A 7-day study mission by the House Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education, to Moscow, Kiev, Bonn, and an interim stop in Athens is reported. The mission was designed to gather information regarding the current state of higher education, especially on financing and curriculum, in West Germany and the U.S.S.R. The delegation was especially interested in: methods of financial assistance provided to students by the national governments; foreign language requirements for elementary/secondary and postsecondary students; the relationship of language training to economic growth and national defense; and national financial and other support for the arts, humanities, and museums. The delegation's briefing on the overseas Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DODDS) and on the Soviet education system (administrative structure at the national level and in each of the republics) is also reported, along with discussions of foreign policy issues. The structure of the Soviet Union's two types of college-level schools are described: (1) the institute, which specializes in a single subject such as medicine, agriculture, and engineering and (2) universities, which offer a wide range of subjects in the humanities and pure sciences. The Soviet Union provides free textbooks to elementary and secondary students. Students are taught in the native language of their republic but English, French, German, and Spanish are also taught, one of which must be mastered prior to graduation. (SW)