South Ural State University is the center for educational, scientific, cultural and athletic activities in the city Chelyabinsk and the region.

Founded in 1943 as Chelyabinsk Mechanical Engineering Institute, the university was reorganized into Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute in 1951, and in 1990 it became the Chelyabinsk State Technical University.Since 1997, the university is known as South Ural State University. In 2010 it was assigned the status as a National Research University.