Takhir Aminov - Doctor of Science, Professor, Chair of Pedagogy of Akmullah Bashkir State Pedagogical University; Chief Research Worker, Institute of Socialization and Education of the Russian Academy of Education. Address: 3a, Octyabrskoy revolutsii str., Ufa, 450097, Bashcortostan, Russian...

Ekaterina Zharova - Candidate of Sciences in Biology, Independent Researcher. E-mail: zharova_ekaterina@bk.ruThe 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...

Maksim Kail, Ph.D. in History, Associate Professor at Smolensk State University, Smolensk, Russian Federation. Email: mvkail@mail.ru Address: 4 Przhevalskogo St., Smolensk, 214000, Russian Federation.As exemplified by organization of Smolensk State University, one of the first six universities...

Elena Penskaja, D.Sc. in Philology, Dean of the Faculty of Philology, Head of the Literature Department, National Research University - Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation. Email: e.penskaya@hse.ru The paper reviews the methods used to describe historical processes in...