Orel State University or Turgenev State University of Oryol, officially Orel State University named after I.S. Turgenev (OSU; , Orlovskiy gosudarstvenniy universitet imeni I.S. Turgeneva; often abbreviated ОГУ, OGU), formerly Oryol State Pedagogical Institute, is a university in Central Federal district of Russia in the city Oryol (or Orel) which is the Administrative centre of Oryol Oblast (or Orel region). OSU opened in 1931 as Industrial-Pedagogical Institute. Today OSU is a member of Association of the Classical Universities of Russia.
History
Orel Proletarian University named after V.I. Lenin was created on October 31, 1918 by the Decree of the Department of Public Education of the Orel Provincial Committee and which was opened on November 5 of the same year and existed in Oryol until 1920. The Board of the Orel Province Education Committee on March 19, 1920 passed the resolution "On the reorganization of the Orel proletarian university" and on the establishment of Orel State University on its base and the Institute of Public Education.
The Council of People's Commissars on November 4, 1921 has adopted a decree to establish a Higher Pedagogical Institute on the basis of OSU. Its formal opening ceremony took place on October 9, 1921. However, the further course of the country's leadership on the specialization of higher education led to the decision of November 15, 1922 on the closure of the Orel Higher Pedagogical Institute. The students were transferred to other universities and technical schools, and the teaching staff of the university moved to work at Orel Pedagogical and Mechanical-Building Technical School.
In 1927 there were created groups for the training of engineers in the Mechanics and Construction Technical College in parallel with the groups for the training of specialists with secondary education. On August 5, 1931 Industrial and Pedagogical Institute was founded in Oryol by the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR. Its formal opening ceremony was held on October 16, 1931. In 1932 the Workers' Faculty and Evening Institute was opened at the OSPI (until 1938). In January 1933 Belgorod Pedagogical Institute was consolidated with OSPI.
Since 1934 (September 1) there were two Institutes (Teacher's Institute with two-year term of training and Pedagogical Institute, with four-year term of training which trained teachers for secondary schools) in the structure of OSPI. In the period of retention of this structure until 1952, University was called Orel State Pedagogical and Teachers' Institute, keeping the name Orel Pedagogical Institute in the press and internal turnover documents. The Workers' Faculty and Model School (until 1949) were founded in the framework of the OSU in 1920.
Further development of the OSPI was determined by the Great Patriotic War. In June 1941 200 students and teachers left the Institute for the front. On August 23, 1941 by the order of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR OSPI was evacuated to Birsk in the Bashkir ASSR, where the teacher's technical school was created by the Birsk State Pedagogical Institute, which retained the structure of the Orel Pedagogical Institute. On November 20, 1943 by order of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR OSPI was re-evacuated to Yelets, and in August 1944 returned to Oryol.
In 1952 Teacher’s institute of Orel Pedagogical and Teacher's Institute was closed, and it was renamed Orel State Pedagogical Institute. On April 21, 1988 the Orel Branch of VZMI was reorganized into the Orel Branch of the Moscow Institute of Instrument Engineering (OB MIIE), on May 17, 1993 into Orel State Polytechnic Institute, and on March 14, 1995 Orel State Polytechnic Institute was renamed the Orel State Technical University.
In 1994 OSPI received the status of the Pedagogical University (Orel State Pedagogical University, OSPU) and in 1996 was transformed into a classical university. On June 6 of the same year Educational and Research and Production Complex (UNPK) was created on the basis of Orel State Technical University.
On November 25, 2010 Orel State Technical University was renamed State University - Educational-Research and Production Complex, and in 2015 it was renamed Prioksky State University.
In the same year the decision of the Government of the Russian Federation was taken to establish Key University in Orel region, in accordance with which in 2016 (April 1), the Orel State University named after I.S. Turgenev was established on the basis of tow Universities as Key institution.
Oryol State University Today
Orel State University named after I.S. Turgenev is the first Key University in Russia.