National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE)
The National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) is a particularly interesting institution of higher learning to examine because it was founded in 1992, which was the first year of independence for the Russian Federation, by Russian economists, one of them being Yasin who was a former minister of economy, who believed in market reforms such as privatization of state enterprises, sharply departing from the Stalinist government and its mandate of socialism (1). Currently, it is located in four Russian cities, with the main campus and central governance in Moscow and three regional branches situated in St. Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, and Perm, cementing its status as a wide-reaching Russian university that extends its influence far beyond Moscow (2). Throughout its short history, it has transformed from a university with a narrow scope of training economists, sociologists, and managers into an institution that includes diverse subjectssuch as economics, engineering, and humanities into its curriculum.
Furthermore, the establishment of this institution was under the new Russian government led by Egor Gaidar who "conducted large-scale privatization and other economic reforms," and this spirit of reform directly impacted the founding and philosophy of the HSE because of its emphasis on the study of economics. Without the political support of Gaidar, the founding of the HSE would not have been possible. During that time, members of the government realized that institutions like the Moscow State University were entrenched in their ways and were intransigent, becoming "strongholds of political and economic conservatism" and rendering reforms costly and not feasible (1). Thus, the HSE was "shaped as a competitor to existing relevant institutes rather than as a partner in solidarity with them," a decision that is particularly remarkable because it suggests a sharp shift away from the spirit of cohesion and camaraderie advocated and promoted by the Soviet government toward a new Russia that was characterized by competition and increasing modernization and reform (1).
The founding of this institution signaled a new direction that Russia wanted to take as it embarked on a path to a globally competitive nation through educational reforms and political and social liberalization in a bid to become a market economy and become integrated into rest of the world. Its meteoric rise in such a short period of time warrants closer examination of its strategies in molding its identity, which occurred in two stages, with the initial stage being its founding as a single-discipline institution of higher learning under the Ministry of Economy and the second stage being its increasingly prominent role in the international arena through its transformation into a global research university, which was aided by competition in several markets, including the market of intellectual services and the market for good students (1). Paradoxically, although the HSE stresses the market state, it is still a direct product of the government because it was created by the direct order of the state.
(1) Froumin, Isak. "Establishing a New Research University: The Higher School of Economics, the Russian Federation." The Road to Academic Excellence The Making of World-Class Research Universities (2011): 293-321. Web.
(2) "About HSE University — National Research University Higher ..." N.p., n.d. Web.