Captive universities In Krytyka, No. 3 (65), 2003, pp. 15-17.

The article presents Andrii Portnov’s vision of the state of higher education in Soviet Ukraine. It discusses the works of John Connelly, Andrzej Walicki, Stanisław Murzański, and Ivan Krypiakevych. The author characterizes the functioning of Ukrainian universities throughout the twentieth century. The central theme of the article is the total “Sovietization” and conformity within educational systems of both the humanities and the natural sciences. According to Portnov, the opportunities for academic researching at universities were nearly impossible: scientific work was sustained by an active minority that was suppressed by official institutions. The article addresses the affection of government on education, activities of individual scientists, specific features of education, and some stories of Ukrainian, Polish, Czech and German universities.