South Ural State University

University in Chelyabinsk, Russia

South Ural State University (SUSU) (Южно Уральский Государственный Университет (ЮУрГУ)) in Chelyabinsk is an educational institution in Russia. It is among the top ten of the Russian universities according to the state rating of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and the largest in Russia in terms of the number of undergraduates. Globally, it was ranked #801–1000 in QS World University Rankings 2022, #901–1000 in Three University Missions Ranking 2021, #1,001+ in Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021, and #1,355 by Webometrics Ranking of World Universities. Starting from 2010 SUSU has been holding a status of a National Research University. In 2015 the university became one of the Russian universities chosen for participation in Project 5 100 aiming at improving the competitive standing of Russian universities.

During the Great Patriotic War, industries from various cities of the USSR’S European part, including factories from Leningrad, Stalingrad and Kharkov which became the basis of Tankograd, were evacuated to Chelyabinsk. Stalingrad Mechanical Institute, evacuated in August 1942, performed training of engineering cadres for industry works; in October of that year, the Institute started admission of postgraduates. In the academic year 1942/43, the first year of operating in Chelyabinsk, the Institute had about 400 students, including 90 who attended evening classes. In the spring of 1943, the second admission group of 40 specialists trained for assistance to the Army graduated the Institute. At the beginning of the next academic year of 1943/44, there were about 660 students and 20 postgraduates studying at the Institute. When the Battle of Stalingrad was over, the Institute had to get transferred back to its city. In order to prevent “personnel gap” in September 1943, people's commissar of tank industry, V. А. Malyshev, director of Tankograd, deputy people's commissar I. М. Zaltzman and Head of the Chelyabinsk regional committee of the All Union Communist Party (of Bolsheviks), N. S. Patolichev addressed the Council of People's Commissars with a request to create an institute in Chelyabinsk. one faculty (Faculty of Pre University Training), and a military training center, as well as four branches (in Zlatoust, Miass, Satka in the Chelyabinsk Region, and in Nizhnevartovsk in the Khanty Mansijsk Autonomous District). As of 2020, 32,000 students from 58 countries from around the world were studying at SUSU. In total, over the university’s history, more than 250 thousand specialists have completed higher education programmes, tens of thousands of candidates of science, and hundreds of doctors of science. SUSU offers 240 bachelor’s programs, 150 master's programs, 24 specialist programs, and 86 post graduate programs. a Center of Arts and Leisure, the Mannequin Student Theatre Studio, as well as vocal, instrumental and dance bands. SUSU Science Library's book collection includes more than 13,000,000 items. The university also has seven museums and the only in Russia university television and radio company, SUSU TV, broadcasting 24/7 on air as well as via cable networks and the Internet.

The Science Library of South Ural State University was established in 1943 and is one of the biggest university libraries of the Ural Region. The library's collection includes both contemporary scientific, educational and reference editions (Russian and foreign ones), and selections of rare books of the 19th – 20th century. The collection comprises over 2 million items. Printed editions are complemented by electronic documents: books, journals, newspapers, video and audio materials. The library features 11 reading rooms, two electronic resources rooms, and four delivery desks (natural sciences and technical literature, social sciences and humanities literature, fiction literature, and a delivery desk for extramural students).