Our university is the oldest forest university in the country. The entire history of the university is connected with the forest industry, with its development and changes, with the need for qualified personnel of various levels and specializations.
The University was founded in 1803 as Tzar’s Village (Tsarskoye Selo) Forest Institute. In 1811 it was transferred from Tsarskoye Selo to St. Petersburg and merged with the private forest Institute of count Orlov. It was named «St. Petersburg Forest Institute».
In 1914 «St. Petersburg Forestry Institute» was re-named «Petrograd Forestry Institute», in 1924 — «Leningrad Forestry Institute», in 1929 – «Leningrad Forestry Academy», in 1935 the Academy was named after S. M. Kirov.
On October 15, 1953, by the decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet the Academy was awarded the order of Lenin and was officially called «Leningrad Forest Engineering Academy named after S. M. Kirov awarded the order of Lenin».
By the resolution № 50 of the RSFSR State Committee for Science and Higher Education of February 11, 1992, the Academy was re-named «St. Petersburg Forest Technical Academy named after S. M. Kirov awarded the order of Lenin».
On October 2, 2002, «Saint-Petersburg Forest Technical Academy named after S. M. Kirov» entered the Unified State Register of Legal Entities under the name of State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education «Saint-Petersburg State Forest Technical Academy named after S. M. Kirov».
By the decree № 1798-R of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 28, 2009, the State educational institution of secondary professional education «Saint-Petersburg College of Timber Production Automation» was joined to the Academy.
By the order № 1868 of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation of 27 may, 2011, the Academy was renamed the Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education «Saint Petersburg State Forest Technical University named after S. M. Kirov».
By the order № 237 of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation of 18 March 2016 the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education the University was renamed the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education «St. Petersburg State Forest Engineering University named after S. M. Kirov».
St. Petersburg State Forest Technical University has always been and remains now a recognized research center. World-known scientists that solve fundamental and applied problems in the field of forest ecology, biodiversity conservation, climate regulation, reforestation, inventory, protection and protection of forests, deep wood processing, bioenergy, forest economy and politics, landscape architecture, are working here.
Currently, 46 doctors of science and 33 professors, 139 candidates of science and 100 associate professors are teaching and doing research within the walls of the university, 6.5 thousand students are studying at the university.
To date, the number of specialists trained by the university in the field of forestry and the forest industry exceeds 75 thousand. Many of our graduates manage enterprises, work at all governmental levels, head research institutes and departments, are successful entrepreneurs and highly qualified specialists.
Training is conducted in 23 areas of bachelor's training, 12 areas of master’s, 19 areas of secondary vocational education and 7 areas of training of highly qualified personnel (postgraduate students). The university successfully implements the master's program FORPEC in English.
More than 500 students from 37 countries of the world are currently studying at the university.
The pride of our university is our park - it is not only a magnificent example of landscape architecture, which is under the protection, but also an educational base for university students.
Our university cooperates with many industrial enterprises and governmental organizations for which we train personnel. This allows to combine the potential of educational, scientific institutions and specialized industrial enterprises in order to improve the quality of training of specialists, form together with employers professional requirements for modern specialists of all levels of training, develop a system of advanced training and retraining of personnel (including distance learning systems), introduce innovative scientific developments and sophisticated high-tech equipment.