The university offers bachelors, specialists credential, masters and PhD programs in various areas of chemistry, sustainable development, petrochemistry, biotechnology, materials of modern energy and nanotechnology, and several other specialities.

The university regularly implements projects carried out under federal target programs, as well as numerous grants initiated by scientific foundations.

[7] In 2018, under the state program "Industry Development and Increasing its Competitiveness," the university founded the Mendeleev Engineering Center, which now hosts most of its laboratories and scientific equipment.

[14][13] In November 1896 the Russian architect Maksim Geppener [ru] was appointed as the head of the commission dedicated to the construction of Moscow Industrial School buildings.

Among the milestones included in this working project was the construction of a three-story educational building, a three-storey house for the professors and staff, and a one-storey campus for the facilities.

First, all the classes were held at the Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Arts and Industry with the result that students would only move into a new state-of-the-art campus equipped with all of the newest technologies in 1902 when construction was finally completed.

During the official opening ceremony, it was declared that the Moscow Industrial School would be named in honor of the 25th anniversary of the reign of the emperor Alexander II of Russia.

[22] After the war in 1949, the Moscow D. Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology was granted the use of two building complexes formerly belonging to the Crafts School named after Pavel Shelaputin [ru] on Miusskaya Square.

[19][28] MCTI has honorary degrees to outstanding scientists and public figures with the practice starting in 1961. Notable awardees of honorary MCTI degrees include Krishnasami Venkataraman, Günter Gruhn [de], Dennis Meadows, Margaret Thatcher, Eberhard Diepgen, Jacques Cousteau, Samak Sundaravej, Galina Vishnevskaya, Yuri Oganessian, and others.

[29][30] MCTI faculty would also receive recognition such as in 1974, when Valery Sergievsky, Vladislav Nikolaev, Nikolai Kizim (teacher in the Novomoskovsk branch) and Evgeny Yurtov were awarded the Lenin Komsomol Prize in Science and Engineering for their work on thermodynamics and chemical kinetics.

US government found the links between these research centers and Russian foreign policy towards Iran, claiming that these are "organizations promoting the development of weapons of mass destruction in other countries.".

[32][33] These sanctions would subsequently be lifted in 2010 after the US government recognized that contemporary Russian politics now "aligns with the interests of US foreign policy and security.".

[35][36] In the same year the rector of the university Vladimir Kolesnikov was fired because he was unable to comply with the obligation to increase teachers' salaries granted earlier by a decree of the President of Russia.

However, the plan was not implemented after as a public petition campaign initiated to preserve the autonomy of Mendeleev University gained several tens of thousands of signatures.

The university prepares bachelors, specialists, masters, postgraduate and doctoral students for careers in the fields of chemical technology, sustainable development, petrochemistry, biotechnology and other areas.

[57] At the same time, MUCTR signed an agreement with the Perm State Agrarian and Technological University to create an Internet platform that to offer programs in the continuing professional education sector.

[10] 2023 2021 2020 In 2010–2014, under the “Megagrant programs”, MCTUR launched the International Laboratory of Functional Materials Based on Glass named after Academician P. D. Sarkisov.

Distinctive features of this material include its durability, resistance to aggressive environments and potential to store large amounts of information.

The coordination of many scientific laboratories, including ones specialising in petrochemistry, agrochemistry, pharmaceuticals, radiochemistry, polymer chemistry, and fine organic synthesis has been achieved under the auspices of the Mendeleev Engineering Center.

[9][91][92][93] There are more than 80 units of the latest equipment for elemental and molecular analysis, electron microscopy, and determination of physicochemical parameters of solids and liquids.

[95] In 2019, the Russian government signed a decree on the creation of an Mendeleev Valley Innovation Scientific and Technological Centre on the territory of the MUCTR Tushino campus.

[98] MUCTR and its Novomoskovsk branch work on the development of the Composite Valley INTTS, located on 29 hectares special economic zone Uzlovaya in Tula oblast.

[99] The project was initially supported by the Tula State University and later approved by the Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin in January 2021.

[100][101][102] MUCTR employees regularly participate in the projects sponsored by federal target programs, scientific grants, and research under agreements with leading companies in the chemical industry, including the state corporation Rosatom, Sibur, Pharmasynthesis, EuroChem,[43] Mikron Group.

[7] The university cooperates with such leading centers as Royal Society of Chemistry and German Maico-Mannesmann Akademie für Wissenschaft und Bildung.

[107] MCTUR laboratories help the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology with the development of COVID-19 vaccine,[108][109] and since June 2021 they agreed to cooperate to ensure drug safety in Russia.

[115][116] In 2020, MUCTR, together with the Federal Environmental Operator, launched the project titled Mendeleev Classes to promote the education of high school students.

[16][11][12][13] In May 1966, a monument to the university members who took part in the Great Patriotic War was erected in the courtyard near the main entrance at the expense of teachers, staff and students.

MUCTR Tushino complex is one of the largest educational buildings in Russia with a total area of 27 thousand square meters that could accommodate up to 1500 people.

[17] Throughout the years the buildings hosted the Department of Life Safety, the Center for the MUCTR History and the Chemical Industry, the Faculty of Military Education.