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The purpose of this paper is to analyse critically the Russian Academic Excellence Initiative (the Project 5-100), designed to propel five leading Russian universities into world university rankings (WURs) by 2020, and research it through the lens of neoliberalism. The paper seeks to reveal recurrent discourses and dominant orders of discourse constituting the overall concept of “excellence” in Russian higher education (HE) policy.

Since the Project 5-100 has been designed in line with a neoliberal model of academic excellence initiatives, emphasising “competition as a driver of excellence” (Hazelkorn, 2009), Fairclough’s approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA) has been adopted as a qualitative research method. There is no universally accepted definition of “excellence” in HE policy; therefore, this CDA also aims at revealing the Russian government’s vision of the concept and its voice in HE policy.

The paper concludes that the government reinforces neoliberal discourse on the HE agenda and transforms the 5-100 Universities’ identities through emphasising the role of WURs in modernising the HE system. Consequently, within the neoliberal paradigm, the Project 5-100 can be regarded as a manifestation of the commodification of “excellence” in Russian HE policy.

This research intends to broaden knowledge of excellence initiatives in HE policy and reveal their features and neoliberal natures. It also seeks to contribute in terms of showcasing a qualitative study of the Project 5-100 for future comparative analyses of similar HE policies.

Higher education/higher learning is an activity and experience (academic in scope, socializing in character) organized and structured in institutes, funded and regulated by authorities (state/private). It is an activity that helps to mold people who make up society, fostering societal development on the base of intellectual enterprise, scholarly work, and inquiry. We face the challenge of understanding higher education. Our discussion is not only directed toward professional educators, but also urges reconsideration of Russian higher education among the broad spectrum of social processes and developments following the decline of state socialism in Russia.

The export of Russian educational services worldwide was not considered by the Russian Government as a full-fledged economic sector until recently. However, the situation has changed since the early 2000s, when in 2002, the Russian Government approved the national strategy for higher education promotion abroad and since then has been actively working on development of incentives and measures to support Russian universities to better market themselves in a global competitive market place of higher education. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this paper, the authors use a systematic approach to analyze different instruments for promoting higher education services abroad, consider the current state of this issue in Russia and look at what difficulties may arise at various levels when the state attempts to implement its strategy.

They are formulated as a set of marketing activities at different levels (national, regional and institutional), allowing a more advantage positioning of Russian universities in the global environment.

This paper focuses on the development of a marketing strategy for universities in a dynamic setting. The urgency of the problem is determined by the fact that today universities have to deal with a number of challenges: the reduced funding; increased competition at the regional, national and global markets; the growth of the importance of international and national rankings; and demographic and social challenges. Effective positioning in the global market place can be viewed as a source of new opportunities, as well as a challenge, not easy to master in some cases.

The paper scrutinizes strategies for the promotion of Russian universities to increase effectiveness of their positioning and create for them comfortable conditions for development in the world markets of educational services. The topic of marketing of educational services worldwide for a post-Soviet country is not an issue commonly addressed in the literature today.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current problems and the main perspectives of the development of state regulation of the Russian system of higher education in the context of the provision of Russia’s national security.

The research of formation of the system of national security in Russia and the problems of the development of education is based on the methods of Russian and foreign Institutionalists (D. North, S.G. Kirdina, R.M. Nureev, Y.V. Latov, etc.). The research is also based on the theory of inequality in the system of education (D.L. Konstantinovsky), the idea of cultural aspects of social inequality (Pierre Bourdieu) and the theory that connects the problem of the development of the educational system with the system of national security and social inequalities (A.V. Vereshchagina, S.I. Samygina, etc.).

The modern state and perspectives of state regulation of higher education in the modern Russian conditions are analyzed in this paper. A complex analysis of risks of the modern state of Russia’s educational system is performed, and educational inequality as a risk to national security is studied in this paper. Perspectives of state regulation of higher education in view of the national model of socio-economic activities and principles of national security are viewed in this paper. The main directions of improving the educational system in the context of the provision of national security of the state are given in this paper.

The results of the research could be used for correcting the main directions of Russia’s socio-economic policy in the long term. The central trend of this policy is the reformation of the development of the sphere of education as a factor of the formation of the system of Russia’s national security.

The results of the research could be used for correcting the main directions of Russia’s socio-economic policy in the long term. The central trend of this policy is the reformation of the development of the sphere of education as a factor of formation of the system of Russia’s national security.

The ideas of the research could stimulate the reconsideration and harmonization of perspectives of the development of social policy of the state, which includes the interaction of the development of higher education and system of national security.

Originality of this paper consists in setting the problem of the implementation of social senses of the development of state policy in the sphere of higher education into the discourse of theoretical and practical consideration of the problems of national security.

The aim of the current article is to discuss the role of the Bologna process in enabling quality of educational change, internationalisation and greater mobility using an example case study of a Russian university. Some discussion is provided to offer insights and inform future research and practice.

The authors highlight some of the quality issues associated with the Bologna process and reflect on how the statements underpin quality of learning and mobility in a European higher education area (EHEA) context. They explore some of the issues raised from the documentation and examine some early experiences and challenges from a leading Russian university as part of a wider examination of higher education in a Russian context.

The Bologna Declaration was signed in 1999 by 29 European countries. The Declaration became the guiding document for the Bologna process which is now being implemented by 47 (inclusive) EU and non‐EU countries. In Russia, Bologna did not begin well and was originally resisted by employers and universities several years ago. It has recently been started again but it is still in its early stages, as Bologna is only now being implemented more fully. Nevertheless, there are issues around the two cycle system and diploma certificates. Recognition from some employers is also still an issue but less so than before. However, specialist auditing agencies can also be used in conjunction with the universities to assure quality and reassure employers going forward. There is also a strong recognition that Russian higher educational institutions have come a long way in a short space of time in terms of quality and process development.

Whilst the research is limited to one case and is essentially qualitative and exploratory, the integrated analysis and discussion still provides useful insight and reflection concerning key issues as a consequence of recently implementing the Bologna process within the Russian educational system.

The purpose of this article is to analyze main principles, forms and approaches to education quality evaluation in the process of establishment, development and crucial changes in the state accreditation of educational institutions and study programmes in Russian higher education in the last 20 years.

The major research method used in the paper is the qualitative analysis of legal and statistical documents, research papers and accreditation practices, which impacted the development and transformation of accreditation forms in Russia.

The transformation process of state accreditation during the last 20 years was conditioned by the changes in the state education policy and socio-economic situation. In a short period, under the influence of internal and external factors, Russian higher education has experienced significant changes in the structure of higher education and quality assurance. This resulted in different approaches to accreditation: state and independent, mandatory and voluntary, national and international.

The research outcomes may be applicable in the countries with developing accreditation systems and comparable scope of education.

The study identifies the tendencies in the development of higher education and quality evaluation.

The paper systematizes the tendencies of development in quality assurance and distinguishes specific features and diversity of forms of the quality assurance in one of the largest systems of higher education.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of demographic, social, economic and international aspects on the market of university services in Russia. It also reminds readers briefly of the evolution of the Russian higher education system during the last 20 years and considers some consequences of the current public policy and reforms in this sector.

The paper provides a qualitative analysis of the marketing environment of Russian universities.

The results show that it is urgent for Russian universities to think and innovate about their marketing strategies to better position themselves in the educational market that has greatly changed throughout the transition period. International competition, demographic decrease, change in age structure and consumer behavior and preferences are those trends that create new challenges.

Public policy in higher education needs to be improved also to enable better equity across territory and different universities.

After a drastic drop in the public funding during the 1990s (from 9.6 percent of GDP in 1986 to 3.5 percent in 1990), the higher education sector in Russia is still “struggling for survival.” In spite of the increase in funding in the year 2000, public support is distributed unequally across universities, 40 universities being distinguished among more than 1,100 other existing institutions. For those institutions that are not supported by the State, an efficient marketing strategy helps to keep the pace and continue to exist and offer educational programs. In order to ensure a wide access to higher education throughout the whole territory and to let some institutions to continue to work, it is urgent to rethink and reinforce marketing research in education.

The paper is an original study of the market for higher education services in Russia.

This chapter sheds light on long-term trends in the level and structural dynamics of investments in Russian human capital formation from government, corporations, and households. It contributes to the literature discussing theoretical issues and empirical patterns of modernization, human development, as well as the transition from a centralized to a market economy. The empirical evidence is based on extensive utilization of the dataset introduced in Didenko, Földvári, and Van Leeuwen (2013). Our findings provide support for the view expressed in Gerschenkron (1962) that in late industrializers the government tended to substitute for the lack of capital and infrastructure by direct interventions. At least from the late nineteenth century the central government's and local authorities' budgets played the primary role. However, the role of nongovernment sources increased significantly since the mid-1950s, i.e., after the crucial breakthrough to an industrial society had been made. During the transition to a market economy in the 1990s and 2000s the level of government contributions decreased somewhat in education, and more significantly in research and development, but its share in overall financing expanded. In education corporate funds were largely replaced by those from households. In health care, Russia is characterized by an increasing share of out-of-pocket payments of households and slow development of organized forms of nonstate financing. These trends reinforce obstacles to Russia's future transition, as regards institutional change toward a more significant and sound role of the corporate sector in such branches as R&D, health care, and, to a lesser extent, education.

Are education systems converging toward a global model of teacher education or do local models tend to predominate in spite of attempts to reform them? How much do global, national, and local cultures shape and condition future teachers’ opportunities to learn to teach? How do these opportunities influence teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge? In this chapter we use data from the IEA’s first study of the effectiveness of pre-service teacher education in order to investigate teacher education policy, program structure, and outcomes. Using multilevel modeling we found that across countries individual characteristics have a similar and powerful influence on what future teachers come to know at the end of their pre-service programs. The effects of teacher education curriculum on future teachers’ mathematics pedagogical content knowledge reaffirm the prevalence of local cultures on the implementation of an increasingly globalized ideal. We conclude that while the provision of teacher education shares many common features in goals and structure across countries, it is strongly influenced by local conditions and norms, and by cultural notions of the knowledge that is considered essential – framing how quality is to be defined and operationalized – when learning to teach.