The Lomonosov State Academy of Fine Chemical Technology is one of the oldest institution of higher education in Russia.

Its history goes back to July 1, 1900, when the Physicochemical Institute of the Moscow Higher Education Courses for Women was founded. Within a short period the Courses became one of the best country's leading higher educational establishments. In 1905-1918 the Courses was headed by Academician S.A.Chaplygin, a noted scientist in the field of aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, and theoretical mechanics. In 1918 the Courses was reorganised into the Second Moscow State University, and in 1930 the Department of Chemistry of the Second Moscow State University became the Moscow Institute of Fine Chemical Technology (MIFCT), the predecessor of the Lomonosov State Academy of Fine Chemical Technology (LSAFCT)

The purpose of MIFCT was to train specialists for those branches of chemical industry that were characterised by complicated technological processes, that is, for science-intensive chemical industries. MIFCT was the first in the country to train chemical engineers in the development of fine organic and inorganic chemicals, synthetic rubber, synthetic liquid and gas fuel, and organoelement compounds.

For its success in training specialists MIFCT was named after M.V. Lomonosov in 1940 and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1971, and in 1992 it was given the status of a State Academy. The Academy preserves and further develops the best university traditions: democracy, high-level instruction, interaction of academic and research processes, broad participation by students in research and excellent training in the engineering sciences. LSAFCT maintains close ties with the Russian Academy of Sciences, various research institutes, industrial firms, enterprises, and colleges and universities in Russia and abroad.

The academic and research programs at MIFCT mapped out by several internationally known scientists and educators who had worked at MIFCT at different times. They include: Academician V.I.Vernadsky, a geochemist and a pioneer in geochemistry, biogeochemistry and radiogeology, the author of the theory of noosphere, which forms the basis of modern ecology, and Director of the Radium Institute; Academician A.N.Nesmeyanov, a pioneer of organoelement chemistry, President of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1951 -1961), Director of the Institute of Organoelement Compounds, and for many years the Head of me Department of Organic Chemistry at MIFCT; Academician Ya.K. Syrkin, a pioneer in theoretical and quantum chemistry in Russia, known for his research into molecular structures and chemical bonding, thermodynamics, and kinetics, was the Head of the Department of Physical Chemistry at MIFCT.

Among other scientists and educators whose activities were associated with MIFCT were Academicians N.D. Zeiinskii, S.S. Nametkin, V.M. Rodionov, G.G. Urazov, S.S. Medvedev, I.P. Alimarin, I.N. Nazarov, K.A. Andrianov, I.L. Knunyants, I.V. Tananaev, N.P. Fedorenko, N.N. Nekrasov, and V.I. Goldanskii; Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences K.A. Bolshakov, A.N. Bashkirov, V.V. Lebedinskii, D.I. Kursanov, B.A. Sakharov, and A.N. Pravednikov; Professors N.E. Zhukovskii, I.Ya. Bashylov, A.M. Berkengeim, A.A. Eikhenvald, V.G. Vulf, B.K. Miodzeevskii, O.N. Tsuberbiller, M.A. Prozin, N.A. Preobrazhenskii, B.A. Dogadkin, N.I. Gelperin, S.V. Lvov, F.F. Koshelev, V.E. Plushchev, N.S. Pechuro, R.M. Flid, and S.S. Kiparisov.

Continuity in the development of research trends is one of the traditions at LSAFCT. LSAFCT is a major academic and research centre in Russia. It offers Bachelor's and Master's degrees and the degrees of Candidate of Sciences and Doctor of Sciences in both the day and evening schools. LSAFCT also has a Computer Centre, a library, a publishing house, research laboratories, etc. LSAFCT has 39 departments and 17 departments which are affiliated with educational and industrial research institutes and design organisations. LSAFCT confers the Bachelor's and Master's degrees (12 Master's programs) in the following fields: Chemistry; Chemical engineering and biotechnology; Material science and technology of new materials; Environmental protection; Management; Metrology, standardisation, and certification. LSAFCT also confers the degrees of Candidate of Sciences and Doctor of Sciences in 28 disciplines, and trains engineers in 10 different fields and 28 specialities.

The wide range of specialities offered by LSAFCT reflects world trends in science and technology. It promotes research in various fields of science, including interdisciplinary research. The faculty of LSAFCT includes 400 full-time instructors and 50 specialists who also work at scientific organisations and industrial enterprises. Among them there are more than 100 Professors and holders of the Doctor of Sciences degree and more than 200 holders of the Candidate of Sciences degree.

LSAFCT has more than 3000 undergraduate students attending courses (including about 100 students from abroad), about 500 undergraduate students in the evening school, and about 150 graduate students. Each year about 400 students graduate from LSAFCT.

Research conducted at LSAFCT is focused on the development of technologies that are science-intensive, environmentally friendly and waste-free and on the elaboration of the physical and chemical principles of technological processes. Many of the research trends pursued at LSAFCT are unique.

Extensive research is carried out at LSAFCT in the field of higher education, and systematically so since the mid-1970s. The aims of this research are: long-term forecasting of the development of engineering education in Russia and strategic planning in engineering education; monitoring the educational situation at LSAFCT and taking timely response to it; theoretical and experimental investigations in the field of education: teaching and new pedagogical methods and their testing and implementation.

A special laboratory has been set up at LSAFCT for carrying out research in the field of higher education. The basic research methods are as follows: theoretical investigations and mathematical modelling; sociological investigations: feedback from students and instructors, analysis of textbooks.

The major directions of this research are: global problems of higher engineering education; multilevel training of specialists; introduction of courses in the humanities in engineering curricula; study of the time schedules of students and instructors and scheduling; study of the instructional aspects of education, training, organisational forms of the training process, and methods of regulating this process; all-round assessment of the quality of the training process.

The results of this research work are applied in LSAFCT and other educational establishments. They are published in scholarly journals and discussed at conferences and seminars.