Founded in 1724 by Peter the Great, Saint Petersburg University was to become the first institution of higher education in Russia. SPbU is a leading Russian university with teaching and research excellence ranked among the world's top universities. We are open to cooperation and enjoy strong ties with the international research and academic community. SPbU scientists work in almost all fields of knowledge, providing expertise and consultation in close collaboration with Russian and international partners. Many outstanding scholars have been a part of the SPbU community, including nine Nobel Prize winners: the physiologist Ivan Pavlov, biologist Ilya Mechnikov, physicist and chemist Nikolay Semyonov, physicists Lev Landau and Aleksandr Prokhorov, philosopher and economist Wassily Leontief as well as mathematician and economist Leonid Kantorovich.

School of Journalism and Mass Communications, St. Petersburg State University, is considered to be one of Russia's leading institutions for the education of journalists and specialists in public relations with about 2000 students studying on our BA, MA and PhD programs. It is made up of two faculties, one specializing in journalism, the other in applied communications.
Institute "School of Journalism and Mass Communication" was created on the base of the Faculty of Journalism, St. Petersburg State University, on September 16, 2011. History of the School began in 1946, when Journalism department was created as a part of the Faculty of Philology of Leningrad State University. It consisted out of the two chairs: chair of History of Journalism and chair of Theory and Practice of Soviet Press. In 1961 the Department was transformed into the Faculty of Journalism.