Distribution of student enrollments in correspondence-extension education by field is shown in admission and graduation data,12 which also suggest a substantial dropout rate:

Table H.-Number of correspondence students admitted and graduated from higher educational institutions, by field: U.S.S.R., 1950 and 1955

12 E. V. Chutkerashvili, Razvitie vysshego obrazovania v SSSR (Development of Higher Education in

the USSR), Moscow, 1961, p. 146, 148.

Those enrolled in correspondence-extension and evening courses are granted leave from work, with pay, for consultation on their specialties, preparation for state examinations, and diploma work. The relevant regulations of the Council of Ministers, effective since the 1959-60 school year, for students in correspondence and evening higher educational institutions (H.E.I.'s) are: 13

1. For first- and second-year students, 20 calendar days' leave in evening H.E.I.'s (faculties, divisions), and 30 calendar days' leave in correspondence H.E.I.'s.

2. For third and later years, 30 calendar days' leave in evening H.E.I.'s, and 40 in correspondence H.E.I.'s.

3. 30 calendar days' leave for preparation for State examination.

4. 4 months' leave for preparation and defense of diploma project.

5. For 10 months' prior to beginning of completion of diploma project, one free work day a week at half pay.

Correspondence-extension and evening students may receive an additional month's leave without pay in their senior year for orientation in production work related to their chosen specialty, and for preparation of materials for their diploma project.

The trend in Soviet higher education is toward a gradual merger of part-time and full-time education with related on-the-job training. The current educational reform "connecting school with life" has affected higher education by incorporating substantial on-the-job training into the regular school programs, thereby lengthening the period of studies.

Plant-Higher Schools for Technical Education

The line between full-time and part-time education is being obscured further by the development of a new type of Soviet higher school, called the plant-higher technical educational institution (Zavod VTUZ). These higher technical schools, the first of which were established in 1960, are located within and are a part of major Soviet industrial plants. Although not designated as part-time institutions, they are organized "on the basis of evening divisions" of regular higher schools. The courses of study, combining regular studies with factory work and specialized training, extend from 6 months to a year beyond those of regular higher schools.

14

The plant-higher schools for technical education are equipped from factory facilities and maintained by the factory; and "the plant itself, its shop, and all its production processes will be the capital base for full-fledged training and educational and scientific and technical work."'15

13 Ibid., p. 152.

14 Izvestiia, January 29, 1960.

15 Minister of Higher and Specialized Secondary Education, V. P. Elyutin, in interview by a Pranda correspondent, Pravda, June 23, 1960.

Specialists in the plants form at least part of the teaching staff, and professors and instructors perform research in line with each plant's industrial production plan.

As of 1961, there were five plant-higher technical educational institutions, functioning in the Moscow Automobile Plant Named for I. A. Likhachev; the Leningrad Metallurgical Plant Named for I. V. Stalin; the Rostov Plant for Agricultural Machine Building; the Penza Plant; and in the Dneprodzerzhinsk Metallurgical Plant.

The first four institutions are administered by the RSFSR Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education. The Dneprodzerzhinsk Zavod-VTUZ is administered by the Ukrainian higher education authority, and is the only one identified as having several faculties (major administrative subdivisions), for metallurgy, technology, and general technical correspondence training.

Status of Part-Time Education

16

In surveying Soviet professional education literature and the Soviet press, it is evident that part-time education, and particularly correspondence-extension training, is of a caliber below that of regular daytime higher education. Soviet educators and the Communist Party press express concern over the lack of textbooks and methods literature for correspondence students, the concentration of correspondence and evening higher schools in Moscow (a particular difficulty for correspondence students), the lack of material and technical facilities (laboratories, libraries) and equipment for correspondence and evening students. Also of concern are the substantial dropout of students each year, the weakness of graduating students in the theory of their specialties, and the fact that experienced teachers avoid correspondence work. One Soviet publication states that in the libraries of educational institutions, correspondence students receive books only after the students in the full-time departments have been provided with them.

These and other problems of the evening and correspondence school system are enumerated in Soviet sources, but with a view toward improvement of existing conditions. It is probable that innovations such as the plant-higher educational institutions are an attempt to overcome defects in this increasingly dominant form of Soviet higher education.

16 Numerous citations are available. The Soviet sources used here are: Pravda. September 19, 1960 (lead editorial); Kommunist Estonii, May 1960; Uchitelskaia gazeta, May 20, 1961 and July 14, 1961; Vestnik vysshei shkoly, May 1961 and June 1962.

Analysis of Soviet Statistics

The 20 tables of statistics which follow have been selected and translated from Vysshee obrazovaniie v SSSR (Higher Education in the U.S.S.R.), a statistical compilation prepared and published in 1961 by the Central Statistical Administration, attached to the U.S.S.R. Council of Ministers, Moscow. Statistics are for the beginning of the school year, unless otherwise indicated.

Additional statistics, for the 1961-62 school year, have been added to a number of the tables. The source for these statistics is the 1962 publication of the Central Statistical Administration, Narodnoe khoziaistvo SSSR v 1961 godu (National Economy of the U.S.S.R in 1961).

In general, Soviet statistics are considered reasonably accurate within limits of the reporting system and with the reservations cited below (a-d). While it is useful to report Soviet statistics as an indication of the order of magnitude and emphases of the higher education system, direct comparison of Soviet statistics with those of other countries can lead to serious error. Various responsible Western sources refer to typical problems in the use of Soviet statistics:1

a. Details concerning tabulation procedures and internal organization of materials are sparse or lacking.

b. Significant gaps appear in many statistical series, presumably because of the State Secrets Act. Enrollments in higher Communist Party schools and military schools are not listed. The breakdown of enrollments and graduations in science fields is not reported, the generalized category, "specialties in universities," obscuring these data. On occasion, for categories reported in annual series, years and categories are selected which demonstrate the most substantial increases.

c. Data are reported without definitions, or with unreported changing definitions, or are given only in percentages. Data on occasion are misinterpreted by non-Soviet analysts; totals of the "enlightenment" category, which includes noneducational as well as educational subcategories, have been misread as education totals.

d. There are aggregations of distinct categories which tend to conceal unfavorable trends or to exaggerate successes. For example, the current Soviet statistical practice is to compare the total of Soviet enrollments in all forms of higher education (full-time, part-time, and correspondence) with the total of United States full-time and part-time enrollments, minus students enrolled in the first 2 years of U.S. higher education.

Feshback, Murray, The Soviet Statistical System: Labor Force Recordkeeping and Reporting, International Population Statistics Reports Series P-90, No. 12, Bureau of the Census. U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1960, p. 19-20. De Witt, Nicholas, Education and Professional Employment in the U.S.S.R., National Science Foundation, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1961, p. 549–553.

APPENDIX A

Soviet Higher Educational Statistics

Table 22.-Number of specialists with higher education working in the national economy, by specialty: U.S.S.R., selected years, 1928-60

Table 23.-Number and percent of women specialists with higher education working in national economy, by specialty: U.S.S.R., 1941, 1954, and 1960