Book chapter
The State as the Driver of Competitiveness in Russian Higher Education: The Case of Project 5-100
This chapter begins with explanations of the historical transformations and peculiarities of the Soviet higher education system. It describes the Soviet government’s interpretations of university competitiveness, which have influenced the current state of the Russian higher education system. Then the chapter discusses the post-Soviet path of Russian universities in their search for balance between the de-Sovietization and Westernization of higher education. The discussion proceeds to outlining the new environment of global competition among universities, shaped by world university rankings and the rapid expansion of governmental policies in higher education. Finally, the chapter describes how the Russian government is reacting to the changing environment and the policies used to enhance higher education competitiveness. We consider, as a case study, the Russian excellence initiative in higher education – Project 5-100 – whose basic idea is that at least five Russian universities will be ranked among the world’s top 100 universities by 2020. Some lessons for future policies and questions for future research are formulated in the concluding part.
Purpose: The purpose of the work is to determine the barriers and perspective of formation of the E-healthcare system in modern Russia. Methodology: Empirical study of the process of formation of the E-healthcare system by the example of modern Russia is conducted with application of the complex of general scientific methods within the systemic approach (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, and formalization), as well as special methods of economic science-the method of SWOT analysis and the method of modeling of socio-economic systems. Results: It is determined that formation of the E-healthcare system will allow increasing the global competitiveness of the healthcare system in modern Russia due to integration of medical organizations and medical services, increase of the quality of service during provision of medical services, and increase of accessibility of medical services. A barrier on the path of formation of the E-healthcare system in Russia is insufficient development of infrastructural provision (institutional and human infrastructure). Perspectives of formation of the E-healthcare system in Russia are connected to implementation of the top-priority direction of the program of formation of digital economy "Improvement of the processes of organization of medical help on the basis implementation of information technologies". Recommendations: For overcoming the determined drawback of this direction-weakness of its conceptual platform-a conceptual model of the E-healthcare system in modern Russia is developed and presented. This model is to ensure acceleration of the process of formation of the E-healthcare system in modern Russia. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.
Two decades after transitioning from a planned to a market economy and following a decade of buoyant growth, Russia’s economy experienced a considerable setback during the economic crisis. The downturn drew attention to the fragility of Russia’s economic development model, which continues to be based on exploiting natural resources rather than vibrant entrepreneurial industries. The questions inevitably arise: What are the measures necessary to put Russia on a more stable and sustainable growth path? What steps will enable the country to make better use of its many competitive advantages—its abundance of natural resources, the size of its market, and its well-educated workforce, as well as its favorable geographical location? This discussion appears particularly timely, as Russian policymakers increasingly recognize that economic reform is necessary and have recently put modernization of the economy at the top of their agenda. Produced in collaboration with Sberbank and Strategy Partners Group, this Report assesses the country’s overall performance in terms of competitiveness using the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index and benchmarks Russia against key emerging and industrial economies across the globe. In addition, it analyzes Russia’s innovation system and suggests measures that would enable the country to make its institutional and policy environment more conducive to fostering commercial innovation. The analysis is complemented by profiles of the Russian Federation and 26 emerging and developed economies that provide for specific comparisons with Russia across over 100 variables contained in the Global Competitiveness Index.
Doctoral education has experienced dramatic changes all over the world in the last three decades. Currently, Russia is at the beginning of a doctoral education transformation to structured programs according to needs of knowledge-based economies. This paper aims to identify national-level barriers to PhD completion in Russian doctoral education. The data from the empirical study in highly selective Russian universities that participate in a special government program were employed. About 40% of all doctoral students participated in the Russian Federation study at these universities. The following problems were revealed and discussed in the research: (1) problems of transition to a structured model of doctoral education, (2) diffusion of doctoral education’s goals, (3) unpreparedness of Russian universities for the massive expansion of PhD education, (4) ineffective mechanisms of doctoral student selection, (5) a lack of funding and a need for doctoral students to have paid work, (6) excessive dependence on supervisors and (7) insufficient study time and skills for meeting the requirement for publications before the date of defence. Some problems correlate with the global challenges, but some are unique to the Russian institutional context. The relevance of the Russian case to understanding the worldwide transformation of the doctorate is discussed.
The role of the governments in the development and operation of universities in the emerging countries is being significantly transformed by the global agenda. There are a lot of evidences that governments’ aimed at the establishment of the world-class universities increase their interference in higher education systems and even in the operation of particular institutions. Governments set tasks for universities related to the accelerated increase of their global competitiveness by launching so-called excellence-initiatives in higher education. Consequently, the matter of the changing autonomy of the higher education institutions participating in excellence initiatives arises.
There are academic and expert discussions arguing that the implementation of excellence initiatives is in large degree irrelevant to national and local challenges. The question arises whether governments should specifically set national and local objectives for world-class universities, or whether the growth of global competitiveness brings benefits for national and local challenges. Through the analysis of excellence initiatives, this chapter shows that in most cases governments do not specify the objectives related to national and local contribution. This chapter presents a study that examines the implementation of the Russian excellence initiative, Project 5-100, which aims to have at least five universities participating in the project in the top 100 world rankings by 2020. This initiative ignores potential direct national and local contribution. At the same time, the experience of the Russian initiative shows that participating universities purposefully develop nationally and locally relevant activities while they move towards global competitiveness without government pressure. The chapter discusses why these objectives are interrelated.
Two decades after transitioning from a planned to a market economy and following a decade of buoyant growth, Russia’s economy experienced a considerable setback during the economic crisis. The downturn drew attention to the fragility of Russia’s economic development model, which continues to be based on exploiting natural resources rather than vibrant entrepreneurial industries. The questions inevitably arise: What are the measures necessary to put Russia on a more stable and sustainable growth path? What steps will enable the country to make better use of its many competitive advantages—its abundance of natural resources, the size of its market, and its well-educated workforce, as well as its favorable geographical location? This discussion appears particularly timely, as Russian policymakers increasingly recognize that economic reform is necessary and have recently put modernization of the economy at the top of their agenda. Produced in collaboration with Sberbank and Strategy Partners Group, this Report assesses the country’s overall performance in terms of competitiveness using the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index and benchmarks Russia against key emerging and industrial economies across the globe. In addition, it analyzes Russia’s innovation system and suggests measures that would enable the country to make its institutional and policy environment more conducive to fostering commercial innovation. The analysis is complemented by profiles of the Russian Federation and 26 emerging and developed economies that provide for specific comparisons with Russia across over 100 variables contained in the Global Competitiveness Index.