Elite universities project to expand to 30 universities

The Russian government has approved the expansion of Project 5-100 – a state project aimed at raising of the competitiveness of domestic universities in the international arena – starting from 2021, according to recent statements of Tatyana Golikova, Russia’s deputy prime minister.

Golikova announced that starting from 2021, 30 universities will receive state support as part of the project’s programme, instead of the current 21. These will be mainly Moscow-based universities.

“The main task in this area is to improve the quality of education and increase the competitiveness of leading domestic universities in the international arena,” she said.

Golikova is chair of the Council of Competitiveness Enhancement of Leading Russian Universities among Global Research and Education Centres, which is also the main governance body of Project 5-100.

It is planned that a competitive selection of universities for participation in the project will be conducted in 2020.

The volume of state funds for the implementation of the programme during the period of 2021-24 will reach RUB58 billion (US$898 million).

According to state plans, by 2024 Russia should be at least among the world’s top 10 countries in terms of having domestic universities in the top 500 in global university rankings.

The decision comes in response to last year’s calls on the state from members of the Association of Global Universities – a public association which unites leading universities in Russia – for the Project 5-100 programme to be expanded by including universities specialising in training in such spheres as agriculture, transport, biotechnology, clinical medicine, urban studies and communications.

Yaroslav Kuzminov, head of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, one of Russia’s most prestigious universities, and one of the leading figures behind the call, said: “The expansion could take place as soon as 2019 or a year later in 2020, when the duration of Project 5-100 formally expires.

“It would help Russian universities to become more competitive in certain key areas covered by these global rankings, where the presence of Russia and its universities, so far, has been limited.”

Accelerated modernisation

According to a statement on Project 5-100’s website, it has been assisting the 21 universities to improve their global competitive position and, more broadly, to “embark on accelerated modernisation, faster-than-average development and transformation”.

It says the project’s work has given impetus to the evolution of Russian universities more generally.

In particular, the government has created incentives for Russia’s top universities to revive schools of sciences, put together multidisciplinary research teams and build innovation clusters.

Those institutions have been able to attract abler students, deal with the ageing of their faculty staff and improve research productivity.

“The next step is for them to evolve into a new, sustainable type of comprehensive, multidisciplinary, multifunctional research university which would not only have a role to play in regional development but be competitive in the international market place,” Project 5-100 said in its statement.

Most leading Russian universities support the expansion of the project because they believe the universities in Project 5-100 are developing at a faster pace than other universities.

Viktor Grishin, head of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, said the expansion of the project would provide an opportunity for more domestic universities to participate in foreign collaborations and to accelerate research and development activities.

Grishin said: “At the same time, it is important that the project focuses not only on ratings, but on the improvement of the quality of education, and modernisation of the educational and methodological base.”

Brain drain concern

However, some leading Russian experts in the field of higher education have voiced concern that the planned expansion of Project 5-100 may create conditions for a new wave of brain drain.

Dr Natalya Y Sklyarova, an advisor to the rector of Moscow State Pedagogical University, said in Russia higher education had developed in a different way than in the United States and the European Union, with most local universities having specific specialisations.

“However, the 5-100 project creates conditions for the expansion of the Western model in the Russian system of higher education, due to the requirements of teaching up to 30% of special disciplines in English.

“According to our observations, that provides an opportunity for various foreign observers to identify promising young scientists in Russian universities and to invite them to their universities and to scientific institutions in Western countries.”

Support for social sciences, humanities

At the same time, according to earlier statements of Olga Golodets, Russia’s first deputy prime minister, in addition to physics, chemistry and computer sciences, where Russia’s scientific efforts have been very noticeable in recent years, after 2021 particular attention will be paid to the expansion of expertise in social sciences and humanities, fields that have never been a strong point of domestic universities.

In addition to Project 5-100, the state plans to expand support for so-called ‘flagship universities’ – the higher education institutions that provide training for the basic sectors of the economy and social sphere, which are located in almost every region of Russia.

Golikova said 80 such universities from 40 regions of Russia would receive state support from the federal budget this year, while the investment for these needs is estimated at RUB13 billion (US$202 million).

At present state support is provided to only 33 flagship universities.

According to Times Higher Education, its latest ranking of the most international universities in the world included five Russian universities among the 177 institutions ranked from 30 countries.

Three of them were Project 5-100 participants: Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (136th), Novosibirsk State University (161st) and National Research University Higher School of Economics (162nd)

The other two Russian universities ranked were Lomonosov Moscow State University (125th) and Saint Petersburg State University (167th).