The Buryat State University was established by the Decree of the Russian Federation President on September 30, 1995 on the basis of the Dorzhi Banzarov Buryat State Teachers' Training Institute and the Buryat Branch of the Novosibirsk State University.
Stepan V. Kalmykov, professor, Ph.D., Deputy of the People's Hural (Parliament) in the Republic of Buryatia, has been elected the erst University rector.
The University faculty is 655 teachers, among them 63 doctors of sciences, professors, and 279 Ph.D., associate professors, 1 Academician of the Russia Academy of Education, 1 Corresponding member of the Russia Academy of Education and 21 Corresponding members of International and Russian Academies teach at the University. 15 faculty members are the Russian Federation Merited Workers of Sciences, of Education and of Culture. 69 lecturers are Merited Workers of Sciences of the Buryatia Republic. Professors and lecturers from Mongolia, China, Turkey, Korea, Germany, Poland, the USA come to teach at the University on the teacher exchange basis.
There are 12 Departments and 3 Institutes — the Institutes of Teacher Education, of Ecology and of Oriental Studies — which offer students an exciting choice of 18 educational career options through professional programmes in mathematics, applied mathematics, physics, chemistry, geology, biology, geography, history (Russian history, Central and Eastern Asia history), law, philology (Russian philology, Buryat philology, Chinese and Mongolian philology, the Evenki language, foreign languages — English, German, French, Japanese), physical education and sports, human services, modern technology and entrepreneurial activities, pre-school education and psychology, primary education, public policy and management, mathematical methods and operations in economics.
The academic science has become one of the University priorities. The professors, teachers, research workers, undergraduate and post-graduate students are involved in research work which is carried out in the research institutions and laboratories along the following lines: the ethnic, cultural and social development of the Central Asian region; the Baikal region ecosystems; the programmes development of traditional and cross-cultural education, etc.
The University offers candidate of science degree programmes in physics of polymers, botany, human and animal physiology, ecology, history of Russia, world history, philosophy of religion, philosophy of science and technology, social philosophy, social psychology, folklore studies, the Russian language, Mongolian languages, Russian Federation languages, geography, geophysics and geochemistry of landscapes, nature protection and efficient use of nature resources, theory of education, methods of foreign languages teaching, methods of physical education, training and fitness teaching, etc.
The University scientific library plays an important role in the scientific and academic life. It contains ample study place and holds 850,000 volumes, 11,600 of them are of great rarity value.
6500 students are taking courses at the University, 5030 being full-time students, Residential life programme houses up to 34 of the students.
The University encourages international links between scientific and educational institutions in China, Mongolia, Thailand, Turkey, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, the USA at the level of research and educational schemes, courses and professional contacts.
The faculty of the Buryat State University is on its way to rank among the national top universities.