Skip to main content

The Federal State, Regional Interests, and the Reinvention of Russian Universities

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Higher Education in the BRICS Countries

Part of the book series: Higher Education Dynamics ((HEDY,volume 44))

Abstract

This chapter seeks to analyze the complex policy struggles and institutional changes that have unfolded since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991 around repeated attempts to “reinvent” Russian higher education, with a focus on relations between the federal state, regional interests, and leading universities. This chapter is also part of a broader line of research that analyzes how and why the Russian Federation and other postsocialist nations are—or are not—aligning with the global neoliberal model of higher education and the US model of the entrepreneurial research university, as fitful as that alignment may have been since 1991. The theoretical approach adopted combines a “culturalist” critique based in history and anthropology with a “realist” critique based in critical political economy and more radical traditions in comparative education.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abankina, I., et al. (2008). Gosudarstevennoe finansirovanie vysshego professional’nogo obrazovaniia [State financing of higher professional education]. Moscow: State University Higher School of Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. (2009). Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution. Paris: UNESCO and Boston College.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bain, O. (2003). University autonomy in the Russian Federation since Perestroika. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beliakov, S., Lugachyov, M., & Markov, M. (1998). Financial and institutional change in Russian higher education. Edinburgh: Heriot-Watt University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berdashkevich, P. (2010). The universities of Russia: Areas and prospects of development. Russian Education and Society, 53(2), 12–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bogdasarova, T. S., et al. (Eds.). (2009). Teoriia I praktika podgotovki menedzherov po razvitiiu v sovremennykh universitetakh [Theory and practice for the training of development managers in modern universities]. Moscow: New Eurasia Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clery, D. (2010). Russian science: Waking from hibernation. Science, 330(19 Nov), 1036–1042.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dale, R. (2000). Globalization: A new world for comparative education? In J. Schriewer (Ed.), Discourse formation in comparative education (3rd revised ed.). New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Groof, J., Lauwers, G., & Filippov, V. (Eds.). (2001). Adequate education law for modern Russia. Leuven: Garant.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dmitrieva, O. (1996). Regional development: The USSR and after. London: University College London Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eliseeva, A. M. (2010). The readiness of models of college and university administration for the reform of higher education. Russian Education and Society, 52(9), 39–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fedyukin, I., & Froumin, I. (2010). Rossiiskie vuzy-flagmany [Russian higher educational institutions-flagships]. Pro et contra (May-June), 19–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferlie, E., Musselin, C., & Andresani, G. (2008). The steering of higher education systems: A public management perspective. Higher Education, 56, 325–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Filippov, V. M. (2002). The transformation path taken by Russian higher education. In S. Uvalic-Trumbic (Ed.), Globalization and the market in higher education: Quality, accreditation, and qualifications (pp. 121–133). Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Filippov, V. M. et al. (2006). Upravlenie v vysshei shkole: Op’yt, tendentsii, perspektivy [Management in higher education: Experience, tendencies, perspectives]. Moscow: Logos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forrat, N. (2012). Global trends or regime survival: The reforms in Russian higher education. Comparative-historical social science working paper series No. 12–001. Evanston: Northwestern University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank, D., & Gabler, J. (2006). Reconstructing the university: Worldwide shifts in academia in the 20th century. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Froumin, I. (2011). Establishing a new research university: The higher school of economics, the Russian Federation. In P. Altbach & J. Salmi (Eds.), The road to academic excellence: The making of world-class research universities. Washington DC: The World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geroimenko, V. A., Kliucharev, G. A., & Morgan, J. W. (2012). Private higher education in Russia: Capacity for innovation and investment. European Journal of Education, 47(1), 77–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gokhberg, L., Kuznetsova, T., & Zaichenko, S. (2009). Towards a new role of universities in Russia: Prospects and limitations. Science and Public Policy, 36(2), 121–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gounko, T., & Smale, W. (2007). Modernization of Russian higher education: Exploring paths of influence. Compare, 4, 533–548.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, L., & Dezhina, I. (2008). Science in the new Russia: Crisis, aid, reform. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guriev, S. (2009). Research universities in modern Russia. Social Research, 76(2), 711–728.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hare, P. G. (Ed.). (1997). Structure and financing of higher education in Russia, Ukraine and the European Union. London: Jessica Kingsley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hazelkorn, E. (2011). Rankings and the reshaping of higher education: The battle for world-class excellence. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Herrera, Y. (2005). Imagined economies: The sources of Russian regionalism. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heyneman, S. P. (Ed.). (2009). Buying your way into heaven: Education and corruption in international perspective. Rotterdam: Sense.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heyneman, S. P. (2010). A comment on changes in higher education in the former Soviet Union. European Education, 42(1), 76–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higher School of Economics. (2011). Natsional’nyi issledovatel'skii universitet “Vysshaia shkola ekonomiki”: Programma razvitiia [National research university higher school of economics: Program for development]. Moscow: NRU HSE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holden, C. (1999). Eastern Europe’s social science renaissance. Science, 283, 1620–1622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, M. S. (2008). Historical legacies of Soviet higher education and the transformation of higher education systems in Post-Soviet Russia and Eurasia. In A. Wiseman & D. Baker (Eds.), The worldwide transformation of higher education (pp. 159–176). Oxford: Elsevier Science.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, M. S., & Kortunov, A. V. (2011). The state, the university and society in Soviet and Russian higher education: The search for a new public mission. In D. Rhoten & C. Calhoun (Eds.), Knowledge matters: The public mission of the research university. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karpenko, M. P. (Ed.). (2011). Obrazovatel’naia geodemographiia Rossii [Educational geodemography of Russia]. Moscow: Modern Humanities Academy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kazantsev, V. O. (2007). Prioritetnye natsional’nye proekty I novaia ideologiia dlia Rossii [Priority national projects and a new ideology for Russia]. Moscow: Vagrius.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kiroi, V. N. (2010). Novye universitety Rossii: Problemy I puti ikh resheniia [The new universities of Russia: Problems and their resolution]. Vyshee obrazovanie v Rossii, 53(3), 7–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kniazev, E., & Evdokimova, L.A. (2006). Benchmarking dlia vuzov [Benchmarking for higher educational institutions]. Moscow: Logos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kononenko, V., & Moshes, A. (Eds.). (2011). Russia as a network state: What works in Russia when state institutions do not? New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larionova, M. V., & Meshkova, T. A. (Eds.). (2007). Analiticheskii doklad po vysshemu obrazovaniiu v Rossiiskoi Federatsii [Analytical paper on higher education in the Russian Federation]. Moscow: Higher School of Economics for the OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larionova, M., Shadrikov, V, Zhelezov, B, & Gorbunova, E. (2004). Formirovanie obshcheevropeiskogo postranstva vysshego obrazovaniia: Zadachi dlia rossiiskoi vysshei shkoly [The formation of a common European space in higher education: Tasks for Russian higher educational institutions]. Moscow: State University Higher School of Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenskaya, E. (1997). Russia. In Education for the transition. Part III: Higher education policy in central and eastern Europe. Country reports. Vienna: Institute for Human Sciences.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melville, A. (Ed.). (1999). Transformatsiia rossiiskikh regional’nykh elit v sravnitel’noi perspective [Transformation of Russian regional elites in comparative perspective]. Moscow: Moscow Public Science Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education. (2002). Kontseptsiia modernizatsii rossiiskogo obrazovaniia na period do 2010 goda [Conception for the modernization of Russian education in the period to 2010]. Moscow: Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education and Science. (2011). Federal’nyi zakon “O vysshem I poslevuzovskom professional’nom obrazovanii” [Federal law “On higher and postsecondary professional education”]. Moscow: MOES of the Russian Federation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education and Science. (2012). National priorities: Recent trends and future developments in higher education and research. Moscow: MOES of the Russian Federation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Motova, G., & Pykko, R. (2012). Russian higher education and European standards of quality assurance. European Journal of Education, 47(1), 25–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Training Foundation. (2013). Razvitie. Riski. Ranzhirovanie. Rost. Reputatsiia. Metodologiia natsional’noi sistemy ranzhirovaniia Rossiiskikh vuzov [Development. Risks. Ranking. Growth. Reputation. Methodologies for a national system of rankings of Russian higher educational institutions]. Moscow: National Training Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neave, G. (Ed.). (2006). Knowledge, power and dissent: Critical perspectives on higher education and research in knowledge society. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odynova, A. (2010). Failure to make the grade in ranking riles universities. Moscow Times, (18 Nov).

    Google Scholar 

  • Oleinik, A. N. (2011). Underperformance v teorii I universitetskoi praktike [Underperformance in theory and university practice]. Sotsiologiia nauki I tekhnologii, 2(3), 68–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panfilova, T. (2011). Higher education reform in Russia: Democratization or bureaucratization? Russian Education and Society, 53, 25–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrov, G., & Temple, P. (2004). Corruption in higher education: Some findings from the states of the former Soviet Union. Higher Education Management and Policy, 16(1), 82–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrov, N., & Titkov, A. (Eds.). (2010). Vlast’, bizness, obshchestvo v regionakh: nepravil’nyi trugol’nik [Power, business, society in the regions: An irregular triangle]. Moscow: Rosspen and Moscow Carnegie Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Radaev, V. (2010). Piat’ printsipov postroeniia novogo universiteta [Five principles for the building of a new university]. Pro et Contra, (May–June), 6–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reddaway, P., & Glinski, D. (2001). The tragedy of Russia's reforms: Market bolshevism against democracy. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reddaway, P., & Orttung, R. W. (Eds.). (2003). The dynamics of Russian politics: Putin’s reform of federal-regional relations. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, S. (2009). Market multilateralism, the World Bank group, and the asymmetries of globalizing higher education: Toward a critical political economy analysis. In R. M. Bassett & A. Maldonado (Eds.), International organizations and higher education policy: Thinking globally, acting locally? New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruble, B. A., Koehn, J., & Popson, N. E. (Eds.). (2001). Fragmented space in the Russian Federation. Washington DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadovnichii, V. (2004) Vysshaia shkola Rossii: traditsii I sovremennost. Alma Mater, 12, 7–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saltykov, B. (2008). Higher education in Russia: How to overcome the Soviet heritage? Russie NIE Visions, 29, 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schofer, E., & Meyer, J. (2005). The worldwide expansion of higher education in the twentieth century. American Sociological Review, 70, 898–920.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Segbers, K. (2001). Explaining post-Soviet patchworks: Vol 3. The political economy of regions, regimes, and republics. Burlington: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shattock, M., Kniazev, E., Sandgren, A., & Toivonen, N. (Eds.). (2004). Entrepreneurialism and the transformation of Russian universities. Paris: IIEP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheregi, F. E. (2011). The dysfunctionality of Russian higher professional education. Russian Education and Society, 53(4), 68–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shore, C., & Wright, S. (Eds.). (1997). The anthropology of policy: Critical perspectives on governance and power. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sigman, C. (2008). The impact of ‘new public management’ on Russian higher education. Russie NIE Visions, 30, 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silova, I., & Steiner-Khamsi, G. (Eds.). (2008). How NGOs react: Globalization and education reform in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Mongolia. Bloomfield: Kumarian.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, S., & Rhoades, G. (2004). Academic capitalism and the new economy: Markets, state and higher education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slinko, I., Yakovlev, E., & Zhuravskaya, E. (2003). Institutional subversion: Evidence from Russian regions. Centre for Economic Policy Research Discussion Papers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smolentsova, A. (2006). Russia. In J. G. Forrest & P. G. Altbach (Eds.), International handbook of higher education (pp. 951–969). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sporn, B. (2006). Governance and administration: Organizational and structural trends. In P. Altbach & J. Forest (Eds.), International handbook of higher education (pp. 141–158). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • State University Higher School of Economics. (2005). Obrazovanie v Rossiiskoi Federatsii [Education in the Russian Federation]. Moscow: State University Higher School of Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoner-Weiss, K. (2006). Resisting the state: Reform and retrenchment in post-Soviet Russia. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Timoshenko, K. (2008). Russian public sector reform: The impact on university accounting. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 9(2), 133–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westland, H., Granberg, A., Snickars, F. (Eds.). (2000). Regional development in Russia: Past policies and future prospects. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2005a). Sistema upravleniia v sektore vysshego obrazovaniia: Sravnitel’nyi analiz I vozmozhnye varianty strategii dlia Rossiiskoi Federatsii [Management systems in the higher education sector: Comparative analysis and possible variants for strategies in the Russian Federation]. Moscow: The World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2005b). Managing quality in universities. Moscow: The World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhurakovskii, V. M., & Arzhanova, I. V. (2011). Razvitie sistemy NIU: Nekotorye itogi,” [Development of the system of national research universities: Some results]. Vyshee obrazovanie v Rossii, 11, 47–54.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark S. Johnson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Johnson, M. (2015). The Federal State, Regional Interests, and the Reinvention of Russian Universities. In: Schwartzman, S., Pinheiro, R., Pillay, P. (eds) Higher Education in the BRICS Countries. Higher Education Dynamics, vol 44. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9570-8_15

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics