Guerrier Courses

The main building of the Higher Courses for Women (built in 1909-1913)

The Higher Courses for Women in Moscow (Московские высшие женские курсы) was a university for women between 1872 and 1918. It was one of the largest and most prominent women's higher education institutions in the Russian Empire, second only to the Bestuzhev Courses in Saint Petersburg.^[1] It was founded and administered by Vladimir Guerrier.

In 1872, Guerrier persuaded the education minister, Count Dmitry Tolstoy, to sanction a higher school for women in Moscow. A succession of buildings in downtown Moscow was used for the school, uncluding the Polytechnic Museum in 1877-1888, before a new edifice was built specifically for the purpose. Notable teachers included Vasily Klyuchevsky and Pavel Vinogradov (history), Aleksandr Stoletov and Fyodor Bredikhin (physics), Aleksandr Chuprov (political economy), Vladimir Solovyov (history of philosophy), Fyodor Buslayev (art history), Nikolay Storozhenko (history of literature) and Alexander Veselovsky (Russian literature). Sergey Chaplygin was elected Director of the courses in 1905.

Like its Saint Petersburg counterpart, the Guerrier Courses was established to prevent Russian women from studying abroad, which they had done since the universities were closed to women in Russia in 1863. The courses provided university level education, but in contrast to the courses for men, they were not allowed to issue any formal degree, nor were they given government funding. They were closed in 1888 but opened again in 1900. In 1911, women were finally accepted at the Russian universities, but the higher courses for women continued until 1918, when the Bolshevik government had it transformed into the Second Moscow State University (later split into several institutions, including the Moscow State Pedagogical University).

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