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The University of Dorpat as a(n) (inter)national institution at its 50th anniversary in 1852

Book Contribution - Chapter

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the University of Dorpat was searching for its position within the system of higher education in Russia. Science was still flourishing, and many Baltic German professors at the time attributed this success to the fact that the university managed to preserve a large degree of its autonomy, as shown, for instance, by the high number of professors of German origin, despite the reactionary policy of Nicholas I and his Minister of Education Sergei Uvarov. The attempts of Russification were especially visible in the appointment policy during what became known as the 1842 U+201CUlmann affairU+201D, which led even to the compulsory redundancy of some professors. One of the effects of these types of measures was the increasing reorientation of the university towards the Baltic German region, instead of holding on to a predominantly international character. The 50th anniversary of the reopening of the university in Dorpat ten years later was thus celebrated in an atmosphere of ideological pressure and political fetters. Nevertheless, the jubilee functioned as the perfect illustration of the general balance the university was striving for in this period, a balance between internationalism and autonomy on the one hand and centralisation and nationalism, or even regionalism, on the other.
Book: National, Nordic or European? Nineteenth-century university jubilees and Nordic cooperation
Series: History of science and medicine library : scientific and learned cultures and their institutions
Pages: 39 - 69
ISBN:9789004216945
Accessibility:Closed