National Council for Eurasian and East European Research |
www.nceeer.orgAbout Programs Projects Papers Partners Links Subscribe Who We Are |
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National Council for Eurasian and East European Research |
About Programs Projects Papers Partners Links Subscribe Who We Are |
Academic Director:
Gennady Novikov
Doctor of History, Professor
Administrative Director:
Nikolai Potorochenko
Candidate of Physics and Mathematics, Senior Research Fellow
Address:
Irkutsk State University, 1, Ul. K. Marksa,
Irkutsk, 664003, RUSSIA
Web: www.irkutsk.iriss.ru, e-mail: iunfo@irkutsk.iriss.ru
Irkutsk State University: Russian English
Siberia's Geopolitical and Geo-strategic Importance Under Globalization and the Formation of a New Word Order in the 21st Century
Traditional Siberian Cultures: Interplay and Modernization
Siberia as an Emergent Multi-cultural Society: History and Prospects
CASEs are organizations whose role is vital in the advancement of science in Russia. To see this role clearly one needs to look at the recent past. In 1990s were tragic years for Russian academic institutions, which were receiving almost no federal funding. Research professions suddenly became much less attractive. It seemed like the Russian state did not need academic research any more.
Social sciences were experiencing particular problems. The Soviet Union had the so-called «research complex» covering the whole country. As a result of underfunding, high travel costs and rudimentary telecommunications networks, scholars (and we are talking primarily of social sciences) found themselves in a situation similar to the Middle Ages, when monk-scientists were writing their treatises ignorant of what was going on in a neighboring monastery, let alone remote regions.
Of course, we are talking here about purely "academic studies", as they were traditionally classified in our country; that is, scholars focused on research only, working primarily in institutes under Academy of Sciences, which has suffered the most severe financial problems. Universities faced a somewhat different situation. While also experiencing a shortage of funds, universities were still full of life, introducing new fields of learning and opening new departments. Rapid differentiation processes began in Russian society in early 1990s. Higher education was in demand as a key to social mobility. The problem is, however, that this upsurge of university activities did not always have direct relation to science.
It was at this moment that Western grant foundations came to rescue. Their efforts were focused on three main aspects:
The first purpose of grant activity was to develop new content. Multiple grants provided for the purpose of writing monographs, new-generation textbooks and training manuals, allowed Russian scholars ...to make their studies compatible with what their Western colleagues were doing, thus finding their place in the context of international research processes. The task of creating new content was also assisted by grants targeting research projects in some new areas, also in line with international academic trends.
The second aspect was creating preconditions for the recovery of academic community. This is a dual process. On the one hand, there have been grants assisting institutional development..., on the other, substantial efforts were made to build a communication network, consisting primarily of Internet-centers set up in different universities, mostly regional ones, as their academic contacts are much more limited compared to universities in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The third, and final, aspect of grant assistance was re-establishing academic community itself.
It is here that...the CASE Program makes an important contribution through the Centers for Advanced Studies and Education. The existing CASEs hosed by eight regional universities...are expected to play a prominent role in building up a new, nation-wide. The CASEs are not just research centers expected to be increasingly involved in research activities within their respective regions; according to the Program's basic concept, CASEs will be linking regions together, delivering grants to scholars from other Russian regions who are willing to implement their projects under one Center or another. As a result, several research centers must emerge extending their "tentacles" throughout Russia. The Soviet Union had just one center which attracted scholars from elsewhere (plus a few sub-centers , St. Petersburg, the Urals, Novosibirsk, etc.); in contrast, the CASE Program should give rise to several centers, each of them ideally influencing the whole country. When drawn on a map, those lines of influence would no longer form a "star" with the center in Moscow, but rather a "grid", with multiple rays crossing each other in various regions. In this sense, the CASE Program should not just result in Russia's academic community recovery; it should rather recreate it on a new, more democratic and decentralized, basis.
The CASE Program is very young, and it would be premature to record any results. Obviously, the Program has been recognized and accepted by Russian scholars, suffice to look at the number of requests for CASE research grants coming from all over the country. The idea is clearly very popular among the research community. At the same time, the two years of experience with CASEs allow us to identify and formulate certain problems which must be resolved for the Program to continue in future.
