The Development of Women’s Higher Education in Prerevolutionary Russia

This work examines the development of women’s higher education in the Russian Empire in\r\nthe second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Consideration is given to the characteristics of\r\nthe higher women’s courses in the country’s university cities.\r\nReference was made to a set of regulations relating to women’s higher education in Russia\r\nissued in the early 20th century. The use of the fundamental principles of historicism,\r\nsystematicity, and objectivity helped gain a proper insight into the development of women’s higher\r\neducation in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.\r\nThe study’s findings revealed that the development of women’s higher education in the\r\nRussian Empire had several distinctive characteristics. A major role in this process was played by\r\nprivate women’s educational institutions, more specifically the higher women’s courses.\r\nOriginating back in 1859, these courses were continually perfected and harmonized with the system\r\nof higher education under the purview of the Ministry of Public Education. At the cusp of the 19th\r\nand 20th centuries, this even helped establish in Russia the two women’s state institutes. Overall,\r\nby the start of the 20th century Russia had in place nearly 25 different higher women’s courses,\r\nwith instruction in this sector offered across a variety of subject areas, including pedagogy,\r\nmedicine, architecture, technical drawing, art and design, and technical and practical sciences.\r\nThe new vistas of opportunity opening up for women with a higher education helped many of them\r\nbecome active participants in social life in prerevolutionary Russia