Universities as Subjects of Scientific Law

The article analyzes the legal problems of the integration of science and education, offers an assessment of various organizational forms of integration of science and higher education over the past 30 years. The main provisions, stages of implementation and the results of the implementation of various scientific and educational state programs are studied, statistical data are provided that emphasize the increase in the volume of scientific activities carried out in educational organizations (higher educational institutions). The authors investigate the status of educational organizations as subjects of scientific law, emphasize the imperfection of Russian educational legislation regarding the differentiation of educational institutions of higher education and scientific organizations. The article focuses on the study of the positive and negative consequences of the introduction of a new category of higher educational institutions – flagship universities. After analyzing the problems of legal regulation of flagship universities, the authors come to the conclusion that the logical conclusion of the reform of flagship universities can be the establishment of the status of flagship universities in the legislation on education and a clear separation of flagship and federal universities.

VOLGSTU GRADUATE ASSOCIATION: DEBUT IN A PANDEMIC BACKGROUND

Alumni associations are a relatively new phenomenon for Russia, typical, as a rule, for large metropolitan universities with a long history, rich traditions and extensive international relations. In recent years, alumni associations have begun to appear in regional universities. The authors analyze the situation with the development of alumni associations in the flagship universities of the country and in the universities of Volgograd (the chronology and forms of activity are considered). The article summarizes the results of Volgograd State Technical University Alumni Association's first year. Plans, goals and tasks for the further development of the VolgSTU Alumni Association have been developed. The authors show that the dynamic formation of alumni associations can be promising for regional universities as well, serving as platforms for the interaction of regional elites, centres of strategic decisions for regional development and providing communication between generations of alumni.

Russian Flagship Universities’ Incomes: Dynamics and Tendencies

This research article aims at identifying the impact of establishing flagship universities on the dynamics and structure of their income. The study is based on analyzing the growth rate of total income and income per 1 scientific and pedagogical worker in 2019–2020 as compared to 2015 reference year (taking inflation into account), together with finding out changes in the share of off-budget revenues, revenues from research and development work. There are used standard techniques of descriptive statistics, paired Student’s t-test for related samples, Mann-Whitney U-test, and cluster analysis. The total income of all flagship universities has grown, but, however, show deeper differentiation. The group of leaders have increased their revenues by 0,5–1,0 billion rubles in 2015 prices, but a number of universities face stagnated or declining income. The COVID-19 pandemic has had little or no impact on income differentiation and dyna mics. The by-income stratification per 1 scientific and pedagogical worker is lower, which indicates a personnel decrease in a number of clusters with stable or declining income. Neither institution’s joining the first or the second wave of flagship universities nor the availability of special federal funding has a statistically significant relationship with income dynamics. At the same time, the majority of flagship universities get the same stable share of income from research activities and did not decrease their dependence on the budget system. This indicates either the absence of major chan gesor the simultaneous growth of income from research activities and additional funding like federal programs, projects, grants. Not all flagship universities have been able to increase revenues, so the leaders’ experience requires further analysis. The results of the study may possibly be of interest for managers of both flagship and other categories of universities, as well as for those who are going to substantiate management decisions within the latest Priority-2030 program.

The Organizational Ecology of State Support for Public Flagship Universities

Background/Context: Several studies have investigated state political and economic factors that explain differences in levels of state appropriations for colleges and universities. Few studies have considered how stakeholder beliefs or taken-for-granted assumptions about various institutions may impact budgeting decisions for specific campuses. A gap in the literature remains in understanding how normative agreements about various institutional types—such as public flagship universities—may influence levels of state appropriations for these institutions. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study investigates how levels of state support for research universities might relate to their formal, informal, or even contested status as public flagship institutions. The research question guiding this study is: How might flagship identity relate to differences in levels of state appropriations for public research universities across states? Research Design: This multicase study examines differences in levels of state support for four flagship universities between 1984 and 2004. Case institutions were generated from an analysis of outlier institutions that received lower- or higher-than-predicted levels of appropriations during the two-decade period. Outliers analyzed for this study include the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and University of Virginia (lower-than-predicted support) and the University of Connecticut and the University of Maryland-College Park (higher-than-predicted support). Qualitative data were collected and analyzed to investigate disparities in state support among these four institutions. Findings/Results: This study found that a “flagship ideal” exists across the four cases, which provides meaning for stakeholders as they consider levels of state funding for these institutions. Idealized views of flagships provided advantages to some institutions and disadvantaged others in state budgeting processes during the study period. In addition, normative beliefs about the case institutions were mediated by state culture, politics, and powerful regional influences. Higher education governance structure was less important than cultural and political context in making sense of variations in state support across the institutions. Conclusions/Recommendations: The study suggests that flagship university leaders must be mindful about taken-for-granted assumptions held by key stakeholders and resource providers as they create appeals for state support. Across all institutional types, leaders must be attuned to the historical, cultural, economic, or political factors that shape understandings about their institutions. In addition, leaders must evaluate the influence of allies or foes in shaping the narrative about the institution’s unique identity and need for funding. Strategic leaders leverage their institutional identities and unique governing arrangements in ways that expand resource opportunities.

Professional self-determination of youth in the context of socio-economic reality

The main factors influencing the professional self-determination of university entrants and students are analyzed, the dynamics of the integration processes of universities with the domestic labor market is traced. Theauthors of the article tried to assess the competence status of a university graduate, which affects its implementation in the labor market. The problem of revising the criteria for assessing the quality of educational services within the framework of regulatory guillotine is comprehended. The article analyzes the effectiveness of creation and functioning of flagship universities, their potential in creating real competition for the capital's educational institutions due to the ability to provide regional labor markets with qualified scientific and professional personnel, in demand for solving the problem of developing a particular subject of the federation. The problems of conjugation of Federal state standards of higher education and professional standards, resulting from an insufficiently coordinated approach to the classification of areas of professional activity, are considered. The need to strengthen the connection between educational institutions and the real sector of the economy is emphasized. According to the authors, one of the aspects of solving this problem is the participation of employersboth in the development of professional standards and in the preparation of educational programs, in order tomaintain the composition of competencies in an up-to-date state that meets the real needs of employers.

Integration of Science and Education in Universities of the Regions: Multichannel Funding and Different Organization Models

Integration of science, higher education, innovative entrepreneurship contributes to the solution of topical problems caused by global challenges. The article shows that universities integrate scientific, educational, innovative activities both within their structural units and in cooperation with other participants in regional innovative systems. The aim is to identify the trends in multichannel funding of universities in the regions, which creates the conditions for the integration of educational and research activities, and summarize the experience of universities that have created strategic academic units (SAUs) as one of the forms of integrating science and higher education. Based on the statistical analysis of financial receipts to universities from various sources in 2015 and 2019 (form VPO_2), the trends and structure of the funding distribution by type of educational and research activities in the regions of the Russian Federation were compared. It has been revealed that educational activities dominate in universities, accounting for about 70% of all income, and research activities 12–13%. Regional cases of the universities (ITMO, NNU, TSU, NSU, SFU) were analyzed. They integrated science and education in the form of SAUs. The cases were prepared on the basis of a content analysis of roadmaps for the period 2016–2020, interviews, and other open information. The analysis has showed that the organizational model of each SAU is created on the basis of the uniqueness and competitiveness of the university’s scientific and educational specialization by mechanisms that ensure the integration of the educational process and research activities through the involvement of students, graduate students in research and innovative projects. It is concluded that the flexibility and versatility of training programs and research at the university in the SAU format is formed in cooperation with many participants in regional innovation systems, which leads to the demand for its services by enterprises in the regions of the European part of the country and Siberia. The synergy of educational, research and innovation activities is achieved within the framework of both one university and through its network interaction with other Russian and international universities, scientific organizations, and enterprises. The experience of creating SAUs can be used by regional administrations, corporations in the development of world-class scientific and educational centers within the framework of the Science national project and national research and flagship universities of the strategic academic leadership program.

Strategic academic leadership programs in Russia: Past and future

The article discusses the projects aimed to develop the national higher education system: “5-100” supporting regional flagship universities and the “Priority 2030” program, as well as the problems of their implementation and opportunities for participating universities to improve their results in terms of ensuring the constitutional right of the citizens for affordable and quality education. It has become evident that although the concentration of resources in the group of leading universities contributes to their entry into prestigious international academic rankings, it widens the gap between them and the bulk of other universities as regards the infrastructure, procurement and human resourcing that deteriorates the development of the educational system as a whole. The authors emphasize the necessity to consider the experience of implementing the “5-100” project in the future, in particular, when carrying out the “Priority 2030” project launched in 2021. The authors outline positive aspects of this project which can facilitate the development mechanisms for the regions in the Russian Federation as a result of the government funding and the creation of consortia with leading universities. The article also covers the key points during the tendering procedures of the Priority 2030 project, which in the future can play a significant role in the process of implementation of development programs for individual universities. The authors conclude that the use of the “5-100” project experience can improve the performance of the entire system of the national higher education.