Alferov worked to foster relationships between early educational institutions and scientific research institutions to train the next generation of scientists, citing Peter the Great's vision for the Russian Academy of Sciences to be organized with a scientific research core in close contact with a gymnasium (secondary school). In 1987, Alferov and colleagues at the Ioffe Institute established a secondary school in Saint Petersburg, the School of Physics and Technology, under the umbrella of the Ioffe charter. In 1997 Alferov founded the Research and Education Center at the Ioffe Institute and in 2002, this center officially became a new university, the Saint Petersburg Academic University, after gaining a charter to award masters and PhD degrees. In 2009, the Saint Petersburg Academic University was reorganized to officially combine the secondary school, School of Physics and Technology, within the organizational structure of the university, closely linking scientific education to research.