The Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University (orig. Новгородский Государственный Университет имени Ярослава Мудрого, НовГУ), also known informally as NovSU, was founded in 1993 by merging the two oldest higher education institutions of Veliky Novgorod: the Pedagogical and Polytechnic Institutes. Later, Novgorod Agricultural Academy was included into the structure of the university. At present it comprises seven Institutes and four Colleges of secondary vocational education.
It is unusual that the Novgorod State University has the name of Prince Yaroslav the Wise incorporated into its title. On the eve of the university's first anniversary, the Prince's personal seal was discovered during archaeological excavations. Academician Yanin considered it a remarkable coincidence and suggested awarding the university the name of the Russian prince.
Higher education in Novgorod in the 18th–20th centuries
The first attempt to open a higher educational institution in Novgorod dates back to 1740, when the Novgorodian Archbishop Ambrose (Yushkevich) founded the Novgorod Theological Seminary. As a graduate of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, Archbishop Ambrose planned to create an exact copy of his alma mater in Novgorod. From the very beginning, the activities of the Novgorod Theological Seminary were thoroughly regulated and properly funded (7859 rubles 37 kopecks per year were allocated for its maintenance). This amount of money was much higher than the financial support of other seminaries in the Russian Empire at that time. On April 12, 1741, he sent a report to the regent Anna Leopoldovna, declaring his intention to build "not a seminary, but a large Academy following the example of the Kiev schools ... [at] the monastery of Anthony of Rome", where "should be 10 schools according to the state, also a stone library for keeping books, and for better order and observation of this Academy... archimandrite and rector ... following the example of the Kiev and Moscow Academies", and also asked "to approve this academy with a privilege (certificate), following the example of Kiev, Kharkov and other foreign academies". The curriculum had the same structure as in the Kiev Academy. The first teachers were invited also from there.
The academies of that time were not only designed to train clergymen. Their graduates became scientists, writers, officials, etc. The formalization of the clergy into a closed class and the reorientation of theological schools exclusively towards people from this class occurred later, during the reign of Catherine II.
Archbishop Ambrose made special efforts to organize the seminary library. In 1740, 300 rubles a year were allocated to equip the library. No seminary in the Russian Empire received such funding. Ambrose handed over the book collection of the Novgorod bishop's house to the seminary library, which included the library of the Novgorod school of Likhud Brothers, and also obtained permission from Empress Elizabeth Petrovna to transfer the library of Theophan (Prokopovich) to the seminary.
Ultimately, however, the main resources were directed to the development of education in St. Petersburg. So in 1788, the upper classes of the Novgorod Theological Seminary, on the initiative of Metropolitan Gabriel (Petrov) of Novgorod and St. Petersburg, were transferred to St. Petersburg for 11 years to raise the level of education in the Alexander Nevsky Seminary, which in 1797 was transformed into the Theological Academy. Thus, for all the subsequent tsarist times, neither a theological academy nor a secular university was opened in Novgorod. In the 19th century, the Novgorod Theological Seminary had few fundamental differences from other theological seminaries in the country. However, even then it possessed unique traditions and a remarkable library.
On September 30, 1918, the Novgorod government department of public education decided to close the Novgorod Theological Seminary, and on October 1, 1919, the Novgorod Institute of Public Education was opened on its basis. The fundamental library of the seminary was transferred to that institute.
In 1934, the Novgorod Institute of Public Education was transformed into the Novgorod State Teachers' Institute, and then, in 1953, into the Novgorod State Pedagogical Institute.
Novgorod State University
On June 30, 1993, the Prime Minister V.S.Chernomyrdin signed the Resolution: "On the formation of the Novgorod State University" on the basis of the Novgorod State Polytechnic Institute and the Novgorod State Pedagogical Institute. The Minister of Education V. G. Kinelyov appointed Vladimir Vasilyevich Soroka as Rector of NovSU. The opening ceremony took place on October 1, 1993.