Changes in educational research in the last years of the Soviet Union occurred because research could no longer serve as a branch of total planning in an engineered society. Researchers floundered when faced with new forms of political authority and social relations, but then addressed new questions of teaching and learning. This process may have…

History and legal status of academic freedom and institutional autonomy in Russian universities is traced from the eighteenth century. Conditions under which the universities currently function are described, recent legislation is reviewed, and the situation of St. Petersburg State University is specifically addressed. It is concluded that while…