Legacy of Lumumba University

Ultimately, the Patrice Lumumba University has left a mixed legacy which scholars still debate about today. Here are the major considerations in assessing the University as a 'Third World' educational institution.

Considerable Success?

All things considered, the Peoples’ Friendship University was a major component of the Soviet Union’s educational foreign policy throughout the Cold War. It achieved considerable success in its aims to educate ‘Third World’ elites and foster alliances with developing nations and liberation movements. By focusing on its deficiencies, we forget to acknowledge that Lumumba University provided free preparatory and post-secondary education at a distinguished institution to thousands of disadvantaged students. From 1960 to 1968, 54.6% of Lumumba University students were from working-class or peasant backgrounds. (Katsakioris, Lumumba, 287) Patrice Lumumba University graduates were in a position to begin filling the void left behind by colonial powers and modernize their nation’s economy, infrastructure and public service.

Considerable Failure?

That being said, the idea of having a university whose purpose was to educate ‘Third World’ students, ultimately failed. The issues with African states recognizing degrees, the perceived lower academic standards of the University and the constant accusations of segregation were inherent to having an educational institution for one class of individuals. As the Cold War waged on, Patrice Lumumba University standardized itself to the point where it became just another Soviet university. And yet, the University outlived the Soviet Union and still thrives today as the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, a remnant of Soviet educational foreign policy for development and cooperation with the Third World.

What led to the University’s standardization in the late sixties and seventies?

The main contributor was the lower academic levels of the University. In order to accommodate working and peasant-class students, Lumumba University had to lower its admission requirements (many students had no secondary diploma) and decrease the academic rigour of some of its courses. Crucially, the University had attempted to fast-track graduation by dropping the length of programs by one year while increasing the class time and course load for students. Dozens of African countries and independence movements refused to recognize Lumumba University degrees and even punished Lumumba University graduates upon returning home. The University’s recruitment policy contributed to this development as the Soviet Union had attempted for years to get away with recruiting through unofficial channels such as socialist and anti-imperialist parties, clubs and unions. Moreover, racism and accusations of segregation inherent to the concept of a ‘Third World university’ only exacerbated tensions between African students/countries and Lumumba University. This culminated in a series of measures to extinguish the fires created by the very idea of a University for ‘Third World’ students, thereby leading to its standardization over time.

Our research and breaking with the traditional approach

This website represents a snapshot of our learning on the University, attempting to present this unique aspect of foreign policy in an easily understandable format. Our research has sought analyze Lumumba University from all possible vantage points (University staff, students, contemporary scholars, Western media, Soviet leadership, etc.) and across its entire lifespan under Soviet hands. In doing so, we hoped to assess the University according to its own mission and criteria, without reducing it to a simple success or failure paradigm. The ‘Third World concept’ or the idea of an educational institution for individuals from a specific socio-economic class (developing countries) was the foundation and motivation for the establishment of the Peoples’ Friendship University in 1960. Yet, the University faced increasing pressure to standardize in the face of decolonizing countries asserting their newfound agency. The mission of the University was ultimately bound to resolve itself with the gradual improvement of African states who no longer felt they needed the University's free services.