The Development of the Concept of an Entrepreneurial University in Russian Higher Educational Establishments: New Method of Evaluation

Abstract

Launched in the summer of 2021 the «Priority 2030» Strategic Academic Leadership Program, despite being a logical extension of the Russian Academic Excellence Project, differs significantly from it in terms of its priorities. While the Russian Academic Excellence Project was primarily oriented on achieving the increase of the global competitiveness of Russian universities, the new Program primarily encourages universities to actively participate in the socio-economic development of the regions of the Russian Federation. The priorities of the new program happen to coincide a lot with the concept of an entrepreneurial university proposed by Burton R. Clark in his «Creating Entrepreneurial Universities». According to this concept, the attention is focused on such elements of university development as a strengthened material core, an expanded periphery of development, a diversified financial base, stimulated academic structures and integrated entrepreneurial culture. All of them are directly related to the function of the university as a driver of regional development. This concept has become so familiar to the general public in the recent decade that the notion of the development of universities according to it is seen as a matter of course. But are Russian universities indeed capable of following this concept in their development and are they in fact doing so? How prepared are they to actually achieve the goals set by the program «Priority 2030»? To answer these questions, the authors of the article have developed a new set of tools for accessing the development of higher educational establishments in the paradigm of the concept of entrepreneurial university.The article presents a detailed analysis of how the main elements of this concept are reflected in the practice of Russian universities. The results of the study showed that all leading universities have the characteristics of an entrepreneurial university. However, the development of the elements of an entrepreneurial university tends to be quite stretched out timewise, which creates corresponding risks affecting the effectiveness of the implementation of the «Priority 2030» project. The set of tools, suggested in the article, can be used for further analysis of the development of Russian higher educational establishments according to the concept of entrepreneurial university.