In Search of the Status of an Educational Great Power? Analysis of Russia’s Educational Diplomacy Discourse

Mäkinen, Sirke

doi:10.1080/10758216.2016.1172489

Cited by 26 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(18 reference statements)

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“…Below, I argue that Russia's eagerness to have Russian universities ranked in global university rankings should first be understood as the seeking of recognition for its educational great power status from the West/leaders in the global education market (see also Mäkinen 2016;Mäkinen 2021). In the context of Russia's search for recognition (Neumann 2005(Neumann , 2013Clunan 2009;Smith 2014;Tsygankov 2014;Kiseleva 2015), this could help us to understand why Russia and Russian universities strive for inclusion in the global university rankings.…”

Section: The Russian Discourse On Rankingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global university rankings and Russia's quest for national sovereignty

Mäkinen

2021

Comparative Education

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Why have regimes and societies that would otherwise argue for their distinctiveness and sovereign decision-making caught 'ranking fever' in HE? Why are they willing to give up their sovereignty in the field of HE, and why do they accept the requirement of homogeneity to succeed in global university rankings? This paradox is explored in the case of Russia. The ranking discourse is analysed at the national and institutional levels using interviews, documents, and media materials. The impetus to 'internationalise' education and research, and the aspiration to be globally ranked, is explained using the status, neoliberal competition and state control frames. These conflict with 'nationalisation' part of the discourse, manifested in the resistance to global university rankings and the debates surrounding a Moscow-based ranking. These debates confirm that there is a willingness to internationalise and integrate Russian HE into the neoliberal model of HE on Russia's terms in preference to self-isolation.

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Section: The Russian Discourse On Rankingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global university rankings and Russia's quest for national sovereignty

Mäkinen

2021

Comparative Education

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“…In the 1990s, internationalization was driven by the desire of some policymakers and some educators "to dismantle the Soviet legacy and bring schools into line with European and American practices" (Eklof, 2005: 1-2), though sometimes educational ideas and practices learned from the West were not actually implemented, but only imitated in Russia (Johnson, 2010: 7). In the early 21st century, instead of "learning from the West," Russian educators started speaking of "Russian educational diplomacy" (Mäkinen, 2016), but internationalization of education continued nevertheless, though with a different rationale. Dmitry Livanov, Russian Minister of Education between 2012-2016, perceived internationalization as a means of both Russian science and education to stay abreast of its foreign competitors (Guriev et al, 2009), while his successor Mikhail Kotyukov, who served in 2018-2020, was known for having encouraged the best scholars from abroad to work at Russian research centres and universities (TASS, 2018).…”

Section: Internationalization As An Integral Part Of Russian Educatio...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fear of Brain Drain: Russian Academic Community on Internationalization of Education

Lanko

2021

Journal of Studies in International Education

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Emigration of skilled and able from Russia markedly increased in mid-2010s, thus pushing multiple Russian scholars to reassess the phenomenon, its definition, scope, consequences, and causes. This article found that the nexus between brain drain and internationalization of education plays an important role in the debate. By means of analysis of the texts of scholarly articles in Russian academic journals and of the transcripts of interviews with Russian educators directly involved in internationalization of education, this study found that despite most representatives of Russian academic community perceive emigration as a concern for the nation, they simultaneously view it as a perfect choice for an individual, who is skilled and able. The ambivalent perception of brain drain creates the situation, when some Russian academics justify their resistance to internationalization with assumption that it causes brain drain, whereas some others by word and deed support internationalization as a means to curb emigration. In the context of controversial educational reforms underway in Russia since 1990s, such perception helped internationalization survive as a target of the reforms, despite their overall course reversed in 2010s compared with 1990s.

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“…9 The expected result, to be achieved by 2020, is for at least five universities from the list of 21 project participants to enter the top 100 of the internationally recognized rankings: the Times Higher Education, Quacquarelli Symonds, and Academic Ranking of World Universities. The promotion of the higher-education sector has become an element of public diplomacy and a symbol of Russia's international status (Mäkinen 2016). There are also a number of channels that in theory facilitate the diffusion of knowledge between academia and the state.…”

Section: The State's Contradictory Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Academic Community and Policymaking in Russia

Kaczmarska

2018

Problems of Post-Communism

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This paper is concerned with the role of International Relations (IR) expertise and the academia-policy nexus in contemporary Russia. Drawing on interviews with Russia-based scholars, it posits that while there exist formal channels of knowledge diffusion between academia and the state, there is no clear-cut relationship between knowledge produced in academia and the uses of this knowledge by the state. Scholars' attitudes towards policy impact, while generally skeptical, span a broad spectrum. Some are convinced that achieving impact is impossible, some declare unwillingness to interact with the policymaking world, while others find providing expert advice difficult but possible under certain conditions.

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In Search of the Status of an Educational Great Power? Analysis of Russia’s Educational Diplomacy Discourse

Cited by 26 publications

References 31 publications

Global university rankings and Russia's quest for national sovereignty

Global university rankings and Russia's quest for national sovereignty

Fear of Brain Drain: Russian Academic Community on Internationalization of Education

Academic Community and Policymaking in Russia

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