Moscow State University was established in 1755.

More than 40 000 students (graduate and postgraduate) and about 7 000 undergraduates study at the university, and over 5 000 specialists do the refresher course here. More than 6 000 professors and lecturers, and about 5 000 researchers work for the faculties and research institutes.

Every year Moscow University enrolls about 4 000 international students and postgraduates from all over the world.
Moscow University campus is an extremely complex system, with its 1 000 000 m2 floor area in 1 000 buildings and structures, with its 8 dormitories housing over 12 000 students and 300 km of utility lines.

MSU library system is one of the largest in Russia, with its 9,000,000 books, 2,000,000 of them in foreign languages, and the average number of readers 55,000, using 5,500,000 books a year.

n January 2005 Lomonosov Moscow State University celebrated its 250th anniversary, over 800 various events being held on the occasion. Founded in the XVIII century, the University has been constantly growing and encompassing new branches of learning and research.

All the history of the University is the evidence of the outstanding role its alumni have played promoting the ideas of freedom, common good, humanity, and truth.

Early history
One of the oldest Russian institutions of higher education, Moscow University was established in 1755. In 1940 it was named after Academician Mikhail Lomonosov (1711 - 1765), an outstanding Russian scientist, who greatly contributed to the establishment of the university in Moscow.

Mikhail Lomonosov was one of the intellectual titans of XVIII century. The great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin described him as a person of formidable willpower and keen scientific mind, whose lifelong passion was learning. Lomonosov's interests ranged from history, rhetoric, art and poetry to mechanics, chemistry, mineralogy. His activity is a manifestation of the enormous potential of the Russian scientific community whose representatives occupied the leading positions in the world at the time. Peter I reformed Russia, which allowed the country reach the standards of the contemporary European powers in many spheres. Great importance was placed on education. In 1724 the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, founded by Peter I, established a university and a grammar school to educate intellectuals and researchers the country needed; however, these educational establishments did not fulfill the task they took on. It was Michail Lomonosov who suggested, in his letter to Count Shuvalov, the idea of establishing a university in Moscow. An influential courtier and the favorite of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, Count Shuvalov was a patron of the arts and science; he supported Lomonosov's plans for a new university and presented them to the Empress.