How foreigners studied in Soviet universities, and why local students envied them

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The USSR began accepting foreigners for training in the mid-50s. Initially, only 6 thousand foreign students studied in several cities. But each year their number grew and by 1990 already reached almost 130 thousand. They were very different from their local classmates, not only in appearance, but also in behavior. And they were allowed significantly more freedoms, which Soviet peers could only dream of.

Who and why did she need the training of foreign specialists in Soviet Russia?

The developing countries needed qualified personnel, the specialists themselves made a career after training and occupied important posts in their countries. With politicians and officials - graduates of the Soviet higher school - the USSR had reliable contacts and positive relations. For the sake of connections and the possibility of influencing politics, everything was started. In total, from 1949 to 1991, more than half a million graduates from 150 countries were trained in Soviet universities.

Foreign students were to instill friendly feelings and understanding of Marxist ideology. Material and household goods were supposed to make this task easier - they did not skimp on them.

The special attention of the country's leadership to students from the backward countries of the black continent was explained by the desire to expand the sphere of influence on peoples who had not yet fallen under the ideological umbrella of enemies in the outbreak of the Cold War. Soviet propaganda consistently created a vivid image of the African, inquisitively mastering the knowledge and foundations of Marxism. And in real student life it happened in different ways.

In 1961, more than five hundred students from Africa studied at Soviet universities. It was not going smoothly: a showdown between local youths and dark-skinned "come in large numbers" began. Most often, conflicts arose over girls. Fights and scandals were common in Rostov-on-Don, Minsk and other cities. “There are isolated cases of unfriendly attitude towards foreign students on the part of some of our youth. It happened, a few fights … The guilty will be punished, "- the heads of educational institutions carefully reported. From above, instructions were given: to suppress conflicts, not to take harsh measures against black students. But Russian students could easily be expelled for a fight with a foreigner.

The positive image of a black youth has dimmed considerably in the collision of feudalism with socialism. However, many graduates recalled their studies in the Soviet Union as the best days of their youth. The country's prestige actually increased, the number of state leaders loyal to the USSR grew.

Comfortable life for foreigners and labor service as extreme leisure

Foreigners were accommodated in the best residential buildings, usually two in a room. In three-bed rooms, a Soviet student moved in with two foreigners.

The contrast between the cheeky behavior of the newcomers and the enviable conditions of their life was striking. The foreigners themselves quickly realized that they were in a special situation. It was possible to pay for everything - and they tried to buy tests and exams. The teachers didn’t make much money, and bribery was sometimes successful. It happened that the "excellent students" in the senior years barely spoke Russian.

The labor semester was not compulsory for foreigners, but not everyone went home for the holidays. It was allowed to voluntarily work in construction brigades or on "potatoes". Non-compulsory work was considered entertainment, students from many countries enthusiastically went even to the BAM.

Separate communism for foreign students

Foreign students were divided into two groups: the sons of African kings and eastern sheikhs - the family paid for them; poor youth who studied under contractual quotas enshrined in intergovernmental agreements. The USSR paid all travel, accommodation and training expenses for this group.

Finding candidates for quota seats in developing countries was not easy. School education was required, inaccessible to a significant part of the population. The coveted list included the children of wealthy parents who had the opportunity to teach them at school.

A fantastically prosperous life awaited the applicant: a high scholarship, high-quality clothing from the special sections of the best department stores, meals in special buffets, payment for travel home for the holidays and back. Money for clothes was given in excess of the scholarship.

It was assumed that the happy foreigners would believe that everything in the USSR was arranged just as well. To keep the illusion alive, students were protected from the everyday life of Soviet fellow students and even teachers who received low salaries and often lived in communal apartments. This did not always work: naive foreigners even created groups to combat the injustice of Soviet reality.

But more often foreign students and cadets squandered money in expensive restaurants, bought the love of corrupt women. Sometimes they were robbed by local bandits. Anecdotal stories happened: in Odessa, criminals robbed an Indian student of a military school. The poor man begged him to return some of the money: there was nothing to buy food. The robbers peacefully asked when the next payment would be - and nobly gave the poor man exactly "for a living before salary."

Training of specialists in military educational institutions

Military specialists began to be trained for the needs of the armies of the Warsaw Pact, supervised by the USSR. Then it was required to train officers for the countries to which Soviet weapons were supplied.

The training of foreigners was organized at the special faculty of the F. E. Dzerzhinsky. The department was opened in 1945 for engineers for artillery guns, ammunition, explosives. Thousands of officers were trained, many of whom later became heads of military departments in their countries or became political leaders.

Thousands of officers and sergeants from 35 countries graduated from the Odessa VVKIU Air Defense. In practice, funny things also happened: cadets from developing countries complained about the inconvenience of Soviet tanks: they did not have air conditioners and coffee makers.

But not everyone managed to get their diplomas. In the late 1940s, relations between the USSR and Yugoslavia deteriorated, and all listeners from the country were recalled. At home, some of them were repressed. Only a few officers managed to stay in the USSR thanks to their Soviet wives and born children. Among the Yugoslav defectors were officers who made a career in the Soviet army.

Indonesian graduates of the Odessa Military School were also repressed due to the aggravation of relations with the Soviet Union. A group of officers from Ethiopia were simply shot at home. One major managed to stay in Odessa forever, but no longer in the army.

Revolutionaries, presidents, dictators, public figures emerged from the universities of the Soviet Union. The most famous of them were: UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Romanian President Ion Iliescu, and the most famous graduate of a military university was Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt …

Russian wives on all continents - romantic tales or eternal problems

In the 1950s, the law banning marriages with foreigners was canceled. The study of thousands of students from different countries in the country gave rise to many romantic stories. Light-skinned Soviet girls were liked by swarthy Latin Americans, Africans, Arabs. Differences in cultures, religious beliefs did not stop anyone. For many, a white-skinned and fair-haired wife raised social status in their homeland.

Employees of military universities were prohibited from close relations with foreign cadets by contract. It was a difficult test for the girls: cadets from other countries were completely handsome and with money. The officers themselves found a simple way out: the girl they liked was taken to the registry office, for the wife the prohibitions ceased to exist.

Many cadets were forbidden by their command to marry Soviet women. Cubans, Africans, Arabs did not have such restrictions and usually returned home with their wives and children.

Most of the Soviet women left for Cuba: the Island of Freedom sounded tempting, its representatives were cheerful and good-looking. To this day, Cuba has the largest community of Russian wives - about 6 thousand Russian citizens live here permanently: married women and their children. Many of them live in Havana. Until 1991, there were almost twenty thousand of them, but after the collapse of the Union, economic assistance from Russia stopped, it became too difficult to live. Three-quarters of the "Soviet Cubans" left for Russia, often taking their husbands.

And for those who remained, time stopped in socialism: ration cards, shortages for everything, queues in stores, old Soviet cars on the streets, small Saratov refrigerators of the previous years. But also the weather is always good, a lot of music, happy faces of the poor neighbors. Cheerful socialism of the tropical spill!

You can also learn a lot of interesting facts about how the student body lived in the Middle Ages.