Federal State BudgetaryEducational Institution of Higher Education «Pyatigorsk State University»

The Russian certification in 2007 and the international certification in April 2009 verified the high level of quality management at the university.

In 2008, the university began issuing European Diploma Supplements to its graduates’ diplomas.

In 2008, PSLU was successfully certified by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, and in 2009, PSLU was awarded its special diploma for its major contribution to the training of highly skilled specialists and for its scientific research in philology and linguistics. In October 2011, and then in October 2014, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia included PSU in its list and issued a respective certificate confirming the high level and quality of the training, retraining, and refresher programs for specialists graduating from PSLU.

Pursuant to the formal rating of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, PSLU has been listed among the top ten liberal arts universities in the country and, in recent years, has been referred to as one of the best institutions of higher education in the country according to the results of independent validations. In 2008, the university began issuing European Diploma Supplements to its graduates’ diplomas.

In October 2009, PSLU was awarded the Silver Lermontov Medal by the Russian Lermontov Committee in appreciation of its contribution to the implementation of advanced methods of teaching.

As a result of 2009, PSLU became the prizewinner of the “A Hundred Best Goods of Russia” program in the nomination “Educational Services” and was awarded a diploma and medal for “Quality Excellence," while in May 2010, PSLU was granted a golden medal under the nomination “100 Best Organizations of Russia in Science and Education."

In summer 2010, students of PSLU were awarded the Second Class Diploma for their participation in the contest of student projects on the subject of service sector and hotel service within the scope of the 17th international conference of the EURHODIP Association in Saragos (Spain), which hosted representatives of 22 countries.

On December 7, 2010, the university confirmed its socially credible status, becoming the only North Caucasus institution of higher education among the 26 winners of the All-Russian contest privileged to establish the Volunteers Training Center for the XXII Olympic Games and XI Paralympics in Sochi in 2014.

The winner’s diploma outright in three nominations:
"Administrative activities and accreditation";
"Communication and media facilitation";
"Facilitating delegations, protocol, and linguistic services."

and the Certificate of Conferral of "The Volunteers Center Sochi 2014" status has been handed over to the university by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Deputy Dmitri Kozak.

In 2014, the “PROFI-SOCI-LINGUA” volunteer center sent 800 people to the XXII Winter Olympic Games and the XI Paralympic Games. Being a part of the 25,000 volunteers, they brilliantly implemented their work in functions like linguistic services, media, accreditation, protocol, arrivals and departures, and event management with foreign participants.

On January 23, 2014, Pyatigorsk was the first city in the North Caucasus to receive the Olympic Flame Relay. 71 torchbearers and 5 PSLU representatives, among them, carried the flame along the city streets.

Currently, over 4,500 undergraduates, postgraduates, and trainees from 56 Russian regions and 26 foreign countries study at the institutes and schools of the university; 3,500 more are involved in its lifelong learning structures. All the people and ethnic groups of the North Caucasus are represented in its friendly student community. There was no case for the last 20 years when the university diploma was not recognized or proved in any country. Since 1968, the university has trained about 1,800 foreign experts for 61 states (Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and other regions of the world).

One of the peculiarities of the university is the wide geography of its students. PSLU students come from all the republics of the North Caucasus as well as from the Tatarstan Republic, Yakutia, Buryatia, Jewish Autonomous Region, Komi Republic, Udmurt Republic, Yamal-Nenets and Khanty Mansi Autonomous Districts, and Tula, Saratov, Murmansk, Sakhalin, Magadan, Chita, Perm, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, Arkhangelsk, Kaliningrad, Orenburg, Tomsk, Amur, Belgorod, Sverdlovsk, Moscow, Rostov, and Volgograd regions, from Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Foreign students include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Afghanistan, Belarus, Great Britain, Vietnam, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Egypt, Iran, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, South Korea, Lebanon, Mexico, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Sudan, the USA, the Philippines, and France.

In the 21st century, every graduate needs to communicate freely in foreign languages, know how to read any text in world media, and be a world-class professional. The training of such experts is the principle of PSU and makes up its competitive advantage.

The university provides training in 11 secondary vocational education professions. In 2016, there was an enrolment for the following: advertisement, hospitality, tourism, law and social security, insurance, organization and technology of information protection, applied computer science, social and cultural activities, pre-school education, and all with profound learning of foreign languages.

The higher education training is carried out on a multi-level (BA and MA) basis, except for several specific professions, and is focused on two types of graduates.
The prime-class linguists and philologists belong to the first type and include translators, interpreters, lecturers, experts of Russian as a foreign language, teachers of Russian language and literature, specialists of intercultural communication in theoretical and applied linguistics, international tourism, customs, interdenominational and state-denominational cooperation, international commerce, multilingualism, and information and communication technologies.

In 2011, the university approved a new complex of strategy documents, "STRATEGY-2020 PSLU," which correlates with the general strategy of the development of the Russian state and society for the next decade. The program for the strategic development of the university for 2012–2016 has also been confirmed and implemented. “Profi-Soci-Lingva 2012-2016”: The formation of the leading university, scientific, educational, and innovative center of the international level in the social and humanitarian sphere on the territory of the Stavropol Region and the North Caucasus by means of integration of science, education, innovative entrepreneurship, youth’s projects, volunteerism, and service activity.

In 2016, the work on a new strategic development program started.

In 2007, on the initiative of A.P. Gorbunov, the Rector of the University, PSLU started the creation of a new infrastructure for innovative activity. The Scholar Counsel adopted a normative model of the development of the university as an innovative structure, operating in a system of creative economy on the basis of intellectual property management.

Pyatigorsk State University is an acknowledged center of peacebuilding in the North Caucasus; the university is oriented toward the resolution of the region’s social problems. In 1996, the university scientists initiated the “Pease Through Languages, Education, and Culture” program. Within its framework, the university held seven international congresses, which influenced the situation in the North Caucasus a lot. VI Congress (October 2010) had a special, wider format: Russia—Greater Caucasus—International Community.

The university has created an extensive network of Languages and Culture Centers performing educational, research, and cultural functions. There is the Anglistics and American Studies Center, the Center of Francophonie, the Hispanic Studies Center, the German Language and Culture Center, the Italian Language and Culture Center, the Arabic Language, the Islamic Studies and Culture Center, the Chinese Language and Culture Center, the Hebrew and Israeli Culture Center, the Armenian Language and Culture Center, the Greek Language and Culture Center, the Center of the North Caucasus Languages and Cultures, the Center of Polish Language and Culture, the Center of Turkish Languages and Cultures, the Center of Portuguese Language and Culture of Portugal and Brazil, and the Center of Bulgarian Language and Culture.

How great it is to be young when life is so happy and interesting... Spending your student years with peers is a great piece of luck. Quite a variable system of social and off-class activities is in action here, along with the efficient social safety support of the students, teaching staff, and personnel. There are excellent opportunities to evince and develop one’s creative skills and talents; various concerts, festival shows, and theatricals enrich our lifestyle.

The university has a rich history and glorious traditions that date back to 1939, when the Pyatigorsk State Teachers’ Training Institute was founded on the basis of the Pyatigorsk Teachers’ Training School. Vasiliy Tikhonovich Chekanov headed the institute, and Vsevolod Aleksandrovich Vasilyev became his deputy. Several departments were established: the department of Russian Language and Literature, the Department of Physics and Mathematics, and the History Department.
In 1941, the institute received two buildings: the Palace of the Pioneers in 70 Sovetskiy Ave. (now 68 Kirova Ave.) and in 38 Oktyabrskaya, with classrooms, a library, laboratory, offices, and institute administration.

1941 came… More than 107 students, 18 tutors, and 18 workers of the institute joined the Red Army. Later, 60 workers of the institute were decorated with medals and orders for their displayed heroism during the Great Patriotic War. The main campus of the institute was re-equipped into a hospital on the first day of the war.

On January 11, 1943, Pyatigorsk was liberated from the Nazi occupants. The reconstruction of the institute began. During the occupation, laboratories, cabinets, and the library were severely destroyed. There were no visual aids and practically no equipment. In March 1943, the newspapers reported that the institute had resumed the lessons.

From August 1943 to January 1967, the institute was headed by Rachia Grigorievich Sarents. During that time, the campus at the corner of Kirova and Kalinina Avenues had been restored, and an assembly hall and gym had been built. He managed to expand the auditorium fund of the institute, to build rooms for the library, and to open and equip a showing room.

New departments were opened: the Natural and Geographical Department (October 1943) and the Foreign Languages Department (August 1944), with subdepartments of English, German, and French languages.

On the R.G. Sarents initiative, the Institute hosted a Club of Interesting Meetings. These were the meetings with famous scientists like A.M. Prokhorov, the inventor of the quantum oscillator and a Nobel Prize winner. Meetings of students and tutors of the Institute with outstanding Soviet and foreign writers, composers, and cosmonauts had become a tradition. All these involved students in events within and outside the country, making their lives richer and more interesting.

The Institute carried out active sports and scientific work. Students and lecturers of the Institute took part in various sports contests and tourist trips and occupied first positions, receiving medals.

On February 12, 1946, an order about student club restoration and the Council of Arts was issued. A choir, drama club, dance group, and concert team were created to develop amateur talent groups. The institute's creative groups were famous not only in Pyatigorsk but in Stavropol as well. The academic choir under the direction of L.A. Yaresko and then A.I. Cherednichenko was especially famous.

Students and lecturers actively participated in the public and work life of Pyatigorsk. They took part in the city’s improvement, reservoir building, and harvesting at suburban farms.

In 1957, the institute started a five-year educational program. New programs for future teachers were determined: teacher of two foreign languages, teacher of Russian language, literature, and foreign language. In 1958, new departments were opened: the Department of German and French Languages, the Philological Department, and the English Language Department. Under a government decision, all non-linguistic subjects were moved to other institutions in the region, including Stavropol. In 1961, the Spanish Language Department and the German Language Department were opened.

In June 1961, the Paytigorsk State Teachers’ Training Institute got the status of the State Teachers’ Training Institute of Foreign Languages.

In 1967, Sergey Andreevich Chekmenev, a graduate of the history department, was appointed rector. For 20 years under his leadership, the institute had renewed its resource base; new educational and administrative campuses, a canteen, student dormitories No. 2–4, and apartment houses for tutors and workers of the Institute had been built. In 1967, the sports and fitness camp “Damkhurts” and the sanatorium-preventorium “Orekhovaya Rosha” were erected. The construction of a student hospital and swimming pool had begun.

On July 1, 1980, the Institute opened a new sub-department, “Russian as a Foreign Language” (with English, French, and Spanish languages).

The Institute hosted all-Soviet and all-Russian meetings of tutors on theory, practice, and methodology of teaching social sciences, philology sciences, pedagogy, psychology, and scientific organization of pedagogic work in schools and institutes. The Institute became the center of South Russia for the training of foreign language teachers.

In December 1986, Candidate of Philological Sciences Aleksey Ivanovich Yeschenko, who graduated from the Spanish Language Department, became the Rector of the institute. Under his direction, dormitory No. 5 was constructed. Up until January 2002, he headed the Center of Linguistic Research at the university.

In 1989, the department of the English language was divided into two departments: the department of English and German languages and the department of the English language.

On November 13, 1990, Yuri Stepanovich Davidov, a doctor of economics and a graduate of Lomonosov Moscow State University, was elected to the post of Rector of the Institute. The Academic Senate supported his offer to switch to new educational and professional programs. The Institute was one of the first institutes in Russia that began to train bachelors and masters of linguistics.

In 1995, the Russian Federation Ministry of Education transformed the Institute into the Linguistic University due to the qualitative changes in its work.

In 1992, the university switched to multilevel training for specialists. Since that time, linguistics and intercultural communication have become the major areas of training. In 1990, PSLU launched new educational programs, apart from the already existing teacher and tutor qualifications. These were: translator/interpreter of two foreign languages; manager in the state and municipal management systems; and enterprise manager. In 1996, the University graduated first bachelors of linguistics; in 1999, first masters from the French language department; and in 2000, first masters from the English and German languages departments.

On April 20, the Rector of PSLU was elected as a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. On April 23, 2004, he was elected as its full member.

In the 1990s, PSLU hosted regional and all-Russian conferences on hermeneutics, Russian philosophy, lexicology and educational lexicography, pragmalinguistics, language teaching methods, practical psychology, economic disciplines, pedagogy, culturology, text linguistics, translation, etc.

In 1995–1996, on the initiative of the University scientists, PSLU launched a large-scale complex scientific, research, humanitarian, and educational program called “Peace in the North Caucasus through Languages, Education, and Culture." Since 2006, the organizational work on the program has been led by the Rector of the University, Alexander Gorbunov. PSLU held several international congresses on the given topic, and a number of scientific works were published. This program attracts a large number of participants from the North Caucasus, including the large university centers of Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, and other cities, as well as representatives from universities in Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands, and other countries.

Since the 1960s, the University has applied the practice of international collaboration and training of specialists for foreign countries. PSLU students undergo language practice in foreign countries. The best students have shown a high level of professional linguistic skills abroad as they worked as interpreters in different countries. In 1968, the University opened a department to work with foreign students. The education represented four areas: qualification in “Foreign and Russian languages," educational training, post-graduate courses, and short-term courses. The first students in this department were Vietnamese citizens. Within the following few years, more than 400 students from 50 countries (Vietnam, Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, Peru, Algeria, Togo, Ethiopia, Laos, Syria, etc) were studying at this department. In general, during all the time of its work, the department prepared about 1500 specialists for 61 countries in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The graduates of the department work in different universities, establishments, scientific and cultural centers, and state institutions.

Since 1983, the University introduced the position of vice rector for international relations. The international life of the University was not limited by the operation of the foreign students’ department.

In the 1990s, the international collaboration of the University led to changes in the coordination system in this sphere. In 1993, the University created an International Relations Department. Due to the expansion of PSLU international contacts and its collaboration with international educational organizations and funds, the University introduced the position of director for international programs, which has since been held by V.E. Mishin, an experienced specialist in international relations. In 2007, the unit was transformed into the Department of International Relations and Educational Programs.

Together with the versatile work of the Department of International Relations and Educational Programs on collaboration with foreign partners, the traditions of foreign student training gained a new impulse within the scope of the national program “The Russian Language." Recently, students, post-graduates, and trainees from Germany, Austria, France, the USA, South Korea, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel, Sudan, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, Iran, Mexico, Greece, and other countries have been trained at PSLU.

It is impossible to imagine the cultural life of the University as well as Pyatigorsk without the creative contribution of foreign students at PSLU. Festivals of national cultures and languages, national costumes and cuisine contests, celebrations of the New Year—all these help to improve mutual understanding and friendly relations between Russian and foreign students and form a kind of world culture at PSLU.

In 1994, the University launched the Center for Computer Technologies, headed by Tatyana Petrovna Sarana. In 1991, the first two IBM computers were put to work. In 1999, they amounted to 140, and five computer classes were formed, two of which were connected to the Internet. The opening of the Center for Informational and Educational Technologies was a new stage in education, computerization, and the development of publishing activity. Nowadays, all subdivisions of the university have computers and copying equipment. Students and lecturers use contemporary lingaphone offices. There is a constant development of audio- and video-based educational programs, texts, and movies. Computerization of administrative activity, library, and accounting and control improvement is another important direction of the Center’s work. Since 2007, the Center for Informational and Educational Technologies has been headed by Aleksandr Ivanovich Sarana.

The university library’s history starts in 1939. From the foundation of the Institute, three people worked there, and the stock amounted to 43,670 books. During the fascist occupation, the Pyatigorsk library was completely destroyed. After the liberation of the city, it was reconstructed. Students, lecturers, and institute officers donated their own books. Nowadays, PSLU Library is one of the largest libraries in the Northern Caucasus. Its unique collection was formed in accordance with the university direction, which is a Russian and foreign languages book.

In 2004, according to the International Academy of Quality and Marketing, PSLU was reckoned among the 100 best universities in Russia and got an honorable reward—a Golden Medal for “European Quality." In 2005, PSLU was awarded an honorary diploma from the State Duma of Russia.

In 2005, Yuri Stepanovich Davidov, an academician of the Russian Academy of Education who had been working as a rector for 15 years, was elected to the post of president of the University. Professor Alexander Pavlovich Gorbunov was unanimously appointed to the post of Rector by means of a secret ballot at the conference of scientific, pedagogic, and other categories of PSLU workers. Professor Gorbunov has held this position since December 28, 2005.

On his initiative, the University started its transition from a traditional to a creative and innovative university. Since that time, the University has been considered a model of a polycultural civil and professional community; the University continues to develop as a center of multiple languages and cultures, as the University that “opens and transforms the world.”.

In 2006, the university was ranked third in the rating list of the best of Russia’s pedagogical and liberal arts universities monitored by the national Ministry of Education and Science. According to the Vladimir Potanin Charity Fund’s independent research, it was nominated as one of the country’s best universities for the 15th time.

As per the results of the prestigious All-Russia Contest “Russian Organization of High Social Efficiency,” sponsored by the Government of Russia in 2007, the University won a prize in the category “Education and Science.”.

In May 2016, a new era of university development as a multidisciplinary institution started.
Following order No. 566 of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation from May 13, 2016, “Pyatigorsk State Linguistic University” was renamed "Pyatigorsk State University." This decision came into force after the registration of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities on May 27, 2016.

Pyatigorsk State University has a glorious past and an even more prospective future. The scientific and pedagogic personnel of the University that provide the link between generations and train future professionals of the 21st century are a guarantee of our success.

Internationalization of education is an objective process of stable interaction and interinfluence of national higher education systems based on common goals and principles that reflects 20th-century trends and meets the requirements of the whole human civilization as well as those of certain countries.

Solving issues of training quality for specialists with professional world-level skills, Pyatigorsk State University takes part in the processes of international integration, constantly strengthening and diversifying international academic bonds by means of the scientific and educational potential it possesses, as well as opportunities for innovative network interaction and cooperation with foreign partners and exporting educational services.

The university has created a flexible, balanced system of international activity that fosters a stable, high level of internationalization of scientific and educational work, aimed at sustaining a positive image of Russian higher education.