From the perspective of natural resources, vast Siberia has always been, and remains, the essential region for all of Russia. In the late 1950s, Siberia provided the country with 75% of its coal and possessed 80% of the nation's hydroelectric resources. Siberia quickly became industrialized, but science then was largely of the applied variety and did not satisfy its needs. The USSR Academy of Sciences came to understand that there was a need to develop fundamental science. In 1958, this concept was implemented with the establishment of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union at Akademgorodok, near the large industrial city of Novosibirsk. From the very beginning, the founders of the Siberian Branch of the Soviet (now Russian) Academy of Sciences were concerned about providing the future scientific center with highly-trained personnel. In order to create a consistent source of personnel replenishment for Siberian scientific institutions, it was necessary to provide advanced training on the spot, thus the idea was born to establish a university in Novosibirsk. Now the third-most populous city in Russia, Novosibirsk is ranked 93 on the QS Best Student Cities rating.