Smolensk State University

Smolensk State University

Смоленский государственный университет
Type	Public
Established	1918
Address	Przhevalsky 4 street , Smolensk , Russia 57°47′05″N 32°02′44″E / 57.78472°N 32.04556°E / 57.78472; 32.04556
Campus	urban
Website	www.smolgu.ru
Building details
Main campus building

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

In the local press, opinions on the academic reputation of Smolensk State University are diametrically opposed, although, according to the public sentiment, the quality of education is low, owing to numerous violations of labour laws and students' rights.^[1][2][3][4]

The competence of university teachers^[5][6] and officials are often criticized in Smolensk region.

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.^[7]

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.^[7]

On April 13, 2011, the organizational form of the university was changed and it became a budgetary institution.

In 2017, Mikhail Artemenkov, the newly-elected rector fired his chief accountant because, according to his account, she damaged the property of Smolensk State University. The former chief accountant took legal action against Artemenkov, but nine courts of Smolensk were quite unable to help her, that's why she took an appeal to the Supreme court of Russian Federation. The Supreme court of Russian Federation acknowledged that firing was arbitrary and fined Smolensk State University, so Smolensk State University had to pay 3 000 000 rubles.^[8][9]

In 2017, Artemenkov fired three prorectors of Smolensk State University. Firstly, Nikolai Petrovich Senchenkov, a former prorector, resigned and became the head of the chair of pedagogics and psychology. Prorectors Vasily Prusov and Alexandr Egorov were also fired.^[10] According to Readovka, an internet paper, Senchenkov was fired in 2022 because of a very long-term conflict with Mikhail Nikolaevich Artemenkov.^[11]

In 2018, two specialities in Smolensk State University weren't accredited. In Artemenkov's opinion, the students weren't guilty, because the experts from Moscow found students quite knowledgeable. In conformity with his official statement, there were numerous issues with the faculty documentation.^[12] In the same year, it became possible to study theology at Smolensk State University, so priests and postgraduate students became able to study religion at the university, even though studying religion is legally banned in Russian state institutions of higher education.^[13][14][15] According to the local press, the rector's ties with local reactionary priesthood became very significant, so the university became a nest of militant obscurantism. The university became a tribune for obscurantism and counterrevolutionary, antiscientific propaganda because on one of the meetings with the metropolitan Isidor with the rector, the former delivered a monarchist and fascist speech.^[16]

In 2018, Viktoria Sotnikova who had been working at Smolensk State University since 2014 wrote a complaint in the website of Federal Service for Labour and Employment. She wrote that the employer didn't pay her the full size of paycheck. Federal Service for Labour and Employment ignored this complaint.^[17]

In 2019, Artemenkov, the present-day rector of university, discharged three cleaning women from their job. Artemenkov having discharged the women, they were hired by 'Stroyservice' Co Ltd. Udanovskyaya, the manager of company, furnished the contract to celebrate. The afore-mentioned women celebrated the brand-new labour contract. The employer in the contract was individual enterpeteur Karyamov Elkham Ogly, and, accordingly, 'Stroyservice' Co Ltd. wasn't even mentioned in the signed contract, according to the evidence of one of the women. On the fourth of March, this woman resumed working, but the manager of company didn't return the copy of contract to the woman. The above-mentioned cleaning women hadn't been paid for half a year.^[18]

In 2019, the students, studying classical history and jurisprudence were expelled from Smolensk State University because their specialities weren't accredited. Earlier, the students have got an opportunity of choosing between studying in another institution and continuing studying at Smolensk State university. The students who decided to continue studying at this university weren't warned that they would be expelled.^[19]

In 2021, it became known that the students from Belarus, Afghanistan, Haiti, Uzbekistan, Mali were going to become the students of Smolensk State University.^[20] The local press criticizes teaching foreign students, for 30% foreigners were expelled from Smolensk State University, in accordance with official report.^[21]

Since 2021, Smolensk State University has had the partnership with Hebei University of Technology. The chinese are accustomed to studying pedagogics, psychology and design at Smolensk State University, according to the official data^[22].

In 2023, the recttors of Smolensk State University and Voronezh State University sought an agreement, concerning the partnership in the province of postgraduate and doctoral studies^[23].

On the 26th of April, in 2024, the first All-Russia Tutors' forum was held at Smolensk State University^[24]. In the same year, Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources and Smolensk State University sought an agreement. The mutual aim of these organization is ecological safety, in accordance with the official account^[25].

Smolensk State University has become widely accessible to the Peruvian students since 2025, according to the official agreement^[26].

Under the leadership of Artemenkov, the quality of education became extremely low because he hired Anna Vladislavovna Korolkova, a labourer without sufficient academic qualification.^[27][28][29] Hiring Korolkova is purely illegal, for Anna Vladislavovna is entirely unable to become a university instructor without a diploma of postgraduate studies.^[30]

In 2023, Artemenkov's haters created a fake account of Mikhail Nikolaevich, so he argued that the public should be very cautious because the haters are likely to be scammers. However, there're no proofs of its existence in the press.^[31][32]

The Philological Department of Smolensk State University has been existing since the 1st of February 2012^[33].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.^[34] In Leonid Alekseyevich 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.^[35] The French chair teachers are also focused upon home reading and individual reading.^[36] 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.^[37]

As of 2025, the head of chair of journalism and literature is Irina Viktorovna Romanova.^[38]

The head of English chair is Mastykina Lyudmila Yurievna. The English chair itself was created in 1962. 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.^[39] Despite quite a scandalous academic reputation of chair, Yulia Lvovna Sapozhnikova took courses in Harvard University.^[40]

The head of chair of English language and translation studies is Anton Georgievich Silnitsky. The head of German chair is Roman Vyacheslavovich Belyutin.^[41][42] In 2022, the lecturer of this chair became Anna Vladislavovna Korolkova who graduated from Smolensk State University in the same year.^[43][44] 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.^[45][46][47]

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 conformity with her views. In her opinion, Olga Ivanovna Osavoluk, Pavel Vitalyevich Silayev are used to humiliating and abusing the students.^[48] The teachers of this faculty forced one of their expelled students to attempt commit suicide, according to readovka.ru.^[49][50] The most of teachers of philological department have got quite low position in the rating of university instructors.^[51] Valentia Sergeyevna also pointed out that Moodle, an online-platform, functioned only at night, during the quarantine in 2020.^[52]

In November, in 2022, the dean and her deputy (V. S. Kovaleva and O. I. Osavoluk) didn't allow Sidorov Roman Sergeyevich to take out his secondary school diploma because, in their opinion, initially, he should have filled the Exit Report. The dean declared that she prohibited taking out his secondary school diploma because she suspected that he was trying to escape paying the tuition fee. Then Roman Sergeyevich Sidorov conversed with Tishina, Kovaleva's boss. Tishina told Kovaleva that Sidorov had got a right to take out his secondary school diploma without filling the Exit Report. Osavoluk began altercating with Sidorov, reproaching and reprehending him^[53].

In the same month, Osavoluk violated Sidorov's right to all his credit points, for, initially, in the academic reference Sidorov's credit points were greatly reduced but Roman Sergeyevich Sidorov struggled with Osavoluk and the dean, so, eventually, all the credit points were written in his academic reference^[54]. Initially Sidorov sincerely hoped that Artemenkov would help him with the above accident.

The dean of the faculty and her deputy are used to violating the rights of students.^[55] 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, In conformity with her opinion, the foreign faculty is 'a higher caste', an aristocracy.^[5] According to the words of Elizaveta Alekseyevna Perevertova, Irina Vladimirovna is used to eavesdropping her colleagues and students.^[56] According to the words of Roman Sergeyevich Sidorov, a former student of Smolensk State University, Vakorina abused him because of his seasonal cough. Elizaveta Perevertova, the monitor of his group, was Vakorina's accessory, according to the official report.^[6]

Methodologically, the most of teachers are quite 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.^[57][58] The third year students have got to take course of analysis of texts.^[59]

In 2024, Leonid Alekseyevich Kuzmin testified against the teaching practices of university teachers and officials. He confessed that one of the 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.^[60]

• Peter Fishman, sculptor
• Aleksandr Kurosh, mathematician

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Smolensk State University.

• (in English) Official website. About the University