Russian Professor Says U.S.S.R. Research Done in Special Centers

In Russia almost all historical research is conducted in "special research institutions," Alexander Guber, Professor of History at Moscow University explained yesterday afternoon in a lecture at Harvard Hall. He contrasted this with the American system of holding research projects within universities.

Guber, here to attend a meeting of the Bureau of the International Historical Congress, was invited to speak by the Russian Research Center of Harvard. Professor William L. Langer, director of this latter organization, made the opening remarks.

The most important of these research institutions, Guber said, is the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union at Moscow. There are several other research centers in the USSR, he said; but where a locality has none there is often a field house or a division of the Moscow center.

Graduate Degrees

Guber outlined the Russian graduate degree system. The first degree, he stated, is that of Candidate, roughly equivalent to the Masters, and it is necessary to hold this degree before one can lecture in a university. The second Russian degree, like ours, is the Ph.D., he said.

The professor then explained the normal course of study for an undergraduate interested in history: In his first two years he takes the prescribed course of study for all those concentrating in history; at the end of his second year he chooses his particular field of interest. Upon graduation, he is considered qualified to teach history in high school, the speaker said.