Science and Higher Education in Russia

European Education, 2010

At the time of independence, the structure of higher education, curriculum content, governance, and admissions procedures were more or less identical across the fifteen republics of the former Soviet Union. Since independence there have been multiple changes, but often these have been quite similar in nature. There has been a move toward standardized testing as a criterion for admissions. There has been a restructuring away from sector ministerial control. There has been a diversification of provision. There has been a decentralization of governance, salary, and tuition structures. Why have the changes to higher education been so similar? Is it because globalization is so powerful and the local institutions on the periphery are so weak? Is it because of the irresistible pressures from international agencies such as the World Bank? Or are the requirements for excellence in higher education in a market economy sufficiently similarly to make changes inevitable? This paper supports the latter argument and suggests that the changes in higher education have been inevitable and that future changes are predicable.

Palgrave Studies in Global Higher Education, 2018

The chapter describes the peculiarities of higher education policy and higher education landscape in the USSR republics during last decades of Soviet era. The authors provide an overview on the rationale for Soviet educational policy concerning higher education. Then the chapter proceeds with a structural description of the Soviet higher education system and its institutional diversity. The authors present a sustained account of factors that played a crucial role in the formation of Soviet higher educational institutions and the higher education landscape. The authors finally attempt to present the variations of the institutional landscape across Soviet republics.

Proceedings of the First International Volga Region Conference on Economics, Humanities and Sports (FICEHS 2019), 2019

The huge development of technology has given new set of challenges to the core of the tertiary education the classical university. The aim of the paper is to analyze how modern universities respond to the existing challenges and adapt to an increasingly geek economy. In each period of time, universities played a number of roles in their respective societies. Since the 60s of the last century, one of the main criteria for the effectiveness of universities has been their social utility and ability to meet social demands. The notion of 'Third Mission' develops from the growing importance given to direct connections between university research activities and the external economic and social environment. For the majority of Russian universities facing financial and social difficulties, the only opportunity to stay afloat and even to develop is to be needed by the community where they exist. International experience demonstrates how well-considered and active interaction between the university and the local community can impact the life of the university and its perception in society. Close links of the Russian tertiary education with local communities are not only a tool for survival, but also an opportunity to tailor higher education to the realities of modern life, to improve the quality of education, to sharpen its practical focus. For Russia pursuing the path of innovation is impossible without training a new generation of specialists, who possess qualitatively new professional knowledge and common employability skills.

2011

There are political, social, economic and technological transformations, demographic and cultural processes, described in this article, which define the framework for education reforms in different countries. Understanding the depth and scope of the processes is a necessary basis for development strategy for Russian education. The question about the future model of the Russian higher education and socio-anthropological project in education are also described, and the correct answer – it is an opportunity for Russian education and the country as a whole. In place of the Enlightenment project – «Knowing man» – alternative socio-anthropological projects came in: «A Man-operator», «Creative Man», «Mobile Man». These socio-anthropological projects will determine the content and format of education in the world in the next 20 years. The features of the socio-economic context of higher education in Russia are discussed in this article. «Compression» of industrial sector and the expansion o...

Research Evaluation, 2005

The fundamental changes in the political and economic domains in Russia in the late 1990s affected the Russian scientific community profoundly. This paper focuses on the effects on the Russian higher education system. Today about 75% of the students study in the provinces. The new multi-channel funding system in Russia had a strong impact on R&D in the universities. Provincial universities are becoming a key source of new knowledge and skills. This paper discusses the factors influencing research activity in the different geographical regions and looks at intraand international collaboration and at access to information and communication technology as important factors for sustainability in the Russian regions.

Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies. Moscow

Much has changed in Russia since the end of the Soviet period, but in higher education and science, the world outside of Russia may have changed more than the world within. In the Internet era, all national research systems have become partly subsumed into a single English-language global science system while still retaining distinct national identities. Most innovations in technology and product development are now sourced partially or entirely from global sources. It is essential to become proficient at accessing global science, which means producing global science and collaborating with others. Russian science remains surprisingly decoupled from world science. Global publication and citation rates at Russia's leading universities are very low compared to those of their counterparts abroad. Between 1995 and 2012, international co-authorship of journal papers increased by 168 per cent at the world level-and grew by a factor of ten in China-but the number of internationally co-authored papers rose by only 35 per cent in Russia. The lack of internationalization of Russian universities and science, coupled with the continued erosion of the Soviet legacy, contributes to the country's weak performance in research rankings, both objectivelyreal research paper output is falling, and Russia has been left well behind by dynamic developments in China and the rest of East Asia, and to a lesser extent by Brazil and India-and subjectivelythere are substantial national research strengths in areas like engineering, manufacturing, engineering and strategic industries, but as it is conducted primarily in Russian and not published in global journals, it is "invisible." Russia's national policy goal of having five of its universities enter the ranks of the top 100 in the world is a long way off. It has taken China and Singapore two decades to build world-class education systems, and policymakers in Russia need to take a longerterm view. There is also real scope, however, for rapid improvement in the short term. Currently, low levels of internationalization present a strategic opportunity for Russia. When cross-border cooperation, publishing, and benchmarking are stepped up significantly, as in the East Asian science systems, major gains can be achieved in Russia.

European Education, 2020

In this paper, presentation of the original model, its theoretical approach and comparative-historical methodology are abbreviated. Limited to the space of a journal article we had to omit most of empirical evidence and references on historical data. For the full presentation of the model, see (Karpov & Lisovskaya, 2005).

Globalization and Inequality in Emerging Societies, 2011

2019