SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

Perm has been an important industrial and transportation center for more than a century. This helps explain its continuing role as a regional center for science and education. Over many years various institutions were placed here by private financing and philanthropy as well as by efforts of local and national administrations.

In the Soviet era the development of advanced technologies and military industries as well as the continued extraction of rich natural resources in the area stimulated the establishment and the flourishing of scientific and educational institutions.

There are now

• several departments of Ural Scientific Center of Russian Academy of Sciences,
• dozens of scientific research and design institutes,
• seven higher education universities,
• more then 140 secondary schools, etc.

The flagship institution for research work is Perm State University, the oldest school in the Urals region. Founded in 1916, it was the eleventh university established in Russia. It later gave birth to almost all the other institutions of higher learning in Perm.

More than 10,000 students currently study in Perm State Technical University, whose 78 departments conduct research in collaboration with local manufacturers. Other higher schools include the Perm State Medical and Pharmaceutical Academies, Perm State Pedagogical University, Perm Institute of Culture and Arts, and two military academies.

Many interesting innovations have taken place in the public education system since the adoption of a new federal educational law in the post-Soviet period. Teachers now compete annually to develop new programs to teach more effectively. New subjects, such as economics, have been introduced into the curriculum. A primary goal of the recent changes is to create a variety of educational institutions and pedagogical methods which will allow educators to find additional resources and give them more opportunities to discover and develop childrens' talents.