Investment in development: priorities of Russian universities

Abstract

The determination of development priorities is an important component of university management. It is necessary to distinguish between declared priorities and actual ones. The declared priorities reflect the current political and intellectual conjuncture, while the real ones manifest the actual balance of players’ power inside and outside the university and the beliefs of leaders about what is important for the university. The real priorities are actualized in “investment in development” in a broad sense (the whole set of investments in certain areas of activity, including placement of funds, expenses, time of managers and employees, provision of infrastructure, sites in the information space, branding and administrative support). The objective of this study is to determine the areas of investment in development: 1) which are essential for Russian universities (“proper areas”); 2) which are implemented in practice (“actual areas”). The method used was an expert survey; the expert pool included professors and administrative staff of universities (1481 experts from 65 universities of the Russian Federation). The survey covered all regions of Russia from the European part to Siberia and the Far East. The survey period was September – October 2017. In the survey, the proper and actual priority in Russian universities of the following areas of investment was evaluated: 1) development of scientific schools; 2) deployment of exploratory, breakthrough research; 3) “new personnel” – attracting leading scientists and practitioners with unique experience to the university; 4) the adoption of new educational technologies; 5) attracting talented applicants; 6) the acquisition of modern laboratory equipment; 7) development of digital infrastructure (computer networks, computing power, digital educational environment, etc.); 8) the development of innovation infrastructure; 9) university campus; 10) international cooperation; 11) cooperation with business; 12) cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science and federal agencies; 13) modernization of the management system; 14) the system of motivation and involvement of teachers, staff and students in development processes (“investment in activation”); 15) PR and university promotion. Analysis of the survey data identified six groups of areas of investment in development, depending on the level of proper and actual priority. A number of areas combine high due and actual priority, which is primarily an investment in the university’s digital infrastructure. Other areas are underestimated in actual management practice, their actual priority is lower than it should be (for example, investment in modern scientific equipment and in the motivation system). Some areas, according to experts, are overestimated in the practice of managing the development of universities, such are cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science and federal agencies; PR and university promotion. The results indicate a certain “deformation” in university management in Russia: the tasks of PR and university promotion and interactions with the Ministry of Education “supersede” other ones – to a lesser extent, the task of “digitalization”, to a greater extent the task of investing in “activation”, in cooperation (international and with business), in educational technologies, "new students" and especially in pioneering research, scientific schools and new personnel.