The End of the Academic Profession in Russia?

Abstract

Citation: Denisova-Schmidt E. (2020) The End of the Academic Profession in Russia? Mir Rossii, vol. 29, no 3, pp. 86–95. DOI: 10.17323/1811-038X-2020-29-3-86-95

This article discusses the attractiveness of the academic profession in Russia today. Unnecessary administrative workloads, “unteachable students”, restrictions on academic freedom, diminishing monetary incentives all contribute negatively to the intellectual, creative and teaching activities of faculty members, especially at mass universities. The article is a reflection on the open letter from Vera Afanasieva, a professor of philosophy at Saratov State University, to Olga Vasilyeva the then Russian Minister of Education and Science (2017). This letter, in which the author highlights several major problems of Russian higher education − “total poverty; paper paranoia and clerical schizophrenia; pathological lies − pseudology and mythomania; the devaluation of knowledge; mental illness” − led to a public discussion in the Russian academic community and a number of visits by law enforcement agencies. The paper argues that some of the symptoms might be common and even prevalent in other academic systems, but stresses the magnitude of these phenomena in Russia, including the possible personal responsibilities of faculty members for students’ “extracurricular activities” such as participating in protests.