Moscow State University 'M. V. Lomonosov' (MSU; Russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова, sometimes abbreviated МГУ, MGU) is a public research university located in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1755 by Mikhail Lomonosov and Ivan Shuvalov, after whom it was renamed 'Lomonosov University' in 1940. Its rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy.
Alumni of the university include leaders of the Soviet Union and other governments as well as a Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.[2] As of 2019, 13 Nobel laureates, six Fields Medal winners and one Turing Award winner had been affiliated with the university. The global Times Higher World University Rankings rated it #296, and it was the highest-ranking Russian educational institution by QS in 2020,[3] and according to the Nature Index in 2019 the highest ranked Russian university for research output.[4] The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments and six branches (including five foreign ones - all in the Commonwealth of Independent States countries). Moscow State University is generally accepted as the leading higher educational institution in the former Soviet Union.[5]