Program Diversification And Specialization In Russian Higher Education Institutions

This article explores the issue of program diversification within Russian higher education institutions (HEIs) and its major determining forces. Comparing several historical types of specialized institutions, which were manly formed during the Soviet period, this study highlights two key issues. Firstly, we investigate how these specialized institutions have transformed, and secondly, we make an attempt to determine the cause of these transformations. We assume that the level of diversification and program drift is defined by two influential forces: state regulation and market forces. Empirical evidence on the changes of HEIs internal diversification includes quantitative analysis distributed throughout eight fields of education.