are in the list of Russian referenced scholarly journals of the State Commission for Academic Degrees and Titles.

TSU maintains close ties with more than 30 universities in Europe, the USA and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and carries out exchange programs, as well as providing education to international students, and actively participating in various international educational programs.

TSU is one of the few higher education institutions that develops international academic mobility.

Annually, about 100 students from TSU’s different departments attend a course of study for one semester at universities in the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Finland, Bulgaria, Poland, and the USA. Students attend classes according to the profile of their learning, and take exams. Students perfect their knowledge of foreign languages, acquire the invaluable experience of studying at a higher learning institution abroad, and make new and interesting friends.

Large numbers of international students from countries of Russia’s so-called “near-abroad” and non-CIS countries study at TSU.

The Department of Russian as a Foreign Language, which is a part of Inter-University Center for International Cooperation, successfully develops semester educational programs of exchange education for students-philologists from European higher-education institutions.

The integration process into the field of international education is being developed also because of our participation in different educational programs, such as the European Union’s TEMPUS Program, the Oxford Russia Fund Scholarship Program, and the Finnish-Russian Student Exchange Program “FIRST” etc.

TSU is one of the 95 institutions of higher learning to have won the contest for ‘Programs for the Development of Students’ Associations in Educational Institutions of Higher-Professional Education’ (2012), and is among the 22 traditional universities to have won the contest for the ‘Support of Programs for Strategic Development’ (2011), as well as one of the 56 institutions of higher learning to have won the first ‘Open National Contest of Programs for Development of Innovative Infrastructure’ (2010). It is also one of the 26 institutions of higher learning that acquired the status of ‘National Center of Preparation of Volunteers for the Olympic and Paralympic Games SOCHI-2014’ (2010), and one of the 12 institutions of higher learning that acquired the status of ‘National Center of the European Program TUNING’ for tuning educational systems (2010-2011), as well as one of the 17 institutions of higher learning that, in 2011, were included in United Russia’s Federal Program, ‘500 Swimming Pools’, and it is the only institution out of the three to have built its swimming pool ahead of schedule. The regional service of ‘Contribution to the Provision of Employment’ for the University’s graduates was, in 2011, acknowledged as the best in Russia. Our University is a recipient and Grand Prix holder of the series of Russian and international educational exhibitions, and a prize-winner in the contest, ‘Quality Systems of Preparation of Graduates’ (Federal Education and Science Supervision Service – Rosobrnadzor, 2009). In the ranking of scientific and publishing activity, our university consistently enters the top 30 out of the 600 state higher-education institutions in the Russian Federation ahead of the vast majority of national research universities. In the ranking of the leading Russian higher-learning institutions, according to the results of the Federal Scholarship Program and grant-programs for young teachers in 2011/2012, elaborated by the Vladimir Potanin Charity Foundation, TSU holds the 12th place. According to the results of Webometrix Ranking of Russian universities and research centers in 2012, TSU is ranked 21stamongst the state universities of Russia.

TSU in figures

• 12 faculties, 2 institutes, 82 departments
• 9 dissertation committees
• 9000 full-time students (In addition to it, there are about 500 foreign students.)
• More than 600 professors, including 98 doctors of science and full professors, and around 400 PhD and associate professors
• Admissions’ notice announcement for 65 Bachelor’s programs 2017.
• Admissions’ notice announcement for 62 Master’s programs 2017.
• 62 Post-graduate professional programs
• 34 patents and two technologies (the fabrication of large size crystals of paratellurit, and the development, on the basis of complexions, of agriculture, and soil and water clean-up) are ready to be launched into the world market
• 16 small innovative enterprises, one of which is in partnership with the Tver region’s venture capital fund
• Over 350 different printed titles, including monographs, study guides, conference materials, and collections of scientific works that are edited annually by the Printing and Publishing Department of the TSU
• Over 20 scientific schools in relevant scientific fields, and humanitarian study in 15 fields of research
• 9 teaching blocks
• 8 Halls of residence
• 2.6 hectares is the surface of one of the oldest botanical gardens in Northwest Russia – TSU’s Botanical Garden that on October 30, 2009 celebrated its 130th Anniversary
• TSU’s Scientific Library serves 11 thousand readers and lends more than 1 million books, magazines, electronic documents and other issues. The Library’s fund count is more than 1 million depositary items

Hostel

fridge/freezer, electric hot plates, an oven and a sink. A cutlery crockery set is furnished as well as tea towels. You can give the latter to the caretaker for washing.

In each bedroom, you will find curtains, one or two single beds, desks, wardrobes, shelves, a TV set and a paper basket. All the flats are lockable.

Bedding (mattress, sheets, pillows and blankets are provided and given to the dry-cleaner’s after students leave the flat. Twice a month, you can give sheets and pillowcases for washing to the caretaker. You will be given others already washed and ironed.

Each bathroom consists of a bathtub/shower, a washbasin, a radiator, a mirror and a water-heater. Large towels and towel gloves are not provided, but you will find small towels.

The student hostel has central heating and each bedroom has extra heating. Nevertheless, if you are cold in winter, you can ask the caretaker another blanket.

Facilities:

Laundry facilities are on the ground level. You will find 2 washing machines, 2 irons, 2 ironing boards and 2 Hoovers. To wash your clothes, you have to pay 40 roubles (1 euro) for 3 kg of clothes to the caretaker on the ground level of the student hostel and buy your own washing powder.

When checking in, for your comfort and to leave you time to buy what you need, you will already find in each flat toilet tissues, trash bags, a sponge and soap.

In each flat, you will find a broom, a shovel for dust, a bucket and a mop. Household products are not provided.

You can ask the caretaker to book a taxi and to call emergency numbers.

The student hostel has the WiFi. On the 2nd floor, you will find computers offering access to Internet and printers (room 35). You can ask the teachers to make copies and scans. The computer room is opened till 4 pm from Monday to Friday. For those who have laptops, the great majority of the cafes and librairies in Tver offer a free access to WiFi. On the 2nd floor of the student hostel, you can sit at a piano, read books in Russian, English, Finnish and French, while comfortably sitting on sofas.

Safety:

When entering the student hostel, every student must show to the caretaker their pass.

Corridors are fitted with CCTV.

If you receive a guest, they have to call you before going to your flat and leave their student card or passport to the caretaker. You are also asked to walk your guest out. After 11 pm, it is forbidden to receive a guest.

Every flat is fitted with fire alarms. When checking in, you will be shown what to do in case of fire and the International Relations Centre will give you the list of emergency numbers. If you lose your keys, you can ask the caretaker a spare key but 1,000 roubles will be withdrawn from your damage deposit.

If a bulb has burned out, if the tap doesn’t work properly or if there is a water leak, please tell the caretaker who will ask a repairer to come for free. You will also find in each flat spare bulbs.

Twice a year, the student hostel is completely treated against cockroaches and bugs.

City

Tver (from 1931 to 1990 – Kalinin) is a city in Russia, the capital of the Tver region, located 170 km north-west of Moscow. It is a large industrial, scientific and cultural center, a major transport hub at the intersection of the railway line St. Petersburg – Moscow and the federal highway M-10 “Russia” Moscow – St. Petersburg with the Upper Volga.

Tver attractions

White Trinity Church (1564) is the only remaining monument of ancient Tver (Troitskaya Street, 38). There are a lot of preserved buildings of Catherine the Great and Soviet times. The city has several memorials and obelisks, as well as numerous monuments. Most of them can be found in the central part of the city. The most popular are the monuments dedicated to:

• Afanasy Nikitin (a famous Russian merchant and traveler, Afanasy Nikitin Embankment),
• Alexander Pushkin (a great Russian poet, Mikhail Yaroslavich Embankment),
• Mikhail of Tver (Prince of the Tver principality in 1282-1318, Sovetskaya Square),
• Mikhail Krug (a Russian singer famous for its songs in the style known as blatnaya pesnya (shanson), Radishchev Boulevard).

Tver museums

• Tver State United Museum (Sovetskaya Street, 5),
• Tver City Museum and Exhibition Center (Sovetskaya Street, 54),
• Museum of Communications of the Tver region (Novotorzhskaya Street, 24),
• Tver Everyday Life Museum (Gorkogo Street, 19/4),
• Tver Regional Museum and Exhibition Complex named after Lisa Chaikina (Saltykova-Shchedrina Street, 16),
• Tver Regional Art Gallery (Sovetskaya Street, 3),
• Museum of Saltykov-Shchedrin (Rybatskaya Street, 11),
• Tver Railroad Museum (Zheleznodorozhnikov Street, 30).

Tver theaters and other cultural institutions

• Tver Regional Drama Theater (Sovetskaya Street, 16),
• Tver State Puppet Theatre (Pobeda Avenue, 9),
• Tver Regional Youth Theater (Sovetskaya Street, 32),
• Tver Regional Academic Philharmonic (Teatralnaya Square, 1),
• Tver State Circus (Tverskaya Square, 2a).

{loadmoduleid 125}