Moscow State University is the oldest, autonomous, self-governing and state-supported institution of higher learning, founded in 1755 by the scientist Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov. Located in Moscow, the university is composed of faculties of biology, chemistry, computational mathematics and cybernetics, economics, foreign languages, fundamental medicine, geography, geology, history, journalism, law, mechanics and mathematics, physics, psychology, sociology, and soil sciences, as well as an institute of Asian and African Studies. Several museums, colleges, and a number of institutes are affiliated with Moscow University, and a preparatory faculty teaches Russian language and other subjects to foreign students.
Except for the science faculties and some of the arts faculties — which are situated in south-western Moscow — the remainder of the faculties are located in the older university buildings in the centre of the city. A diploma in a given field of study is awarded after five or five and a half years of study. After three additional years and the completion of a thesis, the kandidat nauk degree is awarded. The highest degree, the Doctor of Sciences, may be attained upon completion of a thesis based on independent research.