Studying physics at Moscow State University

IN HIS FIVE AND A HALF YEARS at Moscow State University, a physics student takes three or four years of general courses followed by one or two years of specialized training in some field of research. During the first stage he receives a broad and rigorous education in general physics and mathematics, reaching modern physics by his third year. If he is successful in the examinations that test his progress regularly, he can continue into the second stage: specialization. He chooses his field of physics and is assigned to work in a nearby laboratory, perhaps one in the university itself. After about a year he is ready to write a dissertation, rather like a small PhD thesis, on his research work. When the student successfully defends this dissertation before his examining committee he finally becomes a graduate of the university and is eagerly sought by prospective employers.