Tomsk State University

Center for the Study of Russia's Integration into the World Community

Scholars from the Tomsk CASE

1. Alexandre Antochtchenko Religious Spirituality As a Basis for the Identity of Russian Immigrants (1917-1939)
   Petrozavodsk State University -- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2. Evgeniya Balabanova The Socio-Economic Dependence of the Russian Population During the Period of Reform
   University of Nizhniy Novgorod -- Villanova University
3. Inna Blam Paying for Environmental Improvement: An Analysis of Socio-Economic Factors
   Novosibirsk State University -- Indiana University
4. Pavel Braslavski Virtual Reality, the Internet, Intercultural Communication and Tolerance
   Ural State University -- University of Kansas, Lawrence
5. Valentina Chernykh Nursing Home Care for the Elderly
   Tomsk Regional Information Center -- University of Pittsburgh
6. Elena Fedotova Internationalizing Pedagogical Universities Toward Russia's Integration
   Tomsk State Pedagogical University -- Indiana University
7. Svetlana Iarochenko Socially Excluded Groups in Capitalist Russia at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Coping Strategies of Excluded Groups
   Komi Scientific Center, Ural Division, Russian Academy of Sciences -- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
8. Elena Khasanshina Telemedicine
   Siberian State Medical University -- Medical College of Georgia
9. Evgeniy Kuleshov Adolescent Subcultures of Russian Immigrants in the U.S.
   St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts -- New York University
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova The Humanistic Approach to Teaching Foreign Language and Culture
    Tomsk State University -- University of Kansas, Lawrence
11. Inna Nazarova Factors Influencing Health in Russia During the Period of Reform
    Institute of Socio-Economic Population Studies -- Population Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
12. Olga Nedospasova U.S. Experience in Multilevel Economics Education Seversk State Technological Institute -- Indiana University
13. Alla Salnikova Everyday Provincial Russian Cultural Life
    Kazan State University -- Rutgers University
14. Alexandre Seleznev Traditional Folk Culture in the Modern World
    Omsk State University -- University of Wisconsin, Madison
15. Nadezhda Shalamova Siberian Indigenous Peoples in the Context of Multiculturalism: Prospects for Survival
    Tomsk Polytechnic University -- New Mexico State University, Las Cruces
16. Natalia Sidorova Criminal Appellate Procedure in the U.S. and Russia: History, Legal Bases, and Court Practice
    Tomsk State University -- Arizona State University
17. Zoya Solovieva Homelessness in Russia
    Center for Independent Social Research, St. Petersburg -- University of California, Berkeley
18. Ekaterina Vasilyeva The Creative Work and Intercultural Connections of Vladimir Nabokov
    Tomsk State University -- Yale University
19. Julia Wertheim Strategies of Integration: Comparative Research
    Novosibirsk State University -- University of California, Riverside
20. Alexander Yaschuk The Russian Tradition and International Cooperation in Studies of Philosophy and History
    Tomsk State University -- Davis Center for Russian Studies, Harvard University
    

Directors of the Tomsk CASE

Academic Director:

Vladimir Kurilov
Doctor of Law, Professor

Administrative Director:

Boris Reznik
Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Professor

Contacts for the Tomsk CASE

Address:

36, Pr. Lenina,
Tomsk, 634050, RUSSIA

Web: www.tomsk.iriss.ru, e-mail: iunfo@tomsk.iriss.ru

Tomsk State University: Russian

Priority Research Areas

• Factors Determining the Formation of Cultural and Historic Awareness.
• Russian Regions: International and Foreign Economic Relations.
• The Role of Science and Education in the Integration Processes: Regional, Federal and International Aspects.
  

Russian Humanities: Current Status and Development Strategies

Andrey Yurevich, Supervisor of the Tomsk CASE

Characteristics of the present condition of Russian science are normally given in a tragic tone and usually boil down to the statement of a deep crisis.

The list of well-known symptoms of crisis recorded by most analysts can be expanded to include some negative tendencies which are less obvious. Russian scholars are too preoccupied with money and keep seeking contracts in Europe and U.S., while devoting less time to time-consuming empirical research. Integration between research institutions with similar agenda is weakened, and there is less coordination of research activities generally. This is exemplified by domestic science-of-science centers which are reluctant to cooperate unless expressly instructed to do so. There are other complications that are less devastating than meager funding and intensive brain drain, but they also contribute to the crisis.

Some positive changes do take place, such as removal of ideological constraints, academic freedom, integration into world academic community, multiplication of research institutions and degrees awarded.

However, even those developments are somewhat controversial: for example, the growing number of research institutions is a result of fragmentation, and academic freedom often deteriorates into anarchy. In any case, such positive trends do not compensate for the negative ones. As a result, over 95% of Russian scholars believe that national academic research is undergoing a severe crisis (less than 20% expressed hope for improvement), and those perceptions can hardly be considered a psychological artifact.

The above arguments point to some strategic conclusions, however trivial, they appear to contradict the government's current strategy which obviously suffers from "economic determinism".

1. The academic research community carries out a number of functions in a modern society, not just the technology function emphasized by Russia's national research programs.
2. Each of those functions has a potential for marketing research results, in a way that combines profit-making with public interest.
3. Accordingly, any society, including the one we live in, expects scholars to perform complex and manifold social tasks, so the market potential of research should not be limited to research-intensive production; this potential can and must be responsive to the demands of education, expert consultancy services, etc.
4. Under the circumstances a wise development strategy in the area of academic research would imply simultaneous movement in various directions, while using all the aspects of its market potential, instead of targeting just one.
5. A comprehensive strategy for Russian academic research development (not limited to the technological function), is by no means alternative to the market-based scenario; on the contrary, it implies using a more complete set of market instruments.
6. Predomination of technological tasks, very much pronounced in current government programs, substantially reduces the capacity of research activities, including their marketing prospects, and prescribes a nonsymmetrical development path.Given the present condition of production base, the lopsided development of Russian academic research, with excessive emphasis on technology, creates a potential trap. The most probable outcome is demonstrated impotence and further decline of academic research.