How the institute differs from the university

The Russian education system includes universities called institutes and universities. The institute can obtain the status of a university, having a sufficient level of faculty and carrying out fundamental scientific research, accompanied by the preparation of the required number of graduate students. The profile and the number of structural units of the university do not affect its status, however, in earlier historical periods they were of decisive importance.

The Russian system of higher education includes several thousand educational institutions, each of which is called a university, institute or academy. Each of these names has its own differences, including the level of the faculty, the number of graduate students studying, structure and other features.

The history of the division of universities into institutes and universities

The first higher educational institutions of the Russian Empire had a clear division into classical and applied. Classical universities were called exclusively universities (Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kharkov imperial universities) and gave students knowledge in the fields of literature, linguistics, history, mathematics and chemistry. Unlike classical universities, applied educational institutions were called institutes (St. Petersburg and Novocherkassk Polytechnic Institutes) or higher schools (Moscow Imperial Higher Technical School). Students of institutes studied natural and engineering sciences, medicine and law.

In the Soviet Union, university titles were retained at several of the largest universities (Lomonosov Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University). The remaining existing and newly opened educational institutions were called institutes and provided applied higher education.

Faculty

To obtain university status, at least 60% of its faculty must have a degree. Thus, university students have the opportunity to receive knowledge from practicing scientists who have certain achievements in their field of competence.

Differences in structure

The Institute can be either a separate educational institution, or be part of a larger university as a structural unit, combining several faculties, whose departments provide training for students in one direction (Engineering and Economics Institute as part of the Kazan Scientific Research Technical University). Universities may not have separate institutes and are divided exclusively into faculties.

Postgraduate Training

At the university, for every 100 full-time students, there must be at least 4 graduate students, while the institute needs to prepare only two out of a hundred students to defend their dissertation. In addition, the topics of dissertations of applicants studying at universities involve fundamental scientific research, and dissertations defended at institutes are mostly applied.