INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN RUSSIA: PRINCIPAL CONCEPTS AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

This paper examines a variety of theoretical concepts and approaches to understanding institutional structures and institutional change. Based on the concepts of original institutionalism and new institutional economics of "late" Douglass North, we attempt to develop a theoretical framework for analyzing the institutional structure of Russian higher education. Institutions and institutional structures in the field of higher education are changing rapidly in the course of reforms. This process determines actors' behavioral patterns, incentives and values. Actors tend to adjust the effects of institutional change to prevailing values and their own interests by developing alternative behavioral patterns. Although new institutions can be inefficient and problematic, actors often accept them because they are not able to resist, or they just do not understand new institutional structures clearly. Meanwhile, such institutions often lead to hybrid organizations. If a university becomes a hybrid organization, it may fail to overcome the selection barriers created by the government. Therefore, university students, lecturers and staff at all levels need to conform to constantly changing institutional conditions. This article aims at providing a theoretical framework for identifying working rules, incentives and values that influence actors' behavior in the field.