Factors of Growth in Income from Research Activities in Universities of the Russian Federation

Abstract

Theoretical concepts of the modern university pay a lot of attention to the evaluation of financial performance of research activities. The attraction of government-provided R&D funding is associated with the creation and enhancement of the scientific potential, and the accretion of scientific knowledge, rather than its practical application, is prioritised. Research projects commissioned by the private sector represents the university's contribution to the needs of the real economy or the "market" value of the accumulated potential. In Russian management practice, both of these criteria have become part of the regular evaluation of HEIs performance along with many other parameters characterizing the success of HEIs in achieving the benchmarks of scientific development. The objective of the study is to identify the factors that increase the financial success of Russian universities in the field of R&D. The fundamental hypothesis is that there is a direct correlation between universities' revenues from R&D and the priority directions of the state S&T policy with regard to universities, including the increase in publication activity, enhancement of human resources potential and formation of innovation infrastructure. The information base of the study was formed by the results of monitoring the activities of educational institutions of higher education in Russia in 2016-2022 for 590 institutions. The financial performance of HEIs' research activities is assessed using three indicators: the share of R&D revenues in the total revenues of an educational organization; the amount of extra-budgetary revenues from R&D per one research project and faculty member; the share of extra-budgetary funds in R&D revenues. To assess the statistical significance of the relationships, the tools of regression analysis of panel data were applied. The main conclusion of the study is to prove the mutual correlation between the vectors of scientific development of the university sector, which have been set at the state level in the last 10 years. The focus on strengthening university science coupled with intensification of cooperation with the real sector of the economy has been synchronized with the tasks of growth of publication activity, material provision of scientists, renovation of the instrumentation base, construction of research and innovation infrastructure.