TRENDS AND PROBLEMS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE SOVIET UNION

A description of the development of higher education in the Soviet Union since 1965 is given in terms of numbers of students, teachers, and types of institutions, and comparisons are made with the situation in the USA, Japan, France, and the Federal Republic of Germany. The themes of misuse of resources, decline, and inability to respond to new challenges are stressed along with warnings that the best professors and researchers are either leaving the USSR altogether or are abandoning the formal state higher education and research bodies for employment in more informal research co‐operatives or in private enterprises. Suggestions are made for reform, particularly in the recruitment and the training of young specialists. A plea for increased and innovative funding for higher education and research is made.