The Russian State and its Universities: A History of the Present (original) (raw)
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THE RUSSIAN STATE AND ITS UNIVERSITIES: A HISTORY OF THE PRESENT 1
The article offers a broad historical overview of the university policy of the Russian state. It suggests that such a general picture could shed some fresh light not only on the role of the state in shaping the Russian university model throughout two and a half centuries, but also on the way of its functioning as the means of knowledge production and transmission. The wide chronological range of the overview primarily aims at singling out the major phases of this policy and at sketching its main directions. Five such phases are distinguished: 1)
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In this short overview of the university's history in Eastern Europe I tried to demonstrate the way traditional societies of this region transited into a condition of ambivalent modernity. Being in direct communication and under influence of modernization in the Western Europe, societies that were part of imperial Russia in the 19 th century developed a highly ambivalent model of education and scientific institutions responsible for the rationalization of their cultures. A witness of this process, Aleksander Griboiedov call this modernity a «Drum Enlightenment» stressing upon the fact that the modernization was going on as an imperial policy imposed over traditional national cultures. The Eastern European modernities have had their own dialectics of struggle of instrumental rationality of the system and ambiguous communicational rationality of life-world. In this struggle university has played a role of a leading institute that was weak in promotion of critical rationalization in traditional societies and strong in institutionalization of power that was undermining modernity goals of individual's emancipation.
The Retrospect and Prospect of the Modern University Models: Russian Example
Many higher education theorists and practitioners agree that the university system is progressively becoming ineffective. The article explores the historical retrospect and prospect of the evolution of the modern university as a social institution, the successor of the medieval university and the university of the Modern Times. Humboldt's idea of a university outlined the design of the modern European university model and became the underlying concept for the Russian higher school, which, as compared to Europe, did not have any medieval predecessor-universities. As we can see, the Humboldtian model of the university comes into conflict with the present-day cultural environment and with the processes taking place in higher education: commercialization, massification, bureaucracy, etc. These processes, together with such trends in education as globalization, informatization, cultural space networking, changing youth socialization, etc. urge the revision of the conceptual framework of the university model. The three former university models: corporate (medieval); classical (Humboldtian); modern (pedagogical) are being replaced by new models of the university of the future: the "Open (hybrid) University", the Third Generation University, the Entrepreneurial University, the Research University, etc. Great expectations are pinned on new technologies to overcome the crisis of the modern university system. However, they should not be seen as the panacea -the viewpoint adopted by some university authorities who are fast in employing IT innovations, though they are nothing but a mere tool of no inherent value. As a tool, they have their own benefits that should not gloss over their limitations.
Towards a new role of universities in Russia: prospects and limitations
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The paper refers to a contemporary discussion of S&T and innovation activities of Russian universities and respective national policies against the background of institutional transformation of the national innovation system. It emphasizes the Russian NIS structure and subsequent positioning of universities and the research institutions of the Academy of Sciences. The analysis makes it evident that the innovation activity of Russian universities is strongly challenged by various interdependent hampering factors. These factors arise directly from traditional barriers between science and education, which in turn relate to the imperfection of Russia's NIS originating from deep structural breaches far beyond S&T and education activities. National policies nowadays are aimed at increasing the innovation activity of universities, and the article concludes with an overview of the current debate on the most urgent issues.
Higher Education in Russia: How we See it in the XXI Century
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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.
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Higher education in the XXI century Russia: an imperative of reindustrialization
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New industrial technologies and innovations as an imperative of reindustrialization have given a new set of challenges to the core of the tertiary education-the classical university. The aim of the paper is to analyse how modern universities respond to the existing challenges of reindustrialization and adapt to emerging modern management technologies and development of knowledge-intensive activities. 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 and reindustrialization is impossible without training a new generation of specialists, who possess qualitatively new professional knowledge and common employability skills.
Russia: The Institutional Landscape of Russian Higher Education
Palgrave Studies in Global Higher Education, 2018
In this chapter we explore the higher education institutional landscape taking the case of the largest post-Soviet higher education system: Russia. In the Post-Soviet period, Russian higher education has tremendously expanded. The dramatic growth of the number of students and institutions has been facilitated by the introduction of tuition fees in public and a new private sector. The shifts in social and economic demand for professional fields affected the disciplinary and organisational structure of higher educational institutions.The external forces (economic, political, social conditions) and higher education policy have been changing during the last decades. In the first part of the transitional period, the state provided limited regulation of the higher education system. In the 2000s, it has returned to its role of the main agent of change of the higher education system design. The diversity of institutional types that evolved in Russian higher education illustrate the conseque...
This article offers an analysis of the institutional change in the Soviet higher education system during the establishment and consolidation period of the Communist regime in the USSR. The objective of the analysis focuses on the process development, mainly on the description of the constitutive actions of the Soviet higher educational system. The approach is viewed from a neo-institutional perspective and aims at offering a palette of explanations like path dependence for the rooting, establishment and marginal adapting to context of the main organization and management relations of the Soviet higher education system in the interwar period. The arguments offered shed light on and help understand better the processes related to the failure of changes aimed at modernizing the higher education system in the Republic of Moldova after the demise of Soviet Union in 1991.