What happened to the Soviet university? / Maia Chankseliani

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chankseliani, Maia, author.

Series:

Oxford Academic

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education--Soviet Union.

Education.

Post-communism--Russia (Federation).

Post-communism.

Ethnology--Russia (Federation).

Ethnology.

Manners and customs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (208 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford Oxford University Press, [2022]

Summary:

This monograph explores how one of the largest geopolitical changes of the twentieth century-the dissolution of the Soviet Union-triggered and inspired the reconfiguration of the Soviet university. The reader is invited to engage in a historical and sociological sensemaking of radical and incremental changes affecting 69 former Soviet universities since the early 1990s. The monograph departs from traditional deficit-oriented, internalist explanations of change and illustrates how global flows of ideas, people, and finances have impacted higher education transformations in this region. It also identifies areas of persistence. The processes of marketisation, internationalisation, and academic liberation are analysed to show that universities have maintained certain traditions while adopting and internalising new ways of fulfilling their education and research functions. Soviet universities have survived chaotic processes of post-Soviet transformations and have self-stabilised with time. Most of them remain flagship institutions with large numbers of students and relatively high research productivity. At the same time, the majority of these universities operate in a top-down, one-man management environment with limited institutional autonomy and academic freedom. As the homes of intellectuals, universities represent a duality of opportunity and threat. Universities can nurture collective possibilities, imagining and bringing about a different future. At the same time, or perhaps because of this, the probability is high that universities will continue to be perceived as threats to governments with authoritarian inclinations. One message to take away from this monograph is that the time is ripe for former Soviet universities to loosen their last remaining chains.

Contents:

List of Figures

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Introduction

Post-Soviet Transformations

The Soviet University: Pre-Soviet to Post-Soviet

Methods, Evidence, Language, and Terminology

Spaces, Times, and Places

1. Anatomy of the Soviet University

The Formation of the Soviet University

Institutional Autonomy and Academic Freedom

Organisational Separation of Education and Research

Expansion of Access to Universities

International Cultural Diplomacy

2. Marketisation of Universities

Two Radical Changes

Beginnings of Marketisation

Marketisation of Universities' Educational Activities

Marketisation of Universities' Research Activities

Universities in Marketised Systems of Higher Education

3. Internationalisation of Universities

Cross-Border Flows in Higher Education

Internationalisation of Universities' Educational Activities

Internationalisation of Universities' Research Activities

Universities in Internationalised Systems of Higher Education

4. Academic Liberation

Models of University Governance

Autonomy from the State

Rector Feudalism

Academic Freedom

Functions, Missions, and Freedoms

Conclusion

Change and Continuity

Purposes and Functions

Flagship Institutions

National, International, and Global

The Future of the Past

Appendix: List of Soviet Universities

References

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description based on Publisher website; title from home page (viewed on June 03, 2022)

ISBN:

0-19-266675-4

0-19-194496-3

0-19-266674-6

OCLC:

1336405785

Publisher Number:

10.1093/oso/9780192849847.001.0001 DOI