The major and complex challenges involved in rebuilding Belarus's economy during the 1920s created a pressing need for highly qualified professionals across all sectors of the national economy.
Against this backdrop, on December 10, 1920, the Minsk Polytechnic School, which had operated as a technical college, was transformed into a higher technical institution, the Belarusian State Polytechnic Institute (BGPI). Its mission was to train engineers with higher education in the key areas of the country's industrial development.
Students were admitted to five faculties:
Mechanical Engineering
Civil Engineering
Agricultural Engineering
Chemical Technology
Electrical Engineering
Nikanor Kazimirovich Yaroshevich was appointed as the institute's first director (rector). The teaching staff consisted of approximately 50 faculty members. During its first academic year, the institute enrolled 305 students and 119 students in its preparatory program.
Following a series of reorganizations, the Council of People's Commissars of Belarus decided to reestablish the Polytechnic Institute on July 1, 1933. By September 1933, the institute had 120 faculty members and 20 departments, with an enrollment of 1,200 students.
By the early 1940s, BPI had become one of the leading technical universities in the Soviet Union. Four faculties offered engineering programs in seven specialties across 32 departments. The faculty had grown to 180 members, including 19 professors and 71 associate professors. Between 1933 and 1941, approximately 2,000 engineers graduated from the institute.
The Great Patriotic War interrupted the institute's activities. BPI resumed operations in 1945, when 375 students returned to their studies. By 1949, enrollment had grown to 1,500 students, with more than 160 faculty members working across 37 departments.
1991 - The Belarusian Polytechnic Institute, awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, was transformed into the Belarusian State Polytechnic Academy (BGPA) by Resolution No. 149 of the Council of Ministers of the Byelorussian SSR dated April 17, 1991.
1997 - The Belarusian State Polytechnic Academy was granted the status of a leading engineering and technical higher education institution within the national education system of the Republic of Belarus, pursuant to Resolution No. 6 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated January 17, 1997.
2002 - The Belarusian State Polytechnic Academy was transformed into the Belarusian National Technical University (BNTU) pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 165 dated April 1, 2002.
2005 - BNTU was designated as the basic organization of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member states for higher technical education, pursuant to the Decision of the Council of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Independent States dated November 25, 2005.
Since its founding, the university has educated and graduated:
more than 185,000 highly qualified professionals for the Republic of Belarus;
more than 7,000 international graduates from 120 countries worldwide.
