The campus of Novosibirsk State University is located in Akademgorodok — right in the middle of a pine forest and surrounded by dozens of institutes of the Siberian Branch of the #Russian Academy of Sciences. It is about 20 km from central Novosibirsk and roughly 2 km from the Ob Sea . The university began in 1959 in a local school building. Today, it is a large campus with around 8,500 students , many of whom are taught by active researchers.