This volume provides a critical perspective on the Soviet legacy of global competition and status anxiety in international higher education. Investigating tensions generated by the traditional power instruments of coercion, money and attraction, the book looks into the dynamics of multi-level forces that either advance progressive university policies and practices or lead to hyper-centralization, indoctrination and unfreedom of inquiry in higher education. The volume provides insights into political sources that champion the anxiety about superpower status over the agenda of social equality, fairness, and freedom in universities and their communities. The manuscript offers an excellent collation of studies shedding light on the phenomenon of de-Sovietization which was previously largely overlooked and underexplored in the higher education literature.

The book appeals to policy-makers, practitioners and scholars of higher education who seek to understand historical and political conditions that affect the currency of Chinese and Russian scholarship. As de-Sovietization of higher education may often be aspiration than reality in the two post-totalitarian countries, this books offers a unique, thought-provoking frame of analysis urging for more studies in the area as well as encouraging enhanced responsibility in creating sufficient room for freedom of critical inquiry.

The only authoritative study of de-Sovietization in higher education so far A unique perspective on international status anxiety that drives Chinese and Russian strategies in higher education Provides insights into the political complexity of competing forces in the higher education systems in China and Russia

Inhalt

1 Introduction: Soft/Hard Power Engines of International Status Anxiety.- Part I: Historical Perspectives and Dilemmas.- 2 Historical Dynamics of Russian-Chinese Cooperation in Higher Education, 1920s to 1970s.- 3 An Attempt at Global Sovietization: Russian Academic Internationalization after World War II.- 4 Ideological Shift and Strategic Changes: China's University Partnerships in the Process of De-Sovietization.- 5 Hybrid Powers of Soviet Internationalization: Chinese and Russian Academics as Legacy Holders and Hostages.- Part II: Policies and Institutional Changes.- 6 Policy and Implementation in the Processes of China's Higher Education Development and De-Sovietization: Reflections from Global, Cross-National, and Institutional Perspectives.- 7 The Sovietization of China's Universities: The 1950s Experience of Shanxi University.- 8 R&D Internationalization of a University-Based Collaborative Research Unit: The De-Sovietization of Chinese Higher Education from an Understructure-Level Perspective.- 9 The State as the Driver of Competitiveness in Russian Higher Education: The Case of Project 5-100.- 10 The Sputnik Syndrome: How Russian Universities Make Sense of Global Competition in Higher Education.- Part III: Human Agency and Mobility.- 11 International Student Recruitment in Russia: Heavy-Handed Approach and Soft Power Comeback.- 12 Historical Trends in PhD Study Abroad and Their Implications for Transforming the Chinese Higher Education System.- 13 Collaboration between Europe and China in Doctoral Education: Historical Development and Future Challenges.- 14 Mitigating the Legacy of International Status Anxiety: Concluding Remarks on Power (Mis)Alignments.