ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a sociological analysis of the Russian model of higher education. It then describes the main structure of the current model from a comparative perspective, as an outline of some physical characteristics is vital for understanding the social processes within the system. The chapter addresses traditional sociological themes in higher education as they play out in the Russian context, such as inequality, social stratification and the massification of higher education. Teaching funding and research funding remain key problems for many Russian higher educational institutions and faculty. In the Post-Soviet period inequality of access to higher education has not been part of the policy agenda, nor has the performance of the system in this regard been subjected to a thorough scholarly analysis. It also highlights the social dead-end of positional competition and further vertical stratification of higher education institutions, in which all the focus is on elite HEIs, and the needs of the mass sub-sector of higher education.
