TSU is a flagship university of Samara Region, the centre of innovative and technological development of the region, and the city-forming university of Togliatti. The history of TSU begins in 1951 when a branch of Kuibyshev Industrial Institute at Kuibyshevgidrostroy was opened in Stavropol (former name of Togliatti). In 1966, to provide personnel for the Volga automobile plant under construction, it was reorganised into the Togliatti Polytechnic Institute with the faculty of automotive engineering. In 1987, a branch of Kuibyshev State Pedagogical Institute was established in Togliatti – the first university centre for the Humanities in the city. On 29 May 2001, by a decision of the Government of the Russian Federation, Togliatti State University was established on the basis of these two institutions.
Togliatti State University:
Innovative entrepreneurial digital university
* Twice winner of the Federal Innovative Platform status: 2012-2017 and 2018-2023 with the project "Digital transformation of university processes" ("Smart University")
• Twice winner of the RF Government award for quality (2009 and 2019.)
* Winner of the special prize of the CIS award for quality (2011)
• Diploma of the RF Government award for quality (2018)
* Winner of the largest Russian competition for professional project management "Project Olympus" of the Analytical Centre under the Government of the Russian Federation in the category "Project management in higher education and science" with the project "Development of online distance learning project Rosdistant (2019)
* Co-founder of the extraterritorial scientific and educational centre "Engineering of the future", developer of the digital platform for interaction of REC competence centres
TSU today is
- 10 institutes that provide training in a wide range of technical, natural science, humanitarian, economic and legal areas:
* Institute of Architecture and Construction
* Institute of Humanities and Pedagogy
* Institute of Fine, Decorative and Applied Arts
* Institute of Engineering and Environmental Safety
* Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Information Technologies
* Institute of Mechanical Engineering
* Institute of Physical Education and Sports
* Institute of Finance, Economics and Management
* Institute of Chemistry and Power Engineering
— More than 19,000 students of all forms of education
— Institute of additional education "Zhiguli Valley"
— Research and Development Institute of Advanced Technologies
— Regional Engineering Project Office and Distributed Engineering Centre
— Innovations and Technologies Park
— Youth media holding "Est' Talk!" including a television studio, the editorial board of the newspapers "Togliatti University" (weekly circulation of 4,000 copies) and "Speechka" (circulation 4,000 copies, published twice a month during the school year), a radio studio, a press office and the official portal of the university (tltsu.ru) and the youth portal (talk-on.ru)
— Developed infrastructure: 12 educational and laboratory buildings, modern laboratories and computer classes, 2 canteens and 4 buffets, Department of medical prevention, sports complex with equipped gyms and swimming pool, publishing house, scientific library
TSU implements a new educational model based on real project activities of students and advanced information technologies.To ensure project-based learning at a high level, the following centres were created: Centre of Mechanical Engineering, the IT Student Centre and the Centre of Robotics - consolidated into the cluster the "Higher School of Engineering"; Centre for Urbanism and Strategic Development of Territories and the Centre for Humanitarian Technologies and Media Communications, Centre of Medical Chemistry.
Since 2008, TSU is the only competitor in Samara Region who participates in the most popular and largest international student engineering competition - Formula Student. As of 2020, the team has designed and built eight race cars.
Since 2010, TSU implemented 4 government mega grants of the Russian Government with total funding of about 600 million rubles from the federal and regional budgets. These are 3 projects aimed at creating modern laboratories with invited leading scientists: "Physics of Strength and Intelligent Diagnostic Systems", "Nanocatalysts and Functional Nanomaterials" and "Metal Materials with Spatial-Gradient Structure", and a project of an innovative-technological centre. The successful implementation of these 3 mega-grants under the Decree of the Russian Government № 220 allowed to create a Research and Development Institute of Advanced Technologies by merging leading reseachers' laboratories and other R&D departments of TSU, to perform research work at the top level in the field of materials science and nanotechnologies including projects in cooperation with international partners.
Among the strategic partners of Togliatti State University are the largest industrial enterprises, cooperation with which is implemented based on general agreements: JSC AVTOVAZ, JSC Corporation Togliattiazot, PJSC KuibyshevAzot, Togliattinsky Transformator, LLC. TSU's strategic partners also include Corporation "Russian Railways" and the Russian Federal Nuclear Centre.