eprintid: 10041040
rev_number: 30
eprint_status: archive
userid: 608
dir: disk0/10/04/10/40
datestamp: 2018-01-09 14:04:24
lastmod: 2021-11-07 00:34:04
status_changed: 2018-01-09 14:04:24
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Marginson, S
title: The public good created by higher education institutions in Russia
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B16
divisions: B14
keywords: Higher education; funding of education; public good; private benefit; university mission; Paul Samuelson; John Dewey; Russian university education
note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
abstract: The public/private distinction is central to higher education but there is no consensus on the meaning of 'public'. Two different meanings are in use. Economic theory distinguishes non market goods (public) that cannot be produced for profit, from market-based activity (private). This provides a basis for identifying the minimum necessary public expenditure, but does not effectively encompass collective goods. In political theory 'public' is often understood as state ownership and/ or control. This is more inclusive than the economic definition, and recognizes the scope for norms and policies, but lacks clear boundaries. The first part of the article synthesizes these two approaches, developing an analytical framework with four quadrants (civil society, social democracy, state quasi-market, commercial market) that can be used to categorise activities in higher education and research. The second part summarises the findings of 30 semi-structured interviews in the Russian government and two universities, conducted in 2013, concerning perceptions of public goods produced in Russian higher education. While most interviewees saw research as a global public good, they were divided in relation to teaching and learning. Some understood the education function as a public good in both the economic and political sense and wanted the government to take greater responsibility for improvement in higher education. Others saw higher education as a private good in the economic sense, and while they acknowledged the need for government because of market failure, wanted public intervention and regulation to be reduced. This division in thought about public/private paralleled the larger division between Soviet and neoliberal thinking in the Russian polity, and also the divided character of higher education, which is evenly split between free government administered places and a fee-paying student market.
date: 2017-01-01
date_type: published
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2017-3-8-36
oa_status: green
full_text_type: other
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
article_type_text: Journal Article
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 1450009
doi: 10.17323/1814-9545-2017-3-8-36
lyricists_name: Marginson, Simon
lyricists_id: SWMAR21
actors_name: Dewerpe, Marie
actors_id: MDDEW97
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: Voprosy Obrazovaniya/Educational Studies (Moscow)
volume: 2017
number: 3
pagerange: 9-36
issn: 2412-4354
citation:        Marginson, S;      (2017)    The public good created by higher education institutions in Russia.                   Voprosy Obrazovaniya/Educational Studies (Moscow) , 2017  (3)   pp. 9-36.    10.17323/1814-9545-2017-3-8-36 <https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2017-3-8-36>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10041040/1/Marginson_HSE%20Public%20good%20in%20Russian%20HE%2031%20March%202017.pdf