: The degree of successful transformation varied significantly between the three nations.
In and Czechoslovakia , students whose institutions remained somewhat autonomous eventually spearheaded major reform movements in 1968 and 1989. Captive University: The Sovietization of East G...
: Connelly emphasizes that a country's pre-war history and its specific experience during World War II heavily influenced how universities resisted or succumbed to Communist control. : Underwent the most complete "Sovietization
: Underwent the most complete "Sovietization." Universities were purged of "bourgeois elements," and the student body was successfully shifted toward those from worker and peasant backgrounds. Scholars from Central European History and History of
: The regime was less successful. Fear of losing expertise led the Polish Party to keep potentially disloyal "pre-war" professors in their positions, hoping they would train a new, loyal intelligentsia.
Scholars from Central European History and History of Education Quarterly have praised the book as a "pioneering" and "landmark" work for its use of newly opened archives and its complex, nuanced comparative method. Critics from ResearchGate note it provides a unique look at how "affirmative action" was used in Eastern Europe to reshape social classes through education.