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Soviet Union [USSR] Higher Education
In 1987 the Soviet Union had 896 institutions of higher
learning (vysshie uchebnye zavedeniia--VUZy), of which only
69 were universities. The remainder included more than 400
pedagogical, medical, and social science institutes and art
academies and conservatories of music; over 360 institutes of
specialized engineering and natural sciences; and about 60
polytechnical institutes. VUZy were located in major cities,
including the union republic and autonomous republic capitals, with
the highest concentrations in Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev.
Enrollment was over 5 million students, with nearly 50 percent (2.4
million) attending part time.
Women made up 56 percent of the student body. Forty-one percent
of the students came from the working (blue-collar) class, 9
percent from the
collective farm (see Glossary) sector, and 50
percent from families working in the services (white-collar)
sector.
With nearly 587,000 students enrolled, universities offered a
broad range of disciplines in the arts and sciences, while
concentrating on the theoretical aspects of the given field.
Institutes and polytechnics were more specialized and stressed
specific applied disciplines, for example, engineering, education,
and medicine. The approach to higher education traditionally
focused on acquiring knowledge and comprehension rather than on
developing skills of analysis and evaluation.
As the country's major scientific and cultural centers,
universities produced the leading researchers and teachers in the
natural and mathematical sciences, social and political sciences,
and humanities, e.g., literature and languages. They also developed
textbooks and study guides for disciplines in all institutions of
higher learning and for university courses in the natural sciences
and humanities.
On the whole, Soviet society considered universities the most
prestigious of all institutions of higher learning. Applicants
considerably exceeded openings, and competition for entrance was
stiff. Officially, acceptance was based on academic merit. In
addition to successful completion of secondary schooling,
prospective entrants had to pass extremely competitive oral and
written examinations, given only once a year, in their area of
specialization, as well as in Russian and a foreign language.
Students commonly employed private tutors to prepare for university
entrance examinations. Beyond this generally accepted practice,
other less honest methods were used widely and included drawing on
personal connections of parents and even resorting to bribes. Party
or Komsomol endorsement strengthened an applicant's chances for
admission.
Moscow University, established in 1755, was the Soviet Union's
largest, most prestigious, and second oldest institution of higher
learning (the Ukrainian Republic's L'vov University was founded in
1661). It comprised seventeen colleges or schools (in Russian,
fakultety--faculties), divided into 274 departments, each
offering a wide range of related subjects. A major research center,
the state university had a library of over 6.5 million volumes. A
teaching staff of about 7,000 full-time and part-time professors
and instructors taught over 30,000 students (more than half
attended on a part-time basis).
Full-time higher education took 4 to 5.5 years of study,
depending on the area of specialization, for example, 5.5 years for
medicine; 5 years for engineering; 4.5 years for agriculture; and
4 years for law, history, journalism, or art. The programs combined
lectures, seminars, practicums, and research. At the final stage,
students had to complete an approved thesis and defend their work
before the State Examination Committee; they also had to pass
extensive examinations in their field of specialization. Graduates
were awarded "diplomas"; depending on the course of study and
institution, the diploma fell roughly between a bachelor's degree
and master's degree in the United States.
Tuition at all institutions of higher learning was free; in the
1986-87 school year, 78 percent of full-time students received
monthly stipends ranging from 40 to 70 rubles. Students paid only
minimum room and board because dormitories (albeit crowded and
lacking most modern amenities) and cafeterias were subsidized by
the government. The universities also provided basic medical care
at no cost, as well as free passes to rest and recreation homes and
summer and winter resorts.
Graduates were expected to repay the government's generosity by
devoting two or three years to a job assigned by the government.
This practice was becoming an increasingly serious problem with
respect to labor distribution in the 1980s. Among the major
contributing factors were Gosplan's failure to forecast correctly
the country's needs for specialized labor cadres (graduates
frequently were assigned to jobs totally unrelated to their areas
of specialization) and the often outright refusal by graduates to
accept jobs in undesirable (remote or rural) parts of the country.
Graduate training could be pursued at all universities and
selected institutes and polytechnics. Relative to the number of
undergraduates, the number of Soviet graduate students was small,
about 100,000 in the mid-1980s. Many pursued their studies on a
part-time basis while continuing to work in their field.
Two advanced degrees, the candidate of science and the doctor
of science (kandidat nauk and doktor nauk), were
available. To be admitted to a cvourse of study for the candidate
degree, applicants had to pass competitive examinations in a
foreign language, philosophy (primarily Marxism-Leninism), and the
field of specialization. Completion of this degree required three
years of course work, training and research, and a dissertation
dealing with an original topic and representing a significant
contribution to the given field. The thesis had to be defended
publicly before an academic panel and was published. In the 1980s,
about 500,000 specialists, primarily university and institute
faculty staff and members of the scientific and research community,
held candidate degrees. These degrees might be equated to the
master's and doctor of philosophy degrees in the United States,
depending on the specialization and the institution attended.
A much smaller group (fewer than 45,000) of scholars and
scientists held a doctor of science degree, also commonly called a
doktorat. It was conferred on a selective basis to
well-established experts whose considerable research and
publications represented original major contributions to their
specialized areas. Doctoral work was generally part of the
individual's professional or teaching activity. A one-year paid
leave of absence was granted for the writing and defense of a
doctoral thesis. The doctorate was also sometimes conferred for
outstanding past achievements. According to Vadim Medish, holders
of this advanced degree represented "the elite of the Soviet
scientific establishment and academe."
Data as of May 1989
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