Sustainable Development of Higher Education in Russia in Conditions of Territorial Inequality

Abstract

The research is devoted to the current problems of developing the territorial structure of the higher school of the Russian. We also paid attention to its historical retrospection, considering that the territorial organization of higher education is an essential factor in the spatial organization of society in post-industrial development. It is necessary to consider the regional inequalities that have developed in current Russia. We suggested that the territorial differentiation in higher education is exacerbated by regional economic disparities. There were also historical prerequisites for the established territorial differentiation of higher education, laid down almost 300 years ago. Given the current situation and its comparison with the economic situation at the regional level, it was right to suggest that such a system could not be sustainable. For Russia, with its high spatial natural and socio-economic differentiation, the policy of supporting a small number of universities located in capital cities is wrong.