Saint Petersburg State Electrotechnical University (ETU) (Санкт-Петербургский государственный электротехнический университет) founded in 1886, and is one of the oldest higher education institutions in Saint Petersburg.
The University is a leader in the study of the fields of radio engineering, telecommunications, control processes, computer engineering and IT, electronics, biomedical engineering, management and linguistics.
A. S. Popov, the inventor of the radio, worked in this university. There is a memorial museum to A. S. Popov in the university. Z. I. Alferov, Nobel Laureate in Physics for his achievements in the field of heterostructure, also worked in this university. At one point he was a dean of the faculty of electrotechnics (now faculty of electronics).
There is a legend that V. I. Lenin once spent a night hiding from the police at the university. Now the room where he hid is unofficially called "Lenin's Lecture Hall".
In early Soviet years the university changed its title from "in the name of Emperor Alexander III" to "in the name of V. I. Lenin". This new title was awarded while Lenin was still alive, and required his personal permission. It was an honor for an institution to gain this prefix and only the best establishments had it.
The University has many buildings, each of very different architecture. This is because they were built in very different ages: from Imperial to Soviet. Some of the buildings had served other purposes before being acquired by the University, and others were built specifically for the University. There is a tale referring to the very unusual architecture of building 5, regarding its architect. Shortly after finishing his project he went insane and was committed to a mental institution.
The university is one of six in Saint Petersburg to still have a military department. It continues to be popular: many students enroll in order to "wipe out" or satisfy the requirement for compulsory military service.