Accordingly, the word "Academic" in the university's name stems from the Academy of Sciences, the organization that unites numerous national research institutes in Russia.

The St. Petersburg Academic University was founded by Zhores Alferov, director of the Ioffe Institute, vice-president of the RAS Academician and Nobel prize laureate, who served as its rector until his death on March 1, 2019.

In 1997 Zhores Alferov founded the Research and Education Center of the Ioffe Institute, which would become the Saint Petersburg Academic University.

The proposed benefit of this model is that secondary school, university and post-graduate students are trained in direct contact with active scientists, and teaching occurs through lectures, seminars, and also in laboratories.

The MSc programs (state license #0724, February 17, 2011[6]) are as follows: Among the professors of the Academic University, there are scientists employed also at Ioffe Institute, such as Yu.V.