Abstract
This study conceptualizes the internationalization of higher education as a legacy-bound response driven by geopolitical, cultural and economic dependencies. It examines the Russian case, and considers how Russian academics deal with complex sets of dependencies and rivalries, while sorting European, Asian and Soviet drivers in university positioning and partnership-building. The paper re-evaluates the path dependence perspective in the higher education literature by arguing that, notwithstanding the constructs and conveniences they are predisposed to select, academics have a choice to either comply with, or defy the governmental and institutional legacies imposed on them. The prevalence of one choice over the other, as well as an inconsistency of choices, shapes a complicated trajectory that can be referred to as “hybrid” development. This paper illustrates the progression of “hybrid” development by reflecting on the Russian legacy of imperial ambitions affecting the fragility of the global architecture of knowledge, policy development, cooperation and rule of law.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Androushchak, G., Kuzminov, Y., & Yudkevich, M. (2013). Changing realities: Russian higher education and the academic profession. In P. G. Altbach, L. Reisberg, M. Yudkevich, G. Androushchak, & Y. Kuzminov (Eds.), The global future of higher education and the academic profession: The BRICS and the USA (pp. 56–92). Basingstoke, England & New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Aref’ev, A. L. (2005). Foreign students in the higher educational institutions of Russia. Russian Education & Society, 47(9), 38–53.
Baker, D. P., Köhler, H., & Stock, M. (2007). Socialist ideology and the contraction of higher education: Institutional consequences of state manpower and education planning in the former East Germany, 1949 to 1989. Comparative Education Review, 51(3), 353–377.
Barbashin, A., & Thoburn, H. (2014, March). Putin’s brain: Alexander Dugin and the philosophy behind Putin’s invasion of Crimea. Foreign Affairs. Retrieved December 21, 2014, from http://www.foreignarrairs.corn/articles/141080/anton-barbashin-and-hannah-thoburn/putins-brain
Berzin, S. (2014, April). Russian academics spooked by Zubov’s dismissal. University World News. Retrieved December 21, 2014, from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20140410172832334
Chernykh, A. (2014, September). What the FSB is doing in Russian universities. Retrieved October 14, 2014, from https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/aleksandr-chernykh/what-fsb-is-doing-in-russian-universities
Chirikov, I., & Grazdev, I. (2014). Back in the USSR: Path dependence effects in student representation in Russia. Studies in Higher Education, 39(3), 455–469. doi: 10.1080/03075079.2014.896181
Christensen, C. M., & Eyring, H. J. (2011). The innovative university: Changing the DNA of higher education from the inside out. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
Clark, B. R. (1972). The organizational saga in higher education. Administrative Science Quarterly, 77(2), 178–184.
Clark, B. R. (1998). Creating entrepreneurial universities: Organizational pathways of transformation. Bingley, England: Emerald Group Publishing.
Connelly, J. (2000). Captive university: The Sovietization of East German, Czech, and Polish higher education, 1945–1956. Chapel Hill, NC and London, England: The University of North Carolina Press.
Connelly, J., & Grüttner, M. (Eds.). (2005). Universities under dictatorship. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
Council of Europe. (2010). Andrei Sakharov and human rights. Strasbourg, France: The Council of Europe Publishing.
Daniels, R. V. (1985). Russia: The roots of confrontation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
David-Fox, M. (2005). Russian universities across the 1917 divide. In J. Connelly & M. Grüttner (Eds.), Universities under dictatorship (pp. 15–44). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
Dewhirst, M. (2002). Censorship in Russia, 1991 and 2001. In R. Fawn & S. White (Eds.), Russia after communism (pp. 21–34). London, England: Frank Cass Publishers.
de Wit, H. (2002). Internationalization of higher education in the United States of America and Europe: A historical, comparative, and conceptual analysis. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
de Wit, H. (2004). Academic alliances and networks: A new internationalization strategy in response to the globalization of our societies. In D. Theather (Ed.), Consortia: International networking alliances of universities (pp. 28–48). Melbourne, Australia: University of Melbourne Press.
Druzhilov, S. A. (2012). Трагедия отечественной высшей школы в период послереволюционной разрухи [The tragedy of higher education in post-revolutionary Russia]. Вопросы Oбразования [EducationalStudies], (3), 241–257.
Esyutina, M., Fearon, C., & Leatherbarrow, N. (2013). The Bologna Process in higher education: An exploratory case study in a Russian context. Quality Assurance in Education, 21(2), 145–161. doi: 10.1108/09684881311310683
Finkel, S. (2003). Purging the public intellectual: The 1922 expulsions from the Soviet Russia. Russian Review, 62(4), 589–613. doi: 10.1111/1467-9434.00293
Froumin, I., & Salmi, J. (2009). Российские вузы в конкуренции университетов мирового класса [Russian universities in the competition of world class universities]. In V. Mau, T. Kiliachko, A. Klimov, & M. Noskova (Eds.), Российское образование: Тенденции и вызовы [Russian education: Trends and challenges] (pp. 155–189). Москва́, Росси́я: Дело [Moscow, Russia: Delo ANX].
Frumina, E., & West, R. (2012). Internationalization of higher education: The English language dimension. Moscow, Russia: British Council.
Galeotti, M. (2014, October). Russia’s secret weapon. The Moscow Times. Retrieved December 19, 2014, from http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/russia-s-secret-weapon/508578.html
Gilligan, E. (2004). Defending human rights in Russia: Sergei Kovalyov, dissident and human rights commissioner, 1969–2003. New York, NY: RoutledgeCurzon.
Goodall, A. H. (2009). Socrates in the boardroom: Why research universities should be led by top scholars. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Gounko, T., & Smale, W. (2007). Modernization of Russian higher education: Exploring paths of influence. Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education, 37(4), 533–548. doi: 10.1080/03057920701366358
Graham, L. R. (1993). Science in Russia and the Soviet Union: A short history. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Graham, L. R., & Dezhina, I. (2008). Science in the New Russia: Crisis, aid, reform. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Huntington, S. P. (1996). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of the world order. New York, NY: Simon & Shuster.
Huntington, W. C. (1959). Michael Lomonosov and Benjamin Franklin: Two self-made men of the eighteenth century. The Russian Review, 18(4), 294–306.
Innovation Bureau Expert. (2009). Исследование российской научно-технологической диаспоры в развитых странах: Условия и возможности возвращения научных кадров и использование потенциала (Отчет) [Report: A study on the Russian scientific-technolgical diaspora in developed countries: Conditions and opportunities for return of the scientific personnel and the use of their potentials]. Москва́, Росси́я: Инновационное Бюро Эксперт [Moscow, Russia: Innovation Bureau Expert].
Johnson, M. (2014). Higher education competition and regional networks in Russia and Central Asia. In D. Araya & P. Marber (Eds.), Higher education in the global age: Policy, practice and promise in the emerging society (pp. 70–88). New York, NY: Routledge.
Jones, G. A., & Oleksiyenko, A. (2011). The internationalization of Canadian university research: A global higher education matrix analysis of multi-level governance. Higher Education, 61(1), 41–57. doi: 10.1007/sl0734-010-9324-8
Kara-Murza, V. (2014, April). Putin and the “good Hitler.” World Affairs Journal. Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/vladimir-kara-murza/putin-and-‘good-hitler’
Khodorkovsky, M. (2014, October). Glory to the “Russian World.” New York Times. Retrieved October 14, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/opinion/glory-to-the-russian-world.html?_r=0
Knight, J. (2004). Internationalization remodeled: Definition, approaches and rationales. Journal of Studies in International Education, 8(1), 5–31. doi: 10.1177/1028315303260832
Lebedev, P. N. (2011). In memory of the first Russian scientist (1711–1911). Physics-Uspekhi, 54(11), 1143–1146. doi:10.3367/UFNe.0181.201111d.H83
Makarova, M. N., & Solomennikov, V. S. (2008). The Bologna Process: Opinions and expectations. Russian Education and Society, 50(3), 84–90. doi: 10.2753/RES1060-9393500308
Marginson, S., & Sawir, E. (2005). Interrogating global flows in higher education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 3(3), 281–309. doi: 10.1080/14767720500166878
Migranian, A. (2014, April). Наши Передоновы [Our Peredonovs]. Известия [News]. Retrieved April 14, 2014, from http://izvestia.ru/news/568603
Minakov, M. (2013). Принуждении к эмиграции старая российская традиция [Forced immigration as old Russian tradition]. Retrieved August 1, 2013, from http://www.vedomosti.ru/opinion/news/14796521/ot-gercena-do-gurieva
Minority Rights Group International. (2014). Minority and indigenous rights in the Russian Federation. Retrieved October 1, 2014, from http://www.minorityrights.org/11904/ programmes/minority-and-indigenous-rights-in-the-russian-federation.html
Narizhnaya, J. (2013). Russians go West. World Policy Journal. Retrieved December 21, 2014, from http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/spring2013/russians-go-west
Oleksiyenko, A. (2008). Global portfolios and strategic international partnerships of a major research university (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Oleksiyenko, A. (2014). On the shoulders of giants? Global science, resource asymmetries, and repositioning of research universities in China and Russia. Comparative Education Review, 58(3), 482–508. doi: 10.1086/676328
Osipian, A. L. (2012). Who is guilty and what to do? Popular opinion and public discourse of corruption in Russian higher education. Canadian and International Education/Education canadienne et international, 41(1).
Ostrowski, D. (1998). Muscovy and the Mongols: Cross-cultural influences on the steppe frontier, 1304–1589. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Pastukhov, V. (2014, October). Сто лет невежества [One hundred years of ignorance]. BBC Russia. Retrieved October 3, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/blogs/2014/10/141002_blog_pastoukhov_ignorance.shtml?ocid=socialflow
Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Pimenov, A. (2000). The future that never was. The Wilson Quarterly, 24(2), 59–67.
Pinheiro, R., Geschwind, L., & Aarrevaara, T. (2014). Nested tensions and interwoven dilemmas in higher education: The view from the Nordic countries. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 7(2), 233–250. doi: 10.1093/cjres/rsu002
Pislyakov, V., & Shukshina, E. (2014). Measuring excellence in Russia: Highly cited papers, leading institutions, patterns of national and international collaboration. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 65(11), 2321–2330. doi: 10.1002/asi.23093
Plaksii, S. (2009). Russian higher educational institutions’ ability to compete and the strict standards of “Hamburg Scoring.” Russian Education & Society, 51(12), 55–80. doi: 10.2753/RES1060-9393511205
Rannut, M. (2012). Russification in the Soviet era. In Carol A. Chapelle (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics (n.p.). Chichester, England: Wiley-Blackwell.
Riasanovsky, N. (1952). Russia and the west in the teaching of the Slavophiles. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Ruud, C. (1982). Fighting words: Imperial censorship and the Russian press, 1804–1906. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
Salmi, J., & Froumin, I. (2013). Как государства добиваются международной конкурентоспособности университетов: Уроки для России [Excellence initiatives to establish world-class universities: Evaluation of recent experiences]. Вопросы Образования [Educational Studies], 1, 25–68.
Shiltsev, V. (2012). Mikhail Lomonosov and the dawn of Russian science. Physics Today, 65(2), 40–46. doi: 10.1063/PT3.1438
Smolentseva, A. (2003). Changes to the Russian academic profession. Higher Education, 45(4), 391–424. doi: 10.1023/A:1023954415569
Stein, H. F. (1976). Russian nationalism and the divided soul of the Westernizers and Slavophiles. Ethos, 4(4): 403–438. doi: 10.1525/eth.l976.4.4.02a00010
Telegina, G., & Schwengel, H. (2012). The Bologna Process: Perspectives and implications for the Russian university. European Journal of Education, 47(1), 37–49. doi: 10.1111/J.1465-3435.2011.01506.X
Tierney, W., & Lanford, M. (2014). The question of academic freedom: Universal right or relative term. Frontiers of Education in China, 9(1), 4–23. doi: 10.3868/sll0-003-014-0002-x
Walicki, A. (1975). The Slavophile controversy: History of a conservative utopia in nineteenth-century Russian thought. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
Yaffa, J. (2014, March). Putin’s new war on “traitors.” The New Yorker. Retrieved April 13, 2014, from http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/putins-new-war-on-traitors
Yudkevich, M. (2014). The Russian university: Recovery and rehabilitation. Studies in Higher Education, 39(8), 1463–1474. doi: 10.1080/03075079.2014.949537
Zimmerman, W. (2005). Slavophiles and Westernizers redux: Contemporary Russian elite perspectives. Washington, D.C.: The National Council for Eurasian and East European Research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Oleksiyenko, A. Internationalization Legacies and Collaboration Challenges: Post-Imperial Hybrids and Political Fallouts in Russian Higher Education. Front Educ China 10, 23–45 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03397051
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03397051