system and, while opening universities for non noble males, also founded 131 schools for girls, of which 37 offered higher education. Filosofova was the founder of one of the literary discussion circles which were fashionable at the time, together with Trubnikova and Stasova: Trubnikova, the daughter of one of the participants of the Decembrist revolt, was a friend of Josephine Butler and acquainted with Western feminist literature. The most ambitious undertaking of Anna and her associates was the promotion of education for women. In 1867 they sent a petition with four hundred signatures to Tsar Alexander II asking permission to open the first higher education courses for women at Saint Petersburg State University. There was strong resistance from conservatives to the admission of women to the University, and they weren't supported by the Education Minister Dmitry Tolstoy. Tolstoy did allow women to begin attending lectures by University professors, often for free. In 1871 these informal courses were given the name "Vladimirsky", after the name of the college where they were held. The reaction to the courses by upper-class society was decidedly negative. Many female students went abroad in order to complete their education. The courses were closed in 1875. In 1876 Anna was able to get official permission to open the first Russian women's university, known as the Bestuzhev Courses after their nominal founder Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin. Later life Anna was known for her kindness and generosity, and she was often approached for help by the families of convicted and exiled revolutionaries. Her sympathies for these revolutionaries were unpopular with Russian officials. In 1879 she was exiled abroad for giving aid to revolutionary organisations, and only allowed to return in 1881. After the assassination of the Tsar in 1881, Anna, now known for her revolutionary sympathies, couldn't find supporters for further social projects. Her husband's official position was also weakened because of her revolutionary connections, and the family was forced to live more modestly. Anna returned to public life in the late 1880s and early 1890s when she began providing assistance for starving people in the Volga Region. In 1892 she joined the "Saint Petersburg Committee for the Promotion of Literacy". In 1895 she founded and chaired the "Charity Association of Russian Women", a feminist organisation that was officially denominated a charity organisation because all forms of political activity were banned in Russia. The same year, a women's university of medicine