Flying University

The Flying University (Polish: Uniwersytet Latający, less often translated as "Floating University") was an underground educational enterprise that operated from 1885 to 1905 in Warsaw, the historic Polish capital, then under the control of the Russian Empire. Between 1977 and 1981 renewed Flying Universities were operated by dissident Poles in the communist-controlled People's Republic of Poland. The Flying University and similar institutions aimed to provide Polish youth with opportunities for education within the framework of traditional Polish scholarship at times when that tradition collided with the ideology and practice of the governing authorities. In the 19th century, such underground institutions were important in the national effort to resist Germanization under Prussian and Russification under Russian occupation. In the People's Republic of Poland, the Flying University provided educational opportunities outside government censorship and control of education.