Domestic universities at the turn of the 19-20 centuries as a factor of modernization of Russia

In modern Russian society the discussion on modernization of Russia andways of its realization has developed. It is obvious that science and the education system can become the locomotive of the modernizationprocess. It makes us refer to the experience of functioning of the domestic higher school, in particular - universities. The article isdevoted to the question of participation of universities of the Russian Empire in the processes of modernization of the country at the turnof the 19th-20th centuries. Qualitative changes of Russia through the registration of bases of the capitalist order in economy and transformationof the political system were the central concept of the specified period. Universities participated in modernization processesthrough professional work of professors and teachers, and also by means of political activity of teachers and students. The purpose of thearticle is to draw a wide panorama of university life of Russia in the conditions of modernization changes of the turn of the 19th-20thcenturies; to show the role and place of universities in these processes; to staticize the problem of participation of current Russian universitiesin the course of present-day Russia modernization. By considering the university professors' history in modernization context,two aspects attract attention, which, at first sight, are not connected with each other, - science and policy. On the one hand, professorsand teachers provided progress in various spheres of knowledge by carrying out scientific researches. On the other hand, the universitypublic, as the carrier of mainly democratic views, took part in modernization of the political system in the Russian Empire in the beginningof the 20th century. Two lines of participation of the university professorate in modernization processes in Russia - scientific andpolitical - quite often coincided. The largest university scientists were in ideological opposition. The Russian students on the boundaryof the 19th-20th cc. turned into an appreciable political force. At the beginning of the 20th century universities were shaken by numerous students' actions. Students at times were radical, but by their activity they pushed the authorities to political changes. Thus, students'movement can also be considered as modernization factor. If modern universities want to be one of modernization motors, theyshould become not only the supplier of educational services, but also a place of formation and distribution of new society and experts.

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