The personnel policy for curators in the Kazan educational district and the age dynamics of professors at the Kazan University during 1804–1884

T.V. Kostina^a*, A.V. Kouprianov^b**

^aArchive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg Branch, St. Petersburg, 199034 Russia

^bNational Research University “Higher School of Economics”, St. Petersburg, 190008 Russia

E-mail: ^*TanyaBizyaeva@yandex.ru, ^**alexei.kouprianov@gmail.com

Received November 29, 2016

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Abstract

The dynamics of the age structure of university professors in Kazan, St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Dorpat has been analyzed from the time when the universities were established until 1884. The study is based on the prosopographical database containing records on the key events in the lives and careers of university professors compiled by the authors. New methods of data retrieval and visualization based on s­cripts created with the help of R programming language allow to analyze the temporal dynamics of the age structure in greatest detail. From the perspective of the temporal dynamics of the age structure, the history of universities can be subdivided into the periods of gradual simultaneous aging of a nearly stable population of professors followed by much shorter periods of rather dramatic rejuvenation. The latter are usually the (un)intended impacts of the active interventions of curators of the educational district or the Ministry of Education in the routine process of hiring and firing of university professors. The analysis has revealed a peculiar pattern of aging/rejuvenation periods at the Kazan University that differs significantly from more or less sustained dynamics of the three other universities under study. All critical rearrangements in the body of professors of the Kazan University, as well as their effects on the age structure have been discussed in detail. A number of factors contributing to the unique character of aging/rejuvenation patterns at the Kazan University (shortages of the early period of the Kazan University history, constant lack of qualified candidates for the vacant positions, and active interventions by the curators of the educational district) have been discussed.

Keywords: educational policy, educational district curators, Kazan University, Ministry of National Education, 19th century, age dynamics, universities, professors, cliometrics

Acknowledgments. The study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 15-06-04531_a).

Figure Captions

Fig. 1. The total number of extraordinary and ordinary university professors in Kazan, Moscow, Dorpat, and St. Petersburg. Here and in Figs. 2 and 3, vertical lines denote the years when the charters were adopted: dashed lines – 1804, 1835, 1863, 1884 for Moscow and Kazan Universities, also for St. Petersburg University starting from 1835; dotted lines – 1803, 1817, 1842, 1865 for Dorpat University and 1819 for St. Petersburg University (following the establishment of the Main Pedagogical Institute).

Fig. 2. The median age of university professors in Kazan, Moscow, Dorpat, and St. Petersburg. Vertical lines designated as in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3. The staff size (dashed line with markers showing the years when the regulations on changes in staff structure) and actual (solid line) number of university professors in Kazan (a), St. Petersburg (b), and Dorpat (c). Vertical lines designated as in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4. The age pyramids for professors of Kazan University (1879–1881). Vertical dashed line – the median, dotted line – the arithmetic mean of ages in the year. In 1879, the lines run so close to each other that they overlap. The median ages in 1879, 1880, and 1881 were 45, 46, and 43.5 years, respectively; arithmetic means – 44.57, 44.71, and 44.75 years. A decrease in the number of professors from 1879 to 1881 occurs due to professors with the age above the median one, while an increase is associated with professors with the age below the median one, which leads to an overall decrease in the median age by 2.5 years.

Fig. 5. The median age (dashed line, left vertical axis) and number (solid line, right vertical axis) of professors at Kazan University. Using the vertical solid and dashed lines, the change of curators in the Kazan educational district is shown, curators are marked with numbers: 1 – S.Ya. Rumovskii (June 20, 1803 – July 6, 1812); 2 – M.A. Saltykov (September 26, 1812 – August 4, 1818); 3 – M.L. Magnitskii (inspector authorized for curation from February 10, 1819, curator from June 8, 1819 to May 6, 1826); 4 – M.N. Musin-Pushkin (acting as a curator from February 24, curator from March 16, 1829 to April 15, 1845); 5 – N.I. Lobachevskii (April 18, 1845 – May 22, 1847); 6 – V.P. Molostvov (May 22, 1847 – May 12, 1857); 7 – F.F. Veselago (May 23, 1857 – November 12, 1857); 8 – E.A. Gruber (November 12, 1857 – April 23, 1859); 9 – P.P. Vyazemskii (November 4, 1859 – June 12, 1862); 10 – F.F. Stender (June 12, 1862 – February5, 1865 ); 11 – P.D. Shestakov (February 5, 1865 – June 18, 1883); 12 – P.N. Maslennikov (June 18, 1883 – May 3, 1890). After M.L. Magnitskii, the Kazan educational districted was under temporary curation of A.S. Shishkov, the Minister of National Education. Vertical dashed lines show the university charters of 1804, 1835, 1863, and 1884.

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For citation: Kostina T.V., Kouprianov A.V. The personnel policy for curators in the Kazan educational district and the age dynamics of professors at the Kazan University during 1804–1884. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2017, vol. 159, no. 4, pp. 925–941. (In Russian)

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