 By 1940, it had over 1,400 students and employed 27 professors as well as 80 associated professors and PhDs.With the beginning of the Second World War, 189 students and 85 staff members went to the front lines, while over 450 joined the People's Militia.Classes continued and only at the end of 1942 the students and instructors were evacuated to the town of Cherapanovo by Novosibirsk.