UC, Soviets May Set Up Historic Exchange Plan

More than a dozen University of California professors, researchers and students would trade places with their Soviet counterparts under a first-time program that is under negotiation, a UC official said.

“I believe our intention and their intention is to sign the agreement on Dec. 18. The talks have been going well,” said William H. Allaway, director of the UC Education Abroad program.

But negotiations with Leningrad State University, begun in July, 1986, were still at a delicate stage, he said.

If approved, the historic exchange would begin in the fall of 1988 and last at least three years, UC officials said.

As many as 18 professors and researchers from such areas as physics, engineering and the humanities would spend up to 20 months at a time at the Soviet school.

Up to 16 UC students per semester would study at the university’s prestigious Russian languages program, and the two universities might also exchange five students per semester in other disciplines.

UC faculty and students have studied in the Soviet Union before, but this would mark the first direct exchange between a UC school and a major Soviet university.