Education in Siberia expanded greatly after the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed in the 19th century. While Siberia became part of Russia in the 17th century it was not until the 20th century under the Soviet Union that education was transformed which in turn brought Siberia to economic importance. This was aimed at uniting people under the Soviet. For example, the Irkutsk State Linguistic University served as "a conduit between Russia and these native people by teaching languages" during the communist era. Imperial Russia began uniting Siberia to Russia by founding Siberia's first university, Tomsk State University, in 1878.