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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the changes in higher education under the new configuration of resources based on the income structure of universities located in the Central Federal District (CFD). Particular focus is given to the changes in the structure of public financing of higher education, considering the explicit priorities of increasing teaching staff salaries and promoting research. The study also assesses regional differentiation in financial resources for the maintenance of university property and the accumulation of funds from extra-budgetary sources.

Using statistical and economic analysis methods, the research reveals the main trends of structural changes in public funding of higher education in Russia as a whole, and the regional peculiarities of financial support in the universities of the CFD.

The results of this investigation of universities in the CFD point to inertia in the development of universities in the regions, and problems transitioning to new business models. Groups of universities in the region often lobby for the “previous rules of the game.” The results evidence a change in financial support from different income sources and in cost structures at the university level. These are the result of higher education reform and university support programs aimed at enhancing the academic and research capacity of the leading Russian universities and developing a competitive national education system.

A costs optimization policy has led to polarization of universities and reduced development opportunities for a significant proportion of regional universities. In order to maintain their properties in good condition, they have to make active efforts to seek non-budgetary funding sources against a fall in effective demand from the population.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the outcomes of the financial optimization process launched by the recent reforms in the Russian higher education sector and its impact on access to higher education, its quality and competitiveness within the sector. The study of the economic performance of higher educational institutions includes complex analysis of financial and educational components of their structural dynamics and their impact on their development strategy.

The methods used in the study of the segmentation of the higher education sector involve a combination of theoretical developments in economics and the modeling of the economic behavior of universities on the market for educational services, procedures for the evaluation of transaction costs in the markets with asymmetric information and recent conceptions of the interrelation of factors affecting quality and accessibility of higher education.

In this paper, the economic potential of Russian universities is considered, making use of a segmentation of the higher education sector, based on sampling of state and municipal higher education institutions from different industry groups, depending on their development strategy under changing social and economic conditions. The research data for 2006‐2009 help to define five clusters of the higher educational establishments with different approaches towards public funding and different strategies.

Based on the research data, the paper evaluates the current situation in the Russian higher education sector and some skewed structures of the reforms and outlines some policy implications.

This paper aims to fill the gap in social sciences research on parents’ strategies in navigating preschool education in Russia. It focusses on the barriers that children with developmental disabilities and autism face in preschool education in Russia and highlights the emerging facilitators of inclusive education.

It uses a modified labelling approach analysing strategies of withdrawal and resistance. The research included semi-structured interviews with parents of children with Down syndrome, Rett syndrome and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in 2013–2014 and 2018–2019 and semi-structured interviews with professionals in Tatarstan, Russia. The data analysis was based on constructivist methods and grounded theory.

Although Russian law guarantees equal access to education for every child and requires the development of inclusive education, children with developmental disabilities, including autism, are often stigmatised at the preschool stage, both in special needs and mainstream institutions. Parents use various strategies to navigate access to preschool education and try more than one strategy from secrecy and withdrawal to resistance. Parents challenged the mainstream educational structures in Kazan and established groups for children with autism in some mainstream kindergartens and classes in mainstream schools.

There should be informational support for parents with different options for special needs education, providing integrative and inclusive education. It is necessary to increase the number of trained specialists in special needs and mainstream kindergartens in Russia for children with developmental disabilities and ASD. More study is required to overcome stigmatisation and increase tolerance towards persons with developmental disabilities in Russia both on a national and local level.

The research findings can be useful for countries which have recently recognised ASD and do not have inclusive preschool educational practices and where labelling towards children with developmental disabilities is still common. The study recommends that resources are required to provide free or affordable preschool education for children with developmental disabilities. It is also crucial to help parents navigate preschool education and select the best options for each child’s needs.

This study’s findings add value to the importance of addressing the stigma towards people with disabilities within professional groups and broader society, which form barriers for preschool education and in some cases result in withdrawal from preschool education. To overcome the stigmatisation of children with developmental disabilities in preschool education, it is necessary to establish modern targeted pedagogical approaches and training for professionals and informational campaigns for the broader audience.

The paper is novel as there was no sociological research into preschool education of children with developmental disabilities in Russia. It argues that the parents’ experiences are much broader than just interactions with special needs or mainstream education. Parents navigate across special needs institutions, specialised groups in mainstream and private kindergartens, mixed groups in mainstream kindergartens and home education with various strategies from secrecy and withdrawal to resistance and challenge. Preschool education for children with developmental disabilities in Russia is hindered by a lack of professional resources and the stigma embedded into professional and societal responses.

Economic problems of the system of education were the object of interest of classics of economic science – A. Smith and A. Marshall – who viewed education as a source of public capital, and acquired skills and competences – as a part of national wealth. These ideas were further developed in the theory of human capital by T. Schultz, G.S. Becker, G. Psacharopoulos, P. Teixeira, and R. Solow. At that, specifics of modernization economic processes in the sphere of education, peculiarities of modern functional and financial state require conceptual consideration and provision of development of working mechanism of effectiveness of spending assets of endowment funds. The purpose of this paper is to determine the mechanism of effectiveness of spending assets of endowment funds on the basis of mathematical models.

The paper offers a mechanism of determination of effectiveness of spending of endowment funds.

Effectiveness of an endowment fund’s effectiveness depends on the results of fund-raising activities, supporting relations with donators, and financing of targeted programs and directions of activities. This information is key information during the determination of results of endowment fund’s activities for current and potential donators. That is why it should provide reports in the order of formation of endowment, received revenue from trust management, and direction of usage of revenues from endowment, for which a donator has given his assets, on a regular basis.

In the modern system of higher education, the issue of search for new sources of financing for the purpose of improvement of quality of education and educational process, growth of wages of academic staff, attraction of foreign lecturers and specialists with practical experience of work from various spheres of production, and increase of stipends of the best students remains actual. The paper offers a mechanism of determination of effectiveness of spending of endowment funds.