Russian Education for Innovative Economy: “the Pressure Points”

Abstract

The paper is focused on the problems of continuous education in Russia that is playing a growing role while the country is moving towards innovative economy. The continuous education may be implemented in various forms, from university and online courses to companies-based supplementary post-graduate education. The study is based on the results of a survey conducted among 80 experts that represent stakeholders in the Russian innovation system. The interviews were conducted in 2016–2017 in 12 regions of Russia with experts, employed in federal and regional administrations, venture and investment funds, institutes for development, technology parks, incubators, paten offices, private companies, universities, and research institutes. The survey was centered on such questions as whether the current state of higher education satisfies the needs of innovative, science intensive industries; on the role of corporate education; on how the special professional education is evolving and what are the major barriers for its development. The survey has demonstrated that higher education institutes are rather passive in terms of initiating new educational techniques; the gap between needs of science-based industries and quality of university graduates is still big. Moreover, higher education institutes are losing in competition with new, mostly digital, forms of education that the open market is suggesting. Corporate education in its current form is mostly affordable for large state companies while small and medium-size enterprises are looking for intermediaries at the market that may help them to identify and train new workforce.