Moscow State University was established in 1755
More than 40 000 students (graduate and postgraduate) and about 7 000 undergraduates study at the university, and over 5 000 specialists do the refresher course here. More than 6 000 professors and lecturers, and about 5 000 researchers work for the faculties and research institutes.
Every year Moscow University enrolls about 4 000 international students and postgraduates from all over the world.
Moscow University campus is an extremely complex system, with its 1 000 000 m2 floor area in 1 000 buildings and structures, with its 8 dormitories housing over 12 000 students and 300 km of utility lines.
MSU library system is one of the largest in Russia, with its 9,000,000 books, 2,000,000 of them in foreign languages, and the average number of readers 55,000, using 5,500,000 books a year.
Nowadays, as it has done throughout its history, the University retains its role of a major center of learning and research as well as an important cultural center. Its academics and students follow the long-standing traditions of the highest academic standards and democratic ideals.
In March 2007 the Conference of academic councils of Moscow University approved the revised version of the Charter which aligned the document with the latest legal acts. Confirming all the rights of Moscow University proclaimed in the 1998 Charter, the updated version, approved by the Government of RF in March 2008, states the University is chartered as a federal entity, its Founder being the Russian Federation represented by the Government of RF, as originally a special status of the University was ensured by the supreme authority of its Founder, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. The 2007 Charter stresses the leading role Moscow University has played in the development of learning, research and Russian culture, and its significance as part of the national heritage. The approval of the 2007 Charter by a special Decree of the Government is seen as a mark of recognition of the University’s outstanding achievement and merit.