This article analyzes the effects of «new managerialism» on the results of scientific research in universities. New managerialism implies decision-making based on quantitative indicators. This paper summarizes the international and Russian approaches to the assessment of scientific achievements at universities. It analyzes instruments for fostering scientific productivity, such as contracts with the faculty and the formation of centers of excellence, to identify the advantages and limitations of tools currently used at Russian research universities. Our analysis of international literature showed that evaluation of research results is becoming more complex as it is conducted regularly, not annually. The contract system indirectly affects the results of research but does not contain any strict quantitative requirements. Centers of excellence, which receive additional funding to accelerate the production of scientific knowledge, achieve this goal in most cases, but this system does not automatically create the Matthew effect. The article analyzes the specific characteristics of new managerialism in Russian universities by using the example of a program aimed at the creation of laboratories led by prominent scientists, the Project 5-100, and the system of contracts with the faculty. The study has revealed that these tools have contributed to the increase in publication activity. However, there are indications that this growth has reached its limits. Prospects of further development can reside in the use of a wider range of indicators to characterize the impact of scientific results on social and economic development and in increasing the share of long-term contracts.

The aim of the study is to estimate the effect of the Russian academic excellence project (Project 5-100) on the publication activity of the University of Tyumen, measured by the number of articles published in journals indexed in the Web of Science database. The hypothesis of the research is that there is a positive causal relationship between the number of published articles and the University’s participation in Project 5-100. This impact was estimated empirically for the University of Tyumen while the other university participants (31 universities) were taken as a control group. Counterfactual scenarios are used to find the number of articles that the university employees would have published in the absence of Project 5-100. Thus, it is shown that, despite the failure to meet the goal of entering the top 200 of world universities in the ranking for ecology and agricultural biology, the University of Tyumen benefited from its participation in Project 5-100: its number of publications, especially in journals of the first and second quartile, has been growing faster than in the control group of universities.

This research analyzes the functions of university think-tanks from the perspective of the Chinese government, in particular their role in generating knowledge for governmental decision-making. It also reveals the achievements and problems of the development model of Chinese university think-tanks. Methodologically, this study relies on analysis and interpretation of the key policy documents of the Chinese government, the public information of some university think-tanks and the research results and data of professional think-tank research institutions. The study found that the Chinese government is trying to incorporate university think-tanks into the «Holistic Knowledge» production link and thus turn them into professional decision-making knowledge supply institutions. As a result, Chinese university think-tanks will perform the role of t bridges between academic knowledge production and generation of knowledge for the government’s decision-making, ensuring the necessary flexibility between these two processes. However, the drawback of such policy is that it limits the autonomy of university think-tanks and their social influence.

Massification, digitalization and bureaucratization are now the major trends that shape higher education. Massification has led to an inevitable problem of the heterogeneity of students and the need for adaptive learning; digitalization has created a need for distance learning technologies and, as a result, learning data production; finally, bureaucratization has meant that the education quality assessment now predominantly relies on quantitative rather than qualitative indicators. At the crossing of these trends, a new research interest has emerged, which develops both theoretical and practically oriented studies and which has become known as learning analytics. Learning analytics is now actively discussed in Western countries, where national policies to regulate and stimulate this sphere are designed and professional associations of specialists in learning analytics are created. Proponents of learning analytics believe that the data collected and analyzed by an education institution will help the management take more justified and objective decisions than those based on expert opinions. Learning analytics is understood in this paper as a necessary tool for detecting the weak sides of the curricula. It also helps build students’ individual learning trajectories, which is essential for an individualized approach in education and for making the learning process more adaptive. Opponents of learning analytics, in their turn, see it as a threat to the current balance of power in education, the roles of the teacher and manager, and point out the need for specific competencies and the danger of personal data breach. Russia is now left out of the global agenda: except for a few recent cases, learning analytics is still viewed by many as more of a promise than reality. This review is aimed at shedding light on the modern understanding of learning analytics, its development in the world and in Russia, the prospects and limitations of its application in Russia from the perspective of the key stakeholders in higher education. We also propose recommendations regarding the organization of a university learning analytics system. This article will be of interest to university managers and decision-makers, teachers and scholars of higher education as it provides information on the organization of a data management system, including the collection, analysis and use of data.

This article discusses the results of a field study conducted in 2019 at Tomsk State University (TSU) and Tyumen State University (TyumSU).

The purpose of the study is to investigate the motivations behind educators’ choice of their profession and the aspects they say as its advantages and disadvantages.

Methodologically, the study is based on 43 in-depth interviews with lecturers of TSU and TyumSU. These universities are located in Siberian cities and are among the group of the leading higher education institutions in Russia.

The study shows that the lecturers associate the benefits of work at the university with the opportunities provided by the ‘5-100 Project’ to attain the world standards; good working conditions; prestige of work at a reputable university; stability of university employment; feeling of belonging to the academic; and so on.

Most educators are dissatisfied with such aspects of university work as bureaucratization; redundancies; short-term contracts; the lack of transparency and inefficiency in funds distribution; and irregular working hours.

We found that despite some divergence of views, the faculty of the TSU and TyumSU share a lot of opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of university work. Thus, the cases of the two Siberian universities provide us with the insights into a larger picture of the Russian system of higher education.

These findings can be useful for HR services of universities for recruiting and retaining personnel.

The article discusses state support for universities implementing lifelong education programs for adults in 2019 under the federal project «New Opportunities for Everyone». The aim of research was to identify the pattern of synergies between the outcomes of universities’ participation in the project and conditions for the development of the lifelong education system in regions. We compared the data on the scale of lifelong education and of the project’s funding with the socio-economic indicators of the Russian regions.

The study showed that state subsidies for higher education institutions encourage them to further increase the scale of adult education by raising co-funding from the real sector of the economy. To develop lifelong education and raise non-public funds, universities are actively using their previously acquired experience of interacting with employers. Universities that develop programs of additional vocational training most actively are those that are least focused on research activities. At the same time, universities’ willingness to participate in the federal project shows their interest in attracting new student audience. Our correlation analysis has revealed a relationship between the results of the federal project and socio-economic indicators of Russian regions.

The article offers recommendations for enhancing the efficiency of the federal project and for stimulating the development of lifelong learning system at universities with a focus on the needs of regional economies.

This article aims to present a critical and reflective analysis of modern practices of the student representation bodies that have institutional influence on decision-making of universities or the government. The article first describes different traditions of understanding student representation in the context of student politics and its links with student activism, political socialization, elections. Then we consider different approaches to understanding of student representation as a part of a higher education system (types and forms of interaction between students, on the one hand, and universities and governments, on the other hand). Finally, traditions of researching the practices of student representative bodies in different groups of countries (Anglo-Saxon countries, developing countries of Global South, and continental Europe) are discussed. The following section contains a critical analysis of the current research of student representation, its advantages (developed conceptual framework and limited geographic traditions of qualitative research as well as connection with political science in the electoral context) and disadvantages (insufficient empirical, positivistic focus; uneven geographical prevalence; lack of research focus on the «frontier» of the concepts of student representation and student activism). Then potential future areas of research are outlined, including the diversification of methodology (empirical quantitative methods) and geographical coverage (the post-Soviet space and key countries of East Asia) as well as refinements of the theoretical apparatus and a more detailed consideration of the connection between the practices of student representation and student activism. The originality and value of the article lies in the fact that despite the gradual increase in the popularity of student representation as a research topic in the last two decades, this topic remains largely underexplored in Russia, and the novel conceptual and methodological approaches proposed in this article should spur further studies.

This article discusses the problems and prospects of university-enterprise cooperation in the sphere of engineer training, in particular the phenomenon of ‘base departments’. The article focuses on the case of the Aeronautical Engineering Department of the Don State Technical University, whose purpose is to train engineering staff for the partner aerospace enterprise PAO Rostvertol.

The study draws from the empirical data collected through the sociological survey of the Department’s faculty and students as well as the partner enterprise’s employees (graduates) and managers. Methodologically and conceptually, the study relies on the systemic approach, stakeholder theory, theory of competencies and the method of situation analysis. We sought to evaluate the sufficiency and relevance of the hard and soft skills that students developed during their studies at the Department. It is shown that the Department has managed to provide its students and graduates with a sufficient level of hard and soft skills to enhance their employability in aeronautical engineering. The Department uses a dual education system, which combines work-based learning with theoretical courses. In future, it is planned to expand this system and maximize student engagement by encouraging students to do their individual research projects at the partner enterprise.

The research findings may be used to develop strategies of university-enterprise cooperation and to assess the efficiency of the training process.