From around 1975, under the leadership of Professor Satoshi Kawanobe, senior researcher of National Institute for Educational Research (NIER) , then located in Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, graduate students and young researchers interested in education in the USSR.  It was the beginning of this study group. They gathered every month to hold a seminar. For half a century since then, it continued international joint research with researchers in Russia and former countries of USSR, while receiving research grants for overseas academic research.  After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, foreign students from former countries of USSR and Mongolia began to participate. We expanded our network with researchers in the emerging countries such as Russian Federation, countries in Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Baltic Sea, and diversified our research themes. Since we are always paying close attention to how the Soviet Union's educational system, educational philosophy, theory and practice in the socialist era will change, we have included "Soviet" in the name of the current study group.