Higher education reform projects in Kazan during 1918–1920

Abstract

The early years of Soviet rule brought radical changes to Russian higher education. The most significant transformations took place in the country’s major pre-revolutionary education centers, such as Kazan. This article describes the trends in the higher education system of the region following the transfer of power, with particular attention paid to the reform projects attempted at Kazan University and other higher education institutions in the city. The main initiators of the changes are identified, and the involvement of local and central authorities, along with professors and lecturers, is analyzed. The results obtained demonstrate that the reform projects of Kazan’s higher education institutions were not fully implemented, but they have had a noticeable and long-term influence on the structure of higher education in the region.

Keywords

• history of higher education
• higher school reform projects
• people’s commissariat for education of the rsfsr
• kazan
• kazan university