Examinations in Universities of the Russian Empire in the First Half of the 19th Century

Abstract

The first half of the 19th century witnessed the evolution of the university system in the Russian Empire, which ended in the reign of Nicholas I. Particularly, rules of organizing entrance, transfer and final examinations were developed. The Decree of 1819 on Awarding Academic Degrees consolidated the correlation between the academic degrees awarded to students and candidates and the grades of the Table of Ranks. (This Decree was also associated with introduction of course-based learning, which was later affirmed by the Decree of 1835.) While examinations had been a mere formality prior to this consolidation, from that moment success or failure in an exam meant earning or losing the degree that provided employment benefits. The system of student performance assessment that had been formed at that point was valid throughout a long period of time with minor changes only. Universities didn’t have any unified assessment system in the very beginning of the 19th century, so each professor would develop their own learning and student performance assessment criteria, giving marks depending on each specific student’s performance instead of boxing performance into a strict pattern of marks. It was then that the five-grade assessment scale was introduced and gained wide practice.