The effects of reform on the
performance of higher education
institutions
Irina Abankina, Tatiana Abankina, Liudmila Filatova,
Elena Nikolayenko and Eduard Seroshtan
Higher School of Economics, Institute for Education Studies, Moscow,
Russian Federation
Abstract
Purpose – 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.
Design/methodology/approach – 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.
Findings – 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.
Originality/value – 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.
Keywords Russia, Universities, Higher education, Educational innovation, Educational funding,
Reforms, Budgetary and non-budgetary funding, Universities’ development strategies
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The development of Russia’s society and economy has resulted in both an expansion of
higher education and the growth of new types of higher educational institutions. There
has also been an increase in networking among such institutions and the adoption
of new regulations governing their operation. The ongoing reforms and the challenges
of social and economic development should result in more research into higher
professional education in conjunction with the effectiveness of state funding.
The urgency of such studies is dictated by the need to make well-informed decisions
in the process of the reforms in public funding allocation system for the universities,
practically worldwide. These reforms should help to overcome the effects of the
economic crisis and insufficiency of the educational system to ensure the graduates’
competitiveness on the global labour market. Considerable number of the researches is
focused on possible effective strategies during the transition towards performance
funding model. This public funding system should give a better fit for the new trends
and changes in the professional education models (Helms, 2008; Hu
¨
fner, 2003; Impact
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Received 7 October 2011
Accepted 26 October 2011
Journal of Applied Research in Higher
Education
Vol. 4 No. 1, 2012
pp. 23-41
r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2050-7003
DOI 10.1108/17581181211230612
23
Higher education
institutions