The Soviet statistical annual has stopped publishing data on the national composition of the student population of the USSR since 1972. One reason for this might be that whereas previously comparisons with earlier data showed an increase in the number of Jewish students, similar comparisons after 1972 would have provided statistical evidence of anti-Jewish discrimination in admission to higher learning.
This is the conclusion reached in a study published by the institute of Jewish Affairs in London. It was prepared by Dr. L. Hirszowicz, senior research officer at the Institute and editor of its journal, Soviet Jewish Affairs.
An analysis of the data of the last 15 years reveals that although the student body in the USSR is steadily growing, the number of Jewish students has declined in absolute figures since 1968/69 and proportionally during the whole period. Jews still formed 3.23 percent of the total student population in 1950/61 but only 1.91 percent in 1972/73, the last year for which data is available. The study cited further discrimination against Jewish students in admission to certain facilities and to better universities.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
