In the decades prior to freedom, the Moldavian SSR's education system made substantial progress toward being available to all citizens. At the beginning of the twentieth century, illiteracy had been common among Moldova's rural population. But by 1992, the adult literacy rate had risen to 96 %. In 1990 the mean duration of schooling was six years, and 30 % of the population aged fifteen and older had completed general secondary education.

As Moldovan society became more industrialized and more complex under the Soviet regime, the role of higher education also expanded (although ethnic Russian and Ukrainian students were given preference in university admissions during the Soviet era). Although there were only ten students per 10,000 population listed in institutions of higher education in 1940, this number increased to 120 per 10,000 population in 1992. In early 1995, Moldova had ten institutions of higher education; four of these institutions had been accomplished since freedom. The republic also maintained institutes of agriculture, economics, engineering, medicine, the arts, pedagogy, and physical education.