The Institute of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies as a structural subdivision of the University boasts its history of over half a century. In 1947, Postgraduate Studies Department for on-the-job students started its activities as part of the All-Union Law Institute, in 1963 – for full-time students.
On March 1, 2013, The Division of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies was re-organized into the Institute of Postgraduate and Doctoral studies.
The Institute of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies provides training of highly qualified researchers and teaching staff. Its activities include:
• enrolling postgraduate and doctoral students, and working with applicants;
• attracting graduates from universities and higher educational institutions of Russia to competitive recruitment to postgraduate courses;
• planning, organization and control of postgraduate education;
• improving performance of postgraduate students, doctoral students and external doctoral students.
The length of the full-time graduate programs is 3 years, in absentia - 4 years.
Studies at the Institute of Postgraduate and Doctoral studies can be budgeted from the state funds as well as on a commercial basis.
Financing of the students’ studies from the state budget is carried out according to the results of competitive entrance exams.
The number of graduate students is constantly increasing year-on-year.
Annually, about 60 students graduate from the graduate school, 80-85% of them defend a dissertation and are awarded a PhD degree during the year of their graduation.
The graduates include representatives of Yakutia, Chuvashia, Dagestan, North Ossetia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, China, Korea, Syria, Germany, Abkhazia, Iraq and other countries. Graduate students work with highly qualified specialists - Doctors of Science, Professors.
The most successful full-time graduate students enrolled in state-financed programs are awarded scholarships of the President of the Russian Federation and participate in internships at foreign universities to collect and study materials for their PhD research.
The university journals Lex Russica and Actual Aspects of the Russian Law feature research articles by graduate students, doctoral students and external doctoral students. The journals are listed among the leading peer-reviewed journals of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Russian Federation.
The University has 5 dissertation councils involved in all research areas of law.