Saint Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics

ITMO University

Санкт-Петербургский национальный исследовательский университет информационных технологий, механики и оптики
Former names	See: Chronology of Names
Type	Public
Established	1900
Academic affiliation	EUA IASP
Rector	Vladimir Vasilyev
Academic staff	2,400
Students	12,000
Doctoral students	900
Address	Kronverksky prospekt, Saint Petersburg, 197101, Russian Federation 59°57′23″N 30°18′36″E / 59.9564°N 30.31°E / 59.9564; 30.31Coordinates: 59°57′23″N 30°18′36″E / 59.9564°N 30.31°E / 59.9564; 30.31
Campus	Urban
Sports	28 varsity teams
Nickname	Kronverk Leopards
Mascot	Tim the Leopard
Sporting affiliations	Association of Student Sports Clubs of Russia
Website	ifmo.ru/en

ITMO University (Russian: Университет ИТМО) is a large state university in Saint Petersburg and is one of Russia’s National Research Universities. ITMO University is one of 15 Russian universities that were selected to participate in Russian Academic Excellence Project 5-100 by the government of the Russian Federation to improve their international competitiveness among the world’s leading research and educational centers.

Research priorities of ITMO University are concentrated in information and photonic technologies.

The university consists of 18 departments, 7 research institutes and one academy, with a total of 119 chairs. As of April 1, 2014, the total number of students is 13,890, with over 900 being foreign nationals. The university employs 1,163 instructors, including over 800 PhDs. Many of its staff members and researchers have received government awards and designations of “honored science worker,” the highest in Russia. Vladimir Vasilyev has been the university’s Rector since 1996.

The University’s birthday is considered to be 26 March 1900, when a Mechanics, Optics and Watchmaking Department was opened in the Prince Nicholas Vocational School. At the time it was the only school in the Russian Empire that prepared specialists in these areas. The first year, some 65 applications were received for 30 places. Eighteen students were admitted to Watchmaking and 18 to Mechanics and Optics sections.

In 1917 the Mechanics, Optics and Watchmaking Department became its own entity - Petrograd Technical College for Mechanics, Optics and Watchmaking. Norbert Boleslavovich Zavodsky became its headmaster. In 1920, most of its classes were transformed into Petrograd College for Fine Mechanics and Optics (later – Leningrad). The municipalities allocated a building for it in Demidov Pereulok (). The colleges’ manufacturing facilities made a variety of complex optical and fine mechanics products. The first in USSR group of instrument engineers graduated here in 1931.

In 1930, the college was transformed into Leningrad Training Center, and in 1933, Leningrad Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics (LIFMO) became a separate college. Its first research laboratory was established in the Department of Optical Glass Technologies. Thanks to research here the USSR could get away from importing expensive foreign abrasives.