Ural State University of Railway Transport

Public university in Ekaterinburg, Russia

Ural State University of Railway Transport (USURT) or Уральский государственный университет путей сообщения (УрГУПС) is a public university situated in Yekaterinburg, Russia. It was founded in 1956. USURT is a multidisciplinary technical university mainly focused on training of railway transport specialists of the Urals Federal District. USURT is a vertically integrated educational complex located in the territory of five constituent entities of the Russian Federation: Yekaterinburg, Perm, Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, Tyumen. The university complex includes the head university in Yekaterinburg, a railway transport college, a medical college, institutes in Chelyabinsk, Perm, and Kurgan, branches in Nizhny Tagil and Tyumen, a representative office in Kartaly.

In the mid twentieth century, the importance of railway transportation increased, especially in the Ural Siberian zone. There was an urgent need to create an engineering university that would train personnel for railways. On November 17, 1956, Ural Electromechanical Institute of Railway Engineers was opened. On November 16, 1964, the doors of the first stage of the main educational building opened. In 1966, building faculty was opened. In 1975, the departments of building structures and building production began their work. The number of students increased from 600 to 7,000, teaching staff increased to 357, 45 percent of whom had academic degrees and titles. In 1992, the university passed attestation, and in 1993, licensing. In 1994, the university received a new status and was renamed to Ural State Academy of Railway Transport (USART). International relations of the university began to develop actively. In 1999, the academy received the status of a technical university Ural State University of Railway Transport (USURT) based on the results of its work and the quality of specialists' training.

USURT is the only transport university included in the Top 100 universities in Russia according to the results of the WSJ agency ranking. USURT ranks 23rd in the annual international Eurasian University Ranking.

One of the advantages of the Ural State University of Railway Transport is not only its unique location, but also the internal structure of the territory and the campus, its compactness. In 2021, USURT joined the Association of Green Universities of Russia.

There are about 20 creative groups in USURT. The University has established the Center for Innovation and Technology based on the principle of FabLab (international movement of manufacturing laboratories).

USURT pays great attention to students' physical improvement and healthy lifestyle. The university has created all conditions for the development of both mass sports and sports of higher achievements.

USURT conducts purposeful international activities, and is actively involved in international projects, primarily with the countries of the Pacific region, Southeast Asia Mongolia, Kazakhstan, China, as well as with the CIS countries. The University participates in the work of such international organizations as: OSJD (Organization for Cooperation of Railways), the Association of Rectors of Transport Universities of Russia and China, the Council for Education and Science at the KTS CIS, is an official member of the International Association of Transport Universities of the Asia Pacific region, the Association of Rectors of Transport Universities of Russia and France, BRICS countries, Russia and China. Cooperation with such European countries as Germany, Poland, Spain, Serbia is also actively developing. USURT is also implementing DAAD, ERASMUS+ programs, scientific and technical cooperation projects with China.