Internationalization of Higher Education in Russia: Collapse or Perpetuation of the Soviet System? A Historical and Conceptual Study Author: Alexey Kuraev Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/3799 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2014 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. BOSTON COLLEGE Lynch School of Education Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education Higher Education INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN RUSSIA: COLLAPSE OR PERPETUATION OF THE SOVIET SYSTEM? A HISTORICAL AND CONCEPTUAL STUDY Dissertation by ALEXEY KURAEV Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2014 © Copyright by Alexey Kuraev 2014 Abstract Internationalization of Higher Education in Russia: Collapse or Perpetuation of the Soviet System? A Historical and Conceptual Study Alexey Kuraev - author Philip Altbach - dissertation director This study traces the policy and implementation of internationalization in the Russian higher education system from 1917 to the present. The analysis suggests that international academic policy has been applied by the Russian state continuously, though with radically differing emphasis and mechanisms, through the last hundred years. Chapter One presents the research questions, design and methodology of the study. Chapter Two reviews scholarly literature related to academic internationalization and situates this definition within the context of Russian higher education. Chapters 3-5 explore the role of international activities in Russian higher education during the seventy years of the Soviet era. Trends in Soviet academic international policy related to three major historical periods are discussed in this section: a) the initial Bolshevik program for global academic reform; b) Sovietization of higher education in the countries of Communist Bloc; and c) East-West international academic competition during the Cold War period. Chapters 6-7 address the role of internationalization in the reformation of Russian higher education during the last two decades of Post-Soviet period. This section examines the extent and likely outcomes of these changes. This research demonstrates that Russian higher education has had a continuous international aspect, though organized differently than Western structures. The analysis also suggests that key organizational components of the Soviet administrative system still exist in the current Russian higher education structure. The current implementation of internationalization presents Russian academics with an opportunity to enforce academic professionalism and promote their status as global academics. At the same time, however, state organization and governing administration principles of Russian higher education continue to reduce academics to functional executors of state directives and deliverers of vocational training. In this way, internationalization serves as a critical nexus for the collision of traditional administrative structures with the new aspirations of Russian academics. Acknowledgments This project would not have been possible without the support of many people. Many thanks to my adviser, Dr. Philip G. Altbach, who had patience to wait for years my accomplishing the dissertation, keeping trust in my ability to finish the work despite delays; and who read my numerous revisions and helped make sense out of my writing. I would like to thank my committee members, Professor Ana M. Martinez Aleman and Professor Mark O'Connor for the readiness to share their knowledge and academic experience. Their kind support served me as a valuable impulse to enforce the efforts at the challenging moment of dissertation’s completion. Special thanks to my friend and colleague at Colorado State University, Bridget Julian, who was so kind to commit personal time and effort, helping me in editing my writing. Special gratitude to Dr. Elisabeth Sparks, Dean of Graduate Studies at LGSE, who was so kind to provide me with needed extension of time enabling my completion of this thesis. Thanks also to my family who supported me in ways too numerous to mention. i Table of Contents List of Abbreviations. .vi Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Question and Methodology. .. 1 Research Questions. 4 Internationalization and Russian Higher Education: Exceptional Realities and Unique Challenges . 6 Research Design and Methodology . 20 Plan of Dissertation – Organization of the Study. 23 Conclusion: Academic Contribution of the Study and Implications for Practice. 24 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature . 29 Principal Literature on Internationalization. 30 Internationalization and Soviet Higher Education . 40 Internationalization and Post-Soviet Higher Education . 55 Conclusion . 65 Chapter 3: Academic Internationalism in Marxist Theory and in Bolshevik Strategy . .67 Marxism and Academia . 69 Education as a Driving Force of Communist Society . 72 Values of Global Educational Enlightenment in the Views of Russian Marxists . 74 Role of Academia in the Bolshevik Strategy for the Establishment of the Communist Society . 76 ii Academic Policy in the Bolshevik Party Program . 79 The Bolshevik Campaign for the Launch of World Revolution in Russia. 85 The Bolshevik Plan for Academic Reform in Russia . 88 Conclusion . 94 Part One: Internationalization in the History of Soviet Higher Education Chapter 4: Formation of the Soviet Higher Education System and Emergence of Soviet International Academic Policy, 1917-1930s . 97 Russian Higher Education prior to the 1917 Revolution . 99 Academic Internationalism as the Reflection of the Bolsheviks’ Revolutionary Idealism . 102 The Establishment of International Partnerships: A Vital Task of Soviet Academia in the 1920s . 109 Encircled by Enemies: Militarization of Soviet Higher Education and Centralization of International Academic Policy through the 1930s . 116 Spanish War: The First Practical International Experience for Soviet Academia . 127 Conclusion . 130 Chapter 5: Sovietization – The Mainstreaming of International Academic Policy During The Cold War . 133 Soviet Perception of the Role of Sovietization Policy in the Post-War World . 136 Specifics of Academic Sovietization in the “Liberated Countries” of Europe. 140 iii The Reformation of Higher Education in the Countries of South-East Asia . 144 Academic Composition of the World System of Socialism and Educational Patronage of the Third World (1960s-1980s) . 156 Peoples’ Friendship University: A Myth of International Academic Paradise in the USSR . 160 Foreign Students in Russia During the Brezhnev Stagnation Period. 163 Conclusion . 169 Part Two: Internationalization of Russian Higher Education in Post-Soviet Period Chapter 6: Perestroika Reforms in Russian Academia . 171 Perestroika in Russian Academia as a Response to the Demand for National Educational Reform . 172 US-Soviet Academic Partnership - the Turning Point Toward an Open Doors Policy . 175 Open Doors Policy: From Discovery of Global Academia to Integration . 179 Interconnections: Pluralism in Domestic Policy and Open Doors in International Policy . 182 Foreign Students in the USSR During Perestroika . 184 Democratization as the Driving Force and Goal of Academic Internationalization. 186 Role of Academic Internationalization in the New Russian Educational Concept . 191 Academic Internationalization as a Priority of the 1992 Educational Act. 196 Prerogative of an Institutional Internationalization - A Turning Point for the Role of Internationalization in Russian Academia . 202 Conclusion . 205 iv Chapter 7: New Mission of Academic Internationalization in Market-Driven Russia. 209 A New Academic Internationalization: the West Comes to Russia . 209 International Funding: “Magic Wand” or “Brain Drain”? . 216 Merger of Internationalization and Commercialization in Russian Academia . 222 Higher Education for Foreigners: From Donation to Commodification . 228 The Tempus Program – Institutional Internationalization in Russian Academia . 237 Joining Bologna: Completion or Beginning of Integration with Western Academia . 240 Differentiation - an Emerging Institutional Objective of Internationalization . 242 Conclusion . 246 Chapter 8: Conclusion . 247 Internationalization in Russian Higher Education – A Hundred Years of History . 247 Academic Internationalization During the Soviet Period . 248 Academic Internationalization During the Post-Soviet Period . 252 Future Prospects for Academic Internationalization in Russia . 258 Closure Summary . 268 References . 269 v List of Abbreviations BC - The British Council COMECON - Council for Mutual Economic Assistance of Eastern Bloc countries (1949- 1991) COMINFORM - Communist Information Bureau (1947-1956). COMINTERN – Communist International (1919-1943) CONAHEC - Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration CPSU - Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1952-1991) DAAD - German Academic Exchange Service DANIDA - Danish International Development Agency EAIE - European Association for International Education EU - European Union GATS - General Agreement on Trade in Services GK – State Committee in Soviet administrative structure (1918-1991) Goskomobr – State Committee for Education, (1988 – 1991) IAU - International Association of Universities vi IAUP - International Association of University Presidents KNK – Krupskaya, N.K., Collected Works, published in 1957 LGU – Leningrad State University LPPS – Lenin,