Baku State University

Baku State University (BSU, Azerbaijani: Bakı Dövlət Universiteti) is a public university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Established in 1919 by the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the University started with faculties of history and philology; physics and mathematics; law and medicine with an initial enrollment of 1094. The first rector of BSU was V.I.Razumovsky, a former professor of surgery at Kazan University.

In 1930, the government ordered the University shut down in accordance with a reorganization of higher education, and the University was replaced with the Supreme Pedagogical Institute. However, in 1934 the University was reestablished again, and continued to work through the difficult years of World War II experiencing a shortage of faculty members.

By its 40th anniversary in 1959, the University already had 13 faculties. The Azerbaijan Medical University and Azerbaijan State Economic University were both spun-offs of the original respective faculties at BSU.

Among the graduates of BSU were two former presidents of Azerbaijan, Abulfaz Elchibey and Heydar Aliyev. The former graduated from the Faculty of Arabic Language and Literature, while the latter, who dominated Azerbaijan's political life for over 30 years, from the Faculty of History. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Lev Landau studied at BSU between 1922 and 1924.

BSU is the only university from Azerbaijan Republic ranked by international ranking organizations, such as University Ranking by Academic Performance and currently ranks at 1951 in the University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP).