Belarusian State University

On February 25, 1919, the Central Executive Committee of the Belorussian SSR resolved to establish the first national university in Belarus. However, the occupation of Minsk by the Polish army delayed these plans, and the university's opening was set back to October 30, 1921.[8]

Initially, the university comprised three faculties (Workers, Medicine, and Humanities) that enrolled a total of 1,390 students. The faculty included 14 professors, 49 lecturers and 10 teaching assistants, most of whom were transferred from the universities of Moscow, Kazan and Kiev. In 1922, the Pedagogical Faculty was established. The first class that counted 34 economists and 26 lawyers graduated in 1925. By 1930, the university consisted of six faculties: Workers, Medicine, Pedagogical, National Economy, Law and Soviet Development, Chemical Technology.

In 1941 the university consisted of six Faculties: Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics, Biology, History, Geography, and Languages. There was also a Workers Faculty that provided part-time education to full-time employees of factories and plants, as well as special part-time Polish- and Yiddish-language sections. After Minsk was occupied by Nazi Germany in June 1941, some students and academic staff were evacuated to the east. In May 1943, Belarusian State University was re-opened in the town of Skhodnya, 12 km northwest of Moscow. The university relocated back to Minsk in the summer of 1944 and classes resumed. In 1949, the university was named after Vladimir Lenin to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Byelorussian SSR.

In 1975 the Faculty of Radiophysics and Electronics was split off from the Faculty of Physics, and in 1989 the Faculty of Philosophy and Economics was established. The research institutes for physico-chemical problems and nuclear problems were opened in 1978 and 1986, respectively.

After Belarus gained independence from the USSR in 1991, new faculties and institutes were created: the Faculty of International Relations (1995), the State Institute of Management and Social Technologies (2003), the Military Faculty (2003), the St. Methodius and Cyril Theological Institute (2004), the Humanities Faculty (2004); the Institute of Business and Technology Management (2006), the Confucius Institute for Sinology (2007).

Rector Alyaksandr Kazulin was fired in 2003 on accusations of corruption.[9][10]

In 2008, the activist Franak Viačorka, a member of Partyja BPF, was expelled from the Journalism Faculty of the Belarusian State University and forced into military service.[11] In the same year, Michaił Paškievič, a member of the United Civic Party and leader of the party's youth wing, was expelled from the BSU History Faculty for political activity.[12]

In 2009, the BSU Law Faculty expelled the student Tatsiana Shaputska, a member of the Malady Front, after her participation in the Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership in Brussels.[13]

As part of the international sanctions against the regime in Belarus following a crackdown of the opposition following the 2010 Belarusian presidential election, Siarhiej Abłamiejka, at that time rector of the Belarusian State University, was banned from entering the European Union. In its decision, the EU Council accused him of being "responsible for the expulsion of several students from the University because they participated in the demonstrations on 19 December 2010 and in other peaceful demonstrations in 2011."[14] It was reported that students were expelled from the Belarusian State University for participating in the protests in 2010 and 2011.

According to reports by human rights organizations, politically motivated expulsions from the Belarusian State University continued also after the EU lifted most of its sanctions against Belarus in 2014.[15]

According to reports by media and human rights organizations, many students of the Belarusian State University are being forced to vote early at elections and referendums, which is considered an essential part of centralized electoral fraud in Belarus. No election or referendum in Belarus has been recognized by the United States, the European Union, or the OSCE as free and fair since the mid-1990s.[16][17][18]

In 2020–21, several university teachers were fired for political reasons.[19][20][21][22] A number of students who participated in the protests or openly expressed their civil position were expelled.[23][24][25][26] Professor Svetlana Volchek was arrested for writing to the university leadership expressing concern about police violence during the protests, and found guilty of spreading information about a planned protest.[27]

In 2021, four previously expelled BSU students were sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for protesting in the university and "disruption of the educational process".[28] All of them were recognized as political prisoners.[29] Several BSU employees were witnesses.[30]

Aliaksandr Danilevich, a university professor and a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, was arrested by Belarusian police on May 20, 2022.[31] In February 2022 he had signed a petition calling for an end to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[31] After he signed the petition the university told him they would not extend his contract; the day before his arrest he had asked for a written explanation to why his contract was ended.[31]

Military Faculty of the Belarusian State University was established on 4 November 1926, by order of the Soviet Revolutionary Military Council. In 1941, at the outset of the Second World War, military training classes were interrupted only to be resumed in 1943. In the post-war years, the military department continued to train reserve officers in accounting specialties. In 2003, the military department was reorganized into the modern military faculty of BSU.[34]

• National Research Centre of Ozonosphere monitoring
• National Scientific and Educational Centre of Particles and High-Energy Physics Republican Research Centres
• Republican Centre for Human Studies

• Inter-departmental Centre of national parks and preserves
• Inter-departmental Centre research center «Life safety»

• Belarusian inter-university center of research facilities
• Centre of sharing use of devices and equipment of faculty of biology
• Laboratory of physical-and-chemical methods of research RI PCP
• Centre of nanotechnologies and physical electronics

• Centre of Applied Problems of Mathematics and Informatics
• Education Development Centre
• Centre for youth studies
• Centre of Sociological and Political studies
• Centre for international studies
• Centre for international technologies
• Centre of informational resources and communications
• Centre of IT security
• Childhood development Centre
• Centre for Olympic training

The research activity is conducted on the basis of 25 Research Centres and 115 Scientific Laboratories. University has 4 Research Institutes:

• Research Institute of Applied Physical Problems named after A.N. Sieŭčanka
• Research Institute for Nuclear Problems of Belarusian State University
• Research Institute Of Physical And Chemical Problems
• Research Institute of Applied Mathematics and Informatics

The BSU complex also includes 12 unitary scientific-productional enterprises, among them are the following:

• Unitehprom BSU (Small-scale chemical and equipment production of various purpose);
• Unihimprom BSU (Development of the technology of diesel biofuel production from vegetable oils and other accompanying products);
• Unidragmet BSU (treatment of man-caused waste containing precious and non-ferrous metals treatment);
• Adamas BSU (Production of diamond monocrystals and instruments made of them);
• Engineering department of BSU (Production of computers, traffic controllers and systems of traffic control, software&hardware for medical experts);
• Active BSU (production of training devices for physical experiment, vacuum engineering and forage additives;
• Sand BSU (production of tests systems for drug detection).