Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, USSR 1960s

From the Soviet Press in the 1960s, a look at the Soviet Patrice Lumumba Friendship University in Moscow. An internationalist project with deep connections to the USSR's anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist worldview it was a beacon of comradeship between the Soviet Union and the peoples of the Global South.

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In response to requests from progressive public leaders and government circles, as well as from private citizens in many Asian, African and Latin American countries to provide more extensive facilities in the Soviet Union for training their young people as engineers, agricultural experts, doctors, teachers, economists and other specialists, the Patrice Lumumba Friendship University was founded in Moscow in 1960.

Friendship University was founded by the Government of the USSR jointly with the following public organisations: the Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee, the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, and the All Union Central Council of Trade Unions.

The Rector of the University is Professor Sergei Rumyantsev, D.Sc. (Tech.), an eminent Soviet scientist who previously had headed a chair and then been a dean, pro-Rector and Rector of the Aviation Institute as well as Deputy Minister of Specialised Secondary and Higher Education of the USSR.

The University has the following faculties: preparatory where students learn Russian and, if necessary, complete their general secondary education; engineering, which trains specialists in the design and manufacture of machinery, in construction, and in the prospecting and mining of minerals; agriculture, which trains agronomists and livestock experts; medicine, which trains general practitioners and pharmacists; physico-mathematics and natural science, which trains engineers and teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology for all types of schools (graduates of this faculty will also be qualified for work in research institutes, design offices, etc.); history and philology, which gives training in history, literature and the Russian language; economics and Jaw, which gives training in economics, economic planning and international law.

Persons of both sexes under thirty-five, irrespective of race, nationality, religion or political views, are eligible for admission to the University. The course of study in the Medical faculty is five years; in the other faculties it is four years.

Citizens of Asian, African and Latin American countries can send their applications for admission either directly to the University or forward them through Soviet Embassies and Consulates abroad.

If applicants have completed a general secondary education in their native country they may be enrolled as first-year students by the University Council after their scholastic level has been verified.

Persons lacking the necessary educational background may be admitted to the University's preparatory faculty for a period of one to three years to complete their general secondary education.

Persons having the required general secondary education but lacking a knowledge of Russian are enrolled in the preparatory faculty for a period of up to one year. The University's multi-national student body is in keeping with the internationalist principles of Soviet society. There are now 2,800 students and post-graduates from 81 countries studying at Friendship University. As the past years show, they have formed a closely-knit family which knows no national or racial prejudice. That, of course, is a fact of true humanistic significance. The relations among the students at the University are a prototype, as it were, of the relations that will exist among all nations of the world in the future.

At Friendship University the curriculum has been adapted, as far as possible, to the needs of the Asian, African and Latin American countries. The specific requirements of -the countries from which the students have come are taken into account in the assignment of the term projects, diploma theses, research work, and so on.

In planning the University’s facilities its organisers took into account the fact that the laboratory method of instruction and demonstration would have a more prominent place than at other Soviet higher schools, especially at the beginning.

Friendship University also has a form of administration different from that of other Soviet institutions of higher learning. It is administered on public principles, by a collective body, the University Council. The Council approves the budget, drafts and adopts the syllabuses and research programmes, invites professors to deliver lectures, including prominent scientists from Asian, African and Latin American countries, approves the rules for admission, enrolls and expels students, etc. It is made up of representatives of the sponsoring organisations, representatives of the Committee of Youth Organisations of the USSR and of the Ministry of Specialised Secondary and Higher Education of the USSR, the pro-Rector and the Rector. The Council also includes representatives of the teaching staff and students, who are elected at general faculty meetings of teachers and students. The student members of the Council are also chairmen of the Student Councils of their faculties. They propose matters for discussion by the Council and take part in adopting decisions on them, and keep the student body informed of the decisions. When relevant questions come up, representatives of the student associations are invited to attend meetings of the Council, where they take part both in the discussion and in the voting.

The students' national associations are public organisations that deal primarily with affairs of their own countrymen and maintain contacts with their respective countries.

The University’s system of administration thus combines two important aspects. The Councils represent the interna tional principle, as it were, and teach the students to solve their problems jointly, irrespective of nationality. The associations help the students to maintain and develop their national ties and to represent the interests of their national group.

The spirit of internationalism in combination with the maximum development of national features is cultivated not only in the University’s administration but also in its educational work and extra-curricular activities. For example, the faculties annually arrange amateur talent reviews, at which, of course, the national features of the students are strikingly in evidence. But at the same time the students of a faculty, representing as they do many nationalities, perform as a single body united by common ties of friendship and study. The same applies to sports competitions and so on.

The basic organisational principles of instructional procedure at Friendship University are the same as at other Soviet higher schools. These are, first and foremost, obligatory attendance at lectures, obligatory fulfilment of assignments, and obligatory taking of tests and examinations on time. Students who fail to meet these requirements are subject to public and administrative measures of reproval, and may be expelled from the University.

As in the entire system of Soviet higher education, theory and practice are closely combined at Friendship University.

Practical work is carried out at all faculties. The University’s aim is to produce graduates with practical skills as well as a good theoretical back ground, young men and women who will be able to benefit their countries at once. Engineering students get practical workshop training, while students of physics and chemistry receive laboratory training. Each student has to be able to carry out independently all the work stipulated in the syllabus. The University’s laboratories and study rooms are therefore fitted out with all the necessary equipment. It is the most up-to-date equipment, too. The computer laboratory, for instance, has an electronic computer of the latest type. The electron microscopy, chemistry and physics laboratories and the training shops are splendidly equipped.

Beginning with their first year all students go through periods of practical training at industrial establishments, institutions and collective farms. The term projects are related as closely as possible to the requirements of their own countries.

In their free time many Friendship University students study music, painting, architecture and other arts, as well as life in the Soviet Union. Most of them spend their holidays in the Soviet Union. Some go to sanatoria, holiday homes but the most popular form of holiday is a stay at the health-and-work camp. There the students spend four hours a day working on collective farms, the rest of the time being given over to rest and recreation.

An education at Friendship University does not cost the student a single kopek. He gets hostel accommodation, free medical care and all the warm clothing he may need in winter.

Each student is paid a monthly grant. He gets all the textbooks and study aids he needs free of charge.