European Scales and Institutional Transformation in Russian Higher Education

Abstract

We have analyzed how integration into the European education space affects the Russian higher education system. Two common European trends have been studied as driving forces of transformation: 1) institutional differentiation based on introducing the multi-level education system and 2) reform of the relationship between the higher education and the mass public. It appears that the multi-level system is implemented in Russian higher education through a State-initiated vertical differentiation of higher education institutions based on their research and development achievements and through a concentration of resources in a limited number of leading universities. We believe that an institutional differentiation like that, with different program levels, discards some crucial points: heterogeneity in the group of leading universities that get the pre-emption right to implement Master’s programs; inherent heterogeneity of individual higher education institutions that may have both high R&D potential departments and mass-market oriented ones; the  danger of inhibiting the enthusiasm of universities by imposing rigid limitations on their activities, while Master’s degrees remain merely a source of profit for them. We are convinced that no consistent cooperation between employers and higher education in Russia is explained by the fact that, being guided by the Bologna Process principles, higher education outstripped employers by developing educational standards long before most industries adopted their occupational standards. We have singled out four models of  university activities in the context of higher education system transformation: 1) research university, 2) system integration university, 3) regional integration university, and 4) human resource construction university.