Under Catherine the Great, reforms to the Russian education system took many forms, including improvements to higher education, scientific advances, and efforts to increase literacy among the masses. Prior to Peter the Great, most Russians were illiterate, including the nobility. Peter introduced newspapers to facilitate information sharing among the gentry and established the Russian Academy of Sciences to support scientific research. Catherine expanded on these reforms by establishing many provincial schools, though education was still not widely available to peasants and serfs. She also founded the Smolny Institute to promote literacy among women.

1. Education From Peter the Great to Catherine the Great