Building Research Capacity at Universities: Imagining, Strategising, and Ordering

Abstract

The post-Soviet countries chose different paths in terms of the organisational integration of higher education and research. There exist research universities in countries where radical reforms have taken place and also in countries where research institutes have not been merged with universities. Across the diverse region, universities remain to be seen by students, their families, and the wider public as, first and foremost, educational institutions. At the same time, selected universities frame their identity as research-active. In the context of the limited funding for research, universities and research institutes in most countries compete for the finite pot of research funding which reduces the chance of concentrating research within the higher education sector where the research activity is likely to feed into teaching activity and produce broader public benefits. We conclude this chapter by charting a vision of the unity of educational and research functions at universities and deparochialising the idea of research.