The Changing Role Of Higher Education Institutions In A New Competitive Landscape

Currently higher education globally undergoes significant challenges. New conditions caused by arrival of the global knowledge economy force Universities to develop in an extremely competitive academic landscape. General tendencies are characteristic for HEIs all over the world, so the research focuses on the analysis of existing tendencies. Russia is not an exception from the academic mainstream. The changing role of Universities and their faculties is highlighted; focus on tendencies in Russia’s HEIs is made; experience of the Reshetnev Siberian State University of Science & Technology is shown. Dependence of HEIs on both external and internal conditions including massification, globalization and changing the students’ population is shown. Factors influencing internationalization in Russia’s Universities are analysed. Besides, the problems which the Reshetnev University has faced in this respect are shown and found solutions are presented. They mainly concern completion rates, declining of state funding, place of Russia’s Universities in international rankings and quality of education. Additional factor influencing the issue is difference between generations of experienced aged educators and new generations.