KIEV, USSR (EP) – In what is apparently the first arrangement of its kind, two universities in the Soviet Union have agreed to allow Christian students with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship to visit and enroll for the 1989 summer term. Kiev State University and Kiev State Pedogogical Institute will each host a group of 20 InterVarsity students in July.

“This is the first time a Soviet University has entered into an exchange agreement with a Christian organization,” said Dan Harrison, who recently returned from Kiev where he made the final arrangements for the trip. The U.S. students will be matched up with English-speaking Soviet students who will stay with them in university dormitories, share meals together, take classes together, and participate in cultural events together.

The purpose of the trip is to “promote good relationships between Soviet and American young people” according to Harrison, and to act upon the Helsinki Accord and the Soviet/U.S. summit agreement in Geneva regarding cultural exchanges.