A Statistical Study on the University Professoriate in the Russian Empire

Authors

  • Andrei Yu. Andreev Lomonosov Moscow State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu02.2021.102

Abstract

The article is devoted to a statistical analysis of quantitative and qualitative parameters characterizing the professoriate of Russian universities in 1755-1884. The material for such a study was drawn from the prosopographic database compiled on the basis of biographical data on professors and containing more than 1200 names of scientists. We studied such characteristics as the social composition, the dynamics of the replenishment of the professor corps, the distribution of professors by different universities and by branches of science, the average age of entry into the professorial position, the length of the professorial service, the role of "junior" university positions and the importance of “privat-docent” teaching on the way to a professor, the proportion of those who were graduates of the universities where they later taught, etc. These characteristics were studied in chronological dynamics, depending on the main stages of replenishment of the professoriate, which coincide with the major university reforms in the 19th century. It was shown both the similarity of some parameters for the entire professorial corps (for example, the average age of receiving professorship) and the evolution of parameters in different periods and differences between universities. Some phenomena of university life, known in historiography for a number of examples, have received a detailed explanation in the light of statistical analysis. At the same time the study has demonstrated the potential of quantitative methods in revealing new properties of Russian university professors that cannot be found only through the analysis of narrative sources.

Keywords:

Russian universities, professors, reforms, university Statutes, quantitative methods

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Author Biography

Andrei Yu. Andreev, Lomonosov Moscow State University

Doctor in History, Professor

References

Литература

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Published

2023-08-30

How to Cite

Andreev, A. Y. (2023). A Statistical Study on the University Professoriate in the Russian Empire. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. History, 66(1), 19–43. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu02.2021.102

Issue

Vol. 66 No. 1 (2021)

Section

History of Russia

License

Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. History" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.