Pustovoit, I. S. S. S. UVAROV AND THE “SCHOLARLY CLASS” OF SAINT PETERSBURG UNIVERSITY IN THE 1810s AND THE EARLY 1820s. Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University. 2025;47(2):65–75. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2025.1147


FROM THE HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

S. S. UVAROV AND THE “SCHOLARLY CLASS” OF SAINT PETERSBURG UNIVERSITY IN THE 1810s AND THE EARLY 1820s

Pustovoit
I. S. 		Saint Petersburg State University
Keywords:
Sergey Semyonovich Uvarov
curator of Saint Petersburg educational district
Saint Petersburg University
professorial corporation
education management		 Summary: The period of Sergey Semyonovich Uvarov’s tenure as the curator of the Saint Petersburg educational district from 1811 to 1821 has not yet received significant attention from scholars. However, it was during this period of Uvarov’s governmental activity that he developed his socio-political perspectives and a set of administrative practices that were consistent with the image of the “enlightened bureaucrat”. Based on the materials from departmental and university records, in particular the journals of the Conference of Saint Petersburg University and its predecessors, Petersburg Pedagogical Institute and Main Pedagogical Institute, this article examines one area of Uvarov’s activity – his interaction with the faculty of the capital university. It was established that, in accordance with his duties as a curator, Uvarov maintained constant communication with the academic community (the “scholarly class”). His relationship with the faculty was established within the formal framework and covered a wide range of issues, including the design of the educational process at the institution, admission and placement of students, departmental changes, and implementation of decrees from the Emperor or the Senate. Uvarov firmly advocated the academic privileges granted by the statutes of 1804, his style of communication with the professorial staff was distinguished by mutual respect and constructiveness, while the “scholarly class” enjoyed true academic autonomy: the scholars initiated their own transformation projects and even criticized the proposals of the curator. In addition to interacting with the academic community at Saint Petersburg University, Uvarov provided personal assistance to professors. His efforts to create a cooperative atmosphere at the university, with the goal of promoting the development of science, became a key factor in the university's sustainable development, despite the challenges presented by the crisis in education management in the late 1810s and the early 1820s.



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