Brief Overview
Blagoveshchensk State Pedagogical University is located in the city of Blagoveshchensk, the capital of Amur Oblast, which covers 391,900 square kilometers in the south of Russia’s Far East. Founded in 1856, Blagoveshchensk is now a major administrative, cultural, scientific, and industrial center of the Far East. The city’s population does not exceed 240,000. Owing to its unique location on the border with the PRC, Blagoveshchensk is often called the “Gateway to China.”
The neighboring Chinese city of Heihe lies across the Amur River. This is the only place where two foreign cities are situated so close to each other. Many Chinese companies operate in Amur Oblast in construction, agriculture, forestry, and tourism. BSPU was founded in 1930 and is one of the oldest educational institutions in the Russian Far East. The university is located in the historic city center near the Amur River embankment and is easily accessible by public transport. The dormitory for international students is situated opposite the university. About 200 faculty members work at BSPU (over 80% hold academic degrees). The university’s research potential is driven by eight specialized laboratories in the natural and human sciences, including environmental biochemistry and biotechnology, condensed-matter physics, archaeology and ethnography, and element-organic chemistry. Applied, interdisciplinary projects are implemented at the Scientific and Educational Center for Comprehensive Research, which brings together more than 20 experts and six unique scientific collections.
