Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology   (University)
Formation	1946
Headquarters	Moscow
Science university in Moscow with rigorous training standards

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (also known as PhysTech/ MIPT) is a public research university located in the suburbs of Moscow, Russia.

It normally takes six years for a student to graduate from MIPT. The curriculum of the first three years consists exclusively of compulsory courses, with emphasis on mathematics, physics and English. There are no significant curriculum differences between the departments in the first three years. A typical course load during the first and second years can be over 48 hours a week, not including homework.

History

History In late 1945 and early 1946, a group of Soviet scientists, including the future Nobel Prize winner Pyotr Kapitsa, lobbied the government for the creation of a higher educational institution radically different from the type established in the Soviet system of higher education. Applicants, selected by challenging examinations and personal interviews, would be taught by and work together with, prominent scientists. Each student would follow a personalized curriculum created to match his or her particular areas of interest and specialization. This system would later become known as the Phystech System.

As Kapitsa expected, the special status of the new school with its different "rules of engagement" caused much consternation and resistance within the university. The immediate cult status that Phystech gained among talented young people, drawn by the challenge and romanticism of working on the forefront of science and technology and on projects of "government importance," many of them classified, made it an untouchable rival of every other school in the country, including Moscow State University's own Department of Physics.

The Phystech System

The following is a summary of the key principles of the Phystech System, as outlined by Kapitsa in his 1946 letter arguing for the founding of MIPT:

• Rigorous selection of gifted and creative young individuals.
• Involving leading scientists in student education, in close contact with them in their creative environment.
• An individualized approach to encourage the cultivation of students' creative drive and to avoid overloading them with unnecessary subjects and rote learning common in other schools and necessitated by mass education.
• Conducting their education in an atmosphere of research and creative engineering, using the best existing laboratories in the country.

 

Alumni on Wikispooks

Person	Born	Nationality	Summary	Description
Vladimir Ashurkov	15 February 1972	Russian	Spook Politician	Alexey Navalny team member caught several times playing footsie with British intelligence services
Sergei Guriev	21 October 1971	Russian	Banker Economist	Russian born but working in France, Single Bilderberg banker economist

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