Regional Universities: Ways of Development

international rankings. This work will further explain that two out of the three studied academic units followed the internationalization measurement suggested by UrFU. The only exception was the Graduate School of Economics and Management, which followed its own approach to the quality assurance of internationalization as a result of pursuing international accreditations of business education, in addition to the university system of metrics.

Several conclusions emerge from this section. Firstly, the quality assurance of

internationalization can be implemented at various levels, and due to the characteristics of my study, this section mainly focused on the individual level of the institutions. Secondly, upon reviewing a broad list of models and approaches, it could be concluded that a universal approach to evaluating performance and quality of internationalization does not exist yet.

Each institution may choose an approach based on its own context before developing a list of indicators, and it can do so by defining rationales for internationalization, the goals of the international dimension within the larger goals of an institution and the mapping of the international landscape. Thirdly, the section showed that UrFU had developed its own list of indicators to measure the performance of internationalization and this was influenced by the requirements of Project 5-100. The measuring was focused on mostly quantitative outcomes.

Finally, the approaches to quality assessment considered in this section were also taken into account for constructing the research design and, in particular, the interview plans which are described in Chapter 3.

below, I describe the characteristics of regional universities (section 2.7.1), then overview the studies on the internationalization of regional universities in geographically large countries (section 2.7.2) and, lastly, I consider trajectories for regional universities development in Russia (section 2.7.3).

2.7.1 Characteristics of Regional Universities

As shown in section 2.6, Ural Federal University aimed at performing as a leader in international research, education and innovations in the Ural Federal District (Ural Federal University, 2013b, p.4). This role corresponds with a definition given by Winchester et al.

(1992, p. 1), who defined regional universities as universities whose main campuses are not located in metropolitan areas and which “are highly significant financial and social

institutions in the regions in which they operate, offering their communities educational, research, economic, cultural and social opportunities which would otherwise not be available in the region.” In identifying the characteristics of regional universities, Winchester et al.

(1992, p. 2) highlighted the following features:

1. A highly significant role in regional development: a regional university

demonstrates strong contribution to regional economies and development, performs as a leading employer and purchaser of services, provides cultural, sport and

physical infrastructure, demonstrates community leadership, etc.

2. Significant role in post-compulsory education: a regional university performs as a center of regional excellence in research, provides education for disadvantaged populations and areas, develops the skill base in regions through short courses and award courses, provides consultancy, builds partnership with regional companies, cultivates culture of lifelong learning, etc.

Almost all these features, which were defined within the context of Australian higher education, are shared by Russian regional universities, as shown in a number of publications.

Ovchinnikova et al. (2018) consider 11 regional universities and conclude that they have become strong partners of industrial enterprises and they have pushed for an increase in regional economy (p. 138). Platonova and Semyonov (2018) write that regional universities were created for the socioeconomic development of Russian regions and perform as

methodological centers. Kharchenko et al. (2019) note that regional universities in Russia provide links between training and research, education and industry, studies and cultural activities. However, there is a significant difference between the Russian and Australian institutions. While Australian universities are usually small or medium-sized, regional

universities in Russia are usually large. Disadvantages and challenges of regional universities include (Kemp, 1999; Winchester et al., 1992):

• isolation and distance from key capital cities;

• low income and socio-economic indicators;

• permanently low participation rates in tertiary studies;

• poor facilities on campus, both physically and technologically;

• diminishing population as labor market is represented in major capital cities.

In Russia, the challenges for a particular regional university depend on the territory where the university is located. Leading state higher education institutions are located in regions with high GNP per capita and do not face the challenges of poor infrastructure or low socio-economic status and income. The opposite instead might occur for universities located in other regions.

UrFU, despite its federal status, matches the definition provided by Winchester et al (1992) and therefore is appropriately called a regional university. As shown in Chapter 4, the Institutional Context, serving the Ural Federal District, is the main dimension of the

university mission. When it became a participant of Project 5-100, UrFU had ambitions to broaden its regional brand towards global awareness and thus included the international

dimension into its mission. The following section 2.7.2 studies previous similar experiences of regional universities in other countries.

As illustrated above with regards to the evidence of Australian universities, most of the characteristics of their regional universities are shared with the Russian ones too. This can be explained by the fact that Australia is a large country with a heterogeneous location of universities scattered across the regions. At the same time, despite the fact that large countries’ agendas include the goals of developing regional universities, the ways of implementing it may differ. In the following section 2.7.2 I consider the modes of

internationalization development of regional universities in countries with large territories.

The aim is to acquire various approaches and best practices across the world.

2.7.2 Internationalization of Regional Universities: Evidence from Geographically Large Countries

In this section I describe the ways in which regional universities have attempted to internationalize based on good practices from Australia, Canada and the USA, as these three countries had historically considered the role of regional universities in a different way, but they eventually arrived at a common understanding. An initiative from Kazakhstan is also taken into consideration since this is a Russian neighboring country with similar features to the regional universities due to its history of being a Soviet country.

In the case of Australia, Wise (2016) described how eight regional Australian

universities having campuses in 29 non-capital city locations drove regional innovation. The author explained that, despite Australian regional universities usually having strong ties with the local industry and driving innovations in their regions, they are also able to maintain a concurrent global vision. Moreover, Wise (2016, p. 12) wrote that “international missions are an effective tool to overcome geographical remoteness and engage face-to-face”.

As regards US regional universities, Stiegler (2017, para. 3) used the term

Comprehensive Universities to refer to the combination of both regional and international dimensions. Stiegler stressed the need to maintain the roots with the local community, but in the example of Salisbury University the author showed that modern regional universities have to answer the global agenda if they wish to provide relevant education: “If we want to teach more future leaders, members of the workforce, and citizens to engage constructively with the world, they must learn at public regional universities that define themselves by their global engagement” (Stiegler, 2017, para. 13).

In Canada, there was no national policy on the internationalization of universities for a long time. This is due to the fact that in Canada each province is responsible for education and there is no national ministry or common legislation (Trilokekar & Jones, 2013). Canada’s International Education Strategy 2013-2019 was developed by the Ministry of International Trade mainly for economic reasons in order to attract students and researchers to Canada from abroad, develop research connections with international universities and create a pan-Canadian partnership with territories and all higher education stakeholders, including corporates (Government of Canada, 2014, para. 1). For years there has not been a common viewpoint on the international dimension of regional universities in the

country: internationalization has been an important part of the agenda for some Canadian universities, while it was not a significant point for others. However, the newly launched Building on Success: International Education Strategy (2019-2024) provided the national vision of international education and linked regional universities with supranational and international goals: “The strategy is designed to support and complement efforts by

provinces, territories and stakeholders toward a collective goal of a sustainable and successful international education sector” (Government of Canada, 2019, p. 3).

As Australia, the USA and Canada exemplify, despite the differences in managing the higher education sectors at the national level, these countries have succeeding at articulating the importance of developing the international dimension in their regional higher institutions and responding not only to local needs, but also to the global agenda. Furthermore, below I take into consideration the example of a neighboring Russian country which has a large territory, a number of regional universities, and was once part of the Soviet Union.

In Kazakhstan, one of the strategic neighboring countries of Russia,

internationalization of regional universities has recently become an important area of development. The higher education map of Kazakhstan shares many similarities with the Russian one: there have been several reforms in higher education during the 2000s-2010s and most of them were implemented in order to advance institutions in two leading cities: Astana and Almaty. Regional universities in Kazakhstan, the same as in Russia, have had

significantly fewer chances to develop internationally in the Soviet Union context where

“universities were part of a supply chain in the planned economy, producing graduates who would then be distributed to workplaces” (Jumakulov & Ashirbekov, 2016).

In 2018, the British Council elaborated a report, Internationalization at Kazakhstani Regional Universities, supporting the Government of Kazakhstan. The document provides a number of recommendations and shows that the interest in this topic of the national agenda continues to grow (British Council, 2018, pp. 2-3). The universities were recommended to analyze student demands for foreign languages and introduce foreign languages as an obligatory part of the undergraduate curriculum; obtain international accreditations; expand partnership with foreign universities; develop joint programs with local industries in

accordance with cross-border business demands; recruit faculty members with international doctorate degrees; and issue information sheets regarding the university’s internationalization strategy and procedures to initiate new international partnerships and others. Aside from

specific recommendations (i.e., to pursue the Washington Accord international accreditation for undergraduate degrees in engineering), the British Council also advised on ways to institutionalize the international dimension and expand the influence of regional Kazakhstan universities abroad.

In conclusion, the importance of the international dimension for regional universities is shared among all of the above-mentioned countries. However, it is articulated at different levels: while initiatives have been started by the government in Australia and Kazakhstan, they were mostly initiated by the universities themselves in the USA and Canada, despite discussions on this issue taking place at governmental level as well. Moreover, the

internationalization of regional universities in these countries takes place at different stages.

While many regional universities in Australia, Canada and the USA have already

incorporated the development of the international dimension into their mission and strategy, most universities in Kazakhstan are only at the beginning. In the next section I will discuss government initiatives to develop and internationalize regional universities in Russia.

2.7.3 Two Modes of Regional University Development in Russia

The section reviews recent and existing national programs in Russia which involve regional universities. In the case of the Russian Federation, there is no unified strategy for higher education internationalization and trajectory for the development of regional

universities. However, two major government initiatives were launched in order to support the development of regional universities in the 2010s. They both covered selected groups of universities with state or federal status. Furthermore, in 2021, a support program for Russian universities, Priority 2030, was launched (Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, 2021). It provided resources for a significantly larger number of regional universities than the two previous initiatives. In this section, first I summarize the two modes

of development that regional universities could follow in the 2010s and then overview the recently announced program.

The first one was the Russian excellence initiative Project 5-100, which gathered 21 universities, in which half of the participants were located in Russian regions. As detailed in section 2.2, the project was launched in 2013 with the aim of providing entrance into the top 100 institutions of the leading international rankings (QS, THE, ARWU) to at least five Russian universities. The goal of the excellence initiative had received a lot of criticism, and was modified during the project to increase the competitiveness of a group of Russian universities.

Another project is that of the Flagship Universities initiative (Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, 2018). In this program, a flagship university is a higher education institution focused on supporting the local labor market with highly

qualified alumni, solving problems of the economy in regions and doing technological and innovation-based projects jointly with a region and its corporate sector. More than 30

universities participated in the initiative. The universities of Project 5-100 could not apply for participation in this program, since the so-called federal universities and all the other

universities were located in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The flagship universities were chosen on a competitive basis, but almost all applying institutions took part in the program.

The program lasted five years and included the goals of modernization of education and research, development of human resources potential, contribution to the local communities, urban and regional environment and others. The key performance indicators included publications in Scopus and Web of Science journals, number of alumni employed in their region during one year after graduation, cumulative turnover of small innovative enterprises created on the basis of the university and others.

Ovchinnikova et al. (2018, p. 138) wrote that, despite the flagship universities taking their first steps within the program, the previous two years of the project implementation showed “great results”. More than 70% of flagship universities started an active partnership with regional industries and stimulated the increase of the regional economy, which was particularly important for those regions with a low economic activity.

Nevertheless, the regional focus of the Flagship Universities program has drawn the criticism of some researchers. Ivanov and Sokol-Nomokonov (2018, p. 21) agreed that it is important to stimulate regional development with the efforts of universities, but noted that such an approach leads to a number of system restrictions that can restrain development in some cases. The authors claimed that universities are on the open market and thus their growth can be achieved in a much wider territory than one region only. This is important for small innovative enterprises that can act in a broader geographical region and for graduates that can be employed within the national or international labor market. According to their study, the approach of the regional dimension does not only work well for technical universities that form the majority of the program participants.

During the 2010s, there was a trend of dividing selected Russian regional universities into local (flagship universities) and potentially international ones (Project 5-100) according to the national policy. Not every regional university in Russia was ready to perform

internationally and the institutions’ missions varied in terms of their geographical application.

At the same time, such a division could bring significant restrictions for development, as indicated by the critics. Thus, a new program which includes both types of institutions and combines both the regional and international dimensions was founded in 2021. In contrast with Project 5-100 and Flagship Universities, the aim of the newly launched initiative, Priority 2030 (Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, 2021), is to provide support for a large number of Russian universities: “to form more than 100

progressive modern universities in Russia which will become the centers of research, technological and socio-economic development of the country”.

Ural Federal University chose to participate in an excellence initiative in order to develop its international dimension and contribute to the global community between the two possible options for regional universities in 2010s. After applying to the scheme, it won the competition and became a participant of Project 5-100. In the present work, I study UrFU’s internationalization between 2013 and 2020, the same time period of Project 5-100. In the meantime, it is worth mentioning that UrFU entered the recently launched Priority 2030 program with the hope of supporting its efforts invested in the international dimension during the first Russian excellence initiative. Based on the reviewed literature in this chapter, in the following section I detail the objective of my study and outline the key research questions.