Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

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Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (Russian language: Московский Физико-Технический институт) abbreviated MIPT (Russian language: МФТИ) a.k.a. Phystech (Russian language: Физтех) is one of the better known Russian universities, sometimes referred to as the "Russian MIT". The Institute's primary facilities are located in Dolgoprudny, Moscow's satellite town. Admission is highly competitive, depending on performance in nation-wide competitions.

1 History
2 Phystech system
3 Demographics
4 Departments
5 Famous faculty and alumni
6 External links

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History

The Institute was founded in 1946 as a department of M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University by a group of prominent members of USSR Academy of Sciences. Originally the Department of Physics and Technology of Moscow University, it was granted independent status in 1951, numbering famous Russian scientists, Nobel Prize winners Pyotr Kapitsa, Nikolay Semyonov, and Lev Landau among its founding professors.

Over the years, MIPT became the main training facility for researchers and engineers in the areas of applied and theoretical physics. The so called "Phystech System" (of education) is famous for preparing a large part of the Soviet/Russian scientific resources over the course of half-a-century.

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Phystech system

Students typically enroll into MIPT immediately after graduating from high school at the age of 17; younger students occasionally manage to enroll, usually as a result of skipping grades while in school. Strongest performers in national physics and mathematics competitions and IMO/IPhO participants are granted admission, subject only to interview. All others have to pass highly competitive physics and mathematics examinations.

In accordance with traditions of Soviet education system, most students study in MIPT for free. Further, they are provided with effectively free on-campus housing and small scholarships ( as of 2006, $40-$50 per month depending on student's performance ), thus allowing them to study full-time.

It normally takes 6 years for a student to graduate from MIPT. For the first three years of education, all students undergo extensive training in physics and mathematics, without significant differences between programs at different departments. In addition to Physics and Mathematics, they take courses in English language, History and Chemistry. Most courses consist of two parts - lectures and seminars ( problem-solving sessions ). Lecture attendance is usually optional, whereas seminar attendance affects grades. Full load of a typical 1st- or 2nd-year student is 35 or more hours per week, not including homework. By skipping lectures, (s)he can reduce it to around 20. The university follows a semester system; each semester includes 15 weeks of instruction and 2 weeks of finals. In addition, after each semester, students have to pass a number of oral and written exams in their principal areas of study.

During enrollment, each student is assigned to a certain "base institute" - a research institute somewhere in Moscow or its suburbs that conducts research, specific to his/her interests. Starting typically in 4th or 5th semester, students have to commute regularly to their base institutes, where they attend lectures of leading scientists in their fields and, eventually, conduct research with them. Frequency of their visits increases from 1 day a week during the third year to 4-5 days a week during the sixth year.

Before 1998, students could receive a diploma only after completing a full 6-year course of training. In 1998 a new system was introduced. After 4 years of education, students are required to pass a comprehensive physics examination, after which they are awarded a Bachelor's degree diploma. Estimated 90% of students continue their education after receiving this diploma.

Towards the end of their education, students have to write and defend a thesis as a requirement for graduation.

Although the complete course of education in MIPT takes 6 years, just as an American Bachelor's degree followed by M.S. degree, MIPT graduates usually evaluate their training higher than an American M.S. Education in MIPT is indeed considerably more intensive and more research-oriented compared to an average American college. In addition, American M.S. programs usually focus on taking classes and less on research. Some people even believe that MIPT diploma is roughly equivalent to an American Ph.D. in physics — an exaggeration which is, however, true in some exceptional cases.

Despite a clear leadership, MIPT typically can not be found on the lists of the worldwide top university rankings ( e.g. the famous Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranking). This is primarily due to the fact that most distinguished professors work in base institutes rather than MIPT itself; students' scientific publications also rarely mention MIPT; and, as a result, university's ranking ends up "spread up" among 50+ base institutes. Nevertheless, MIPT should be considered one of the strongest physics universities in the world, probably on par with MIT.

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Demographics

Currently the institute has 8 departments, with an average of 80 new students admitted in each department per year. About 15% of all students are residents of Moscow; the rest come from all over the former Soviet Union. Most non-local students live in the dormitory on-campus at least for the first 4 years. Senior students often either move to base institute dormitories or rent apartments. Student population is almost exclusively male, with the fraction of women in a department rarely reaching 15% ( having 2-3 women in a class of 80 is not uncommon ).

There is no reliable statistics of careers of MIPT graduates. Many continue their research in the base institutes. Some graduates become businessmen or software engineers. Some, especially high-performing students of prestigious departments ( DGAP, DAME ), go on to get advanced degrees from foreign instutitions, often in order to pursue academic careers in the First World countries. In the past, some students were known to have been admitted ( all expenses paid ) into Ph.D. programs of American universities as early as after 3rd year of education. Many MIPT's alumni hold faculty positions in the world's top Universities, including Harvard, MIT, Brown, University of Toronto and University of Chicago.

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