Zaoksky Adventist University is a private coeducational Christian university located in the Tula Region of Russia, and is operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Zaoksky Adventist University houses five educational institutions: Zaoksky Theological Seminary, Zaoksky Christian Institute of Arts and Sciences, Zaoksky Christian Professional College, Zaoksky Seventh-day Adventist School (K-11) and The Mittlaider-Agro Study Center. In January of 1987, after numerous petitions and letters of request to Soviet authorities, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was given permission to open a three-year correspondence course for the training of ministers. The first class of 16 students began study in September of that year in the church building in the city of Tula. In January of 1987, the church also received a plot of land of approximately two acres in the village of Zaoksky. The land housed an old school building which had been partly destroyed by fire. The local villagers used the gutted building which had three remaining walls as a garbage dump. In December of 1988 when Zaoksky opened as the first Protestant seminary in Russian history.