Project on the establishment of Moscow University

Project on the establishment of Moscow University (1755)

The project on the establishment of the Moscow University is the legislative act of the Russian Empire on the foundation of the Imperial Moscow University , approved by the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna and included in the decree "On the Establishment of the Moscow University and two gymnasiums", promulgated by the Senate and entered into force on January 12 (23), 1755 .

The idea of ​​founding a university in Moscow was led by the acquaintance of I. I. Shuvalov with M. V. Lomonosov in 1750 and a discussion between them of the problems of developing university education in Russia. I. I. Shuvalov informed MV Lomonosov about this idea (05/19/1754) in a reply letter, outlining a short plan of the university’s structure, and then presented a detailed project, on the final text of which they worked together for several weeks. The developed project was submitted by I. I. Shuvalov to the Senate (07.19.1754), together with the justification of the need to establish a new university and the reasons for its location in Moscow. The Senate approved the draft and submitted it to the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Probably, already in late July - early August 1754, the project on the establishment of the Imperial Moscow University was approved, as evidenced by the Empress’s decree (08.08.1754) on transferring the main pharmacy building in Moscow to the university, as well as a commemorative medal in honor of the founding of the university with a date "1754." However, the promulgation of the decree on the founding of the university was postponed due to the unpreparedness of the university building, the repair of which was delayed until winter. The project was returned to the Senate (12/02/1754) and on the day of the Holy Martyr Tatiana (name day of mother I. I. Shuvalov) was again signed by Empress Elizabeth.

The content of the project reflected a compromise between the desire of I. I. Shuvalov to put the university under state control, on the one hand, and to satisfy with his help the needs for training the nobility and the ideas of M. V. Lomonosov, who consistently adhered to the European standards of an autonomous university corporation and wanted to develop Russian higher education.

Imperial Moscow University until 1804 did not receive the Charter and was governed in accordance with the provisions of the "Project on the Establishment of Moscow University", which was preliminary. Already in the decree on the founding of Moscow University, it was foreseen to be quickly replaced by the "regulations" (Charter) of the university.

Several attempts to introduce the Charter at Moscow University were unsuccessful. Work on the regulations began on the initiative of I. I. Shuvalov in 1760 and continued at the University Conference with the participation of the director and curators until 1767, when the finished project was presented to Empress Catherine II , but was not approved. New draft Charter arose in the 1780s. in connection with the activities of the Commission on public schools (then it was proposed to open new universities in Penza, Chernihiv, Pskov). In a draft of 1787, prepared by a member of the Commission, the director of public schools, O. P. Kozoddevlev, problems of expanding university teaching and endowing scholars were addressed, and the principle of the universality of education was consistently carried out. This project, however, was also not approved by the empress. The first charter of Moscow University was the 1804 charter created during the reforms of public education at the beginning of the reign of Emperor Alexander I ^[1] .