medical, pedagogic (for the training of schoolteachers), construction and various transport (automotive and road, railroad, civil aviation) institutes. Some of those institutes were present in every oblast capital while others were unique and situated in big cities (like the Literature Institute and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology ). Colloquially these universities and institutes were all referred to by the acronym "VUZ" (ВУЗ – высшее учебное заведение, "higher educational institution"). Students who wanted admission to a VUZ had to have graduated from either a general secondary school (10 or 11 years) or a specialized secondary school or a tekhnikum. Those who completed only vocational school (PTU) or "incomplete secondary school" were not certified as having completed secondary education (they lacked an аттестат зрелости – maturity certificate – or equivalent diploma from a specialized secondary school) and were thus not eligible to attend a VUZ. Numerous military and militsiya (police) schools (, vyshee uchilische/shkola) were on the same higher level. Note that Soviet military and militsiya facilities named "Academy" (, Akademiya) were not a degree-level school (like Western military academies such as West Point), but a post-graduate school for experienced officers. Such schools were compulsory for officers applying for the rank of colonel. (see Soviet military academies) KGB's higher education institutions were called either "schools" (like "Higher School of KGB") or "institutes" (like "Red Banner Institute of KGB" - training specifically intelligence officers). CPSU's higher education institutions were called "Higher Party Schools" (, vysshaya partiynaya shkola). The spirit and structure of Soviet education is mostly inherited by many post-Soviet countries despite formal changes and social transitions. See also Ministry of Education (Soviet Union) Education in Kazakhstan Education in Siberia Korenizatsiya Likbez Professional technical school Russification Research in the Soviet Union Soviet Student Olympiads List of Russian scientists Citations Bibliography Bronfenbrenner, Urie. Two worlds of childhood: U.S. and U.S.S.R. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1970. Sheila Fitzpatrick. 1978. Cultural Revolution in Russia, 1928-1931. Indiana University Press. Sheila Fitzpatrick. Education and Social Mobility in the Soviet Union, 1921-1934. Cambridge University Press. 1979 E. Glyn Lewis. Multilingualism in the Soviet Union: Aspects of Language Policy and Its Implementation. The Hague: Mouton, 1971. Spearman, M. L. Scientific and technical training in the Soviet Union, (NASA, Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA), 1983. Michael David-Fox and György Péteri. Academia in Upheaval: Origins, Transfers, and Transformations of the Communist Academic Regime in Russia and East Central Europe.