# Smolensk State University

Smolensk State University (Russian: Смоленский государственный университет (СмолГУ)) is a public university located in Smolensk, Smolensk Oblast, Russia.

## History

It was formed on November 7, 1918, by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars. Initially, the university combined humanitarian, natural-scientific and medical educational directions. In accordance with the government decision on the reform of higher and secondary vocational education, by order of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR of April 18, 1930, the university was reorganized into two independent institutes: the Smolensk State Pedagogical Institute of the People's Commissariat of the RSFSR and the Smolensk State Medical Institute of the People's Commissariat of the RSFSR.
On January 13, 1998, by the order of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, Smolensk State Pedagogical Institute was renamed Smolensk State Pedagogical University. The modern stage of the university's history begins on December 19, 2005, when, by the order of the Federal Agency for Education, the state educational institution of higher education "Smolensk State Pedagogical University" was renamed "Smolensk State University" (SmolSU), thus, elevating its status to a classical university.
On April 13, 2011, the organizational form of the university was changed and it became a budgetary institution.
In 2018, it became possible to study theology at Smolensk State University. In the same year, two specialities in Smolensk State University weren't accredited.
In 2021, it became known that the students from Belarus, Afghanistan, Haiti, Uzbekistan, Mali were going to become the students of Smolensk State University. The local press criticizes teaching foreign students, for 30% foreigners were expelled from Smolensk State University, in accordance with official report.

## Philological department

The Philological Department of Smolensk State University has been existing since the 1st of February 2012.The department is divided into six chairs. The head of chair of Russian language and Literature is Vera Sergeyevna Kartavenko.
The head of French chair which was created in 1962 is Yulia Nikolayevna Vlasova. According to the primary source, Vlasova cheated her students during the lexico-grammatical practicum. In Leonid Alenseyevich Kuzmin's opinion, the teaching staff of French chair flagrantly violates the rights of students. This opinion is proved by the testimonies of Viktoria Petrovna Mikhalyova, a former university student. According to her account, Valentina Alekseyevna Zaitseva forced students to learn the whole song of Roland by heart in Old French. The French chair teachers are also focused upon home reading and individual reading, the most obscurantist and repressive teaching practices. Viktoria Petrovna Mikhalyova and Alla Alekseyevna Chaykovskaya also point out that Eda Moiseyevna Beregovskya, the late head of chair and their mutual teacher, used the alveolar r-sound which has been dated for two or three centuries.
The head of chair of journalism and literature is Irina Viktorovna Romanova.
The head of English chair is Mastykina Lyudmila Yurievna. The English chair itself was created in 1962. This chair became a nest of hidden and cagey reaction since its foundation, for the first students absorbed the decadent, poisonous spirit of Oscar Wilde's literary productions. The chair was initially headed by Georgy Georgy Silnistsky and Evgeny Fyodorovich Voronov, former White emigrants. Despite the high position of Silnitsky and Kuzmin during the Soviet period, they blackened the Soviets after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Despite quite a scandalous academic reputation of chair, Yulia Lvovna Sapozhnikova took courses in Harvard University.
The head of chair of English language and translation studies is Anton Georgievich Silnitsky. The head of German chair is Roman Vyacheslavovich Belyutin. In 2022, the lecturer of this chair became Anna Vladislavovna Korolkova who graduated from Smolensk State University in the same year. Hiring Korolkova was quite a flagrant violation of labour laws, for, according to the laws, Anna Vladislavovna is unable to teach translation theory without the corresponding academic qualification.
According to the words of Valentina Sergeyevna Kovaleva, the former dean of Philological faculty, the chairs of foreign languages are full of abusive teachers. In her opinion, Olga Ivanovna Osavoluk, Pavel Vitalyevich Silayev are used to humiliating and abusing the students. The teachers of this faculty forced one of their expelled students to attempt commit suicide, according to readovka.ru. The most of teachers of philological department have got quite low position in the rating of university instructors. Valentia Sergeyevna also pointed out that Moodle, an online-platform, functioned only at night, during the quarantine in 2020.
The dean of the faculty and her deputy are used to violating the rights of students. The dean of philological department are used to misinforming the students after their enrolling in university.
The most of known conflicts are connected with the name of Irina Vladmirovna Vakorina. Kovaleva pointed out that her attempt to pacify Vakorina was quite abortive. According to a series of primary sources, Vakorina's behaviour is quite irrational, peevish. In conformity with her opinion, the foreign faculty is 'a higher caste', an aristocracy. According to the words of Elizaveta Alekseyevna Perevertova, Irina Vladimirovna is used to eavesdropping her colleagues and students. According to the words of Roman Sergeyevich Sidorov, a former student of Smolensk State University, Vakorina abused him because his seasonal cough. Elizaveta Perevertova, the monitor of his group, was Vakorina's accessory.
Methodologically, the most of teachers are quite backward and incompetent, for home reading is an alpha and omega of teaching foreign languages. The students have got to read old-timey texts written by Somerset Maugham, Jack London, Oscar Wilde which have nothing to do with modern colloquial English. The third year students have got to take course of analysis of texts. Anton Georgievich Silnitsky, one of the most leading members of faculty, organized a blatantly shameful crusade against the students, suffering from United State Exam, for, in his opinion, this purely repressive form of university entrance exam has got its positive aspects.
On the 21st of September 2022, Irina Vladmirovna Vakorina, Pavel Vitalyevich Silayev, Natalya Nikolayevna Tsurtsylina flagrantly violated students' rights during the mass evacuation, for, despite the possible threat, they continued teaching their students outside the university.
In 2024, Leonid Alekseyevich Kuzmin testified against the repressive practices of university teachers and officials. He confessed that one students, belonging to the Philological Department, died during the class because of heart attack. In total, there were two students who died from this diseases during the classes at Smolensk State University.

## Notable alumni

* Peter Fishman, sculptor
* Aleksandr Kurosh, mathematician