«IZVESTIYA IRKUTSKOGO GOSUDARSTVENNOGO UNIVERSITETA». SERIYA «POLITOLOGIYA. RELIGIOVEDENIE»
«THE BULLETIN OF IRKUTSK STATE UNIVERSITY». SERIES «POLITICAL SCIENCE AND RELIGION STUDIES»
ISSN 2073-3380 (Print)

List of issues > Series «Political Science and Religion Studies». 2025. Vol 54

Eurasian Regionalism in Higher Education and Russian Educational Cooperation

Author(s)

A. M. Pogorelskaya

National Research Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russian Federation

Abstract
The research aim is to define the place of Eurasian regional projects in higher education in Russian foreign policy. The research objectives include outlining Russian foreign policy priorities and characterizing Russian policy towards existing regional initiatives in higher education in Eurasia. The study is based on the analysis of Russian strategic documents related to foreign policy and higher education, as well as available statistics. The article provides the literature review on regionalism in higher education as a foreign policy instrument. The emphasis is placed on the changes that Russian foreign policy priorities have undergone since 2022, and their consequences for Russian participation in regional projects in higher education. It is concluded that Russia was the initiator of regional educational cooperation in the post-Soviet space, since it was considered a way of integrating the region mainly under the CIS auspices. However, the lack of mechanisms ensuring the implementation of agreements, attempts by some countries to distance from Russia, and subsequently the emergence of new dividing lines resulted in the fact that achieving Russian goals in previous formats has become difficult. Therefore, Russian attention is now being reoriented to educational cooperation under a wider range of regional initiatives.
About the Authors
Pogorelskaya Anastasia Mihajlovna, Сandidate of Sciences (History), Associate Professor, World Politics Department, Faculty of Historical and Political Studies National Research Tomsk State University 36, Lenin ave., Tomsk, 634050, Russian Federation e-mail: pogorelskaya@mail.tsu.ru
For citation
Pogorelskaya A.M. Eurasian Regionalism in Higher Education and Russian Educational Cooperation. The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Political Science and Religion Studies, 2025, vol. 54, pp. 108-120. https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3380.2025.54.108 (in Russian)
Keywords
overlapping regionalism, educational cooperation, higher education, foreign policy, student mobility, harmonization, network university.
UDC
327
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3380.2025.54.108
References
  1. Deriglazova L., Pogorelskaya A. Celepolaganie ehksporta vysshego obrazovaniya Rossijskoj Federacii: konstanty i peremennye [Rationales for the Export of Higher Education by the Russian Federation: Constants and Variables]. International Organisations Research Journal, 2024, vol. 19, no 4, pp. 124-143. (in Russian) 
  2. Lebedeva M.M. Mezhdunarodno-politicheskie processy integracii obrazovaniya [International political processes of integration of education]. Integratsiya obrazovaniya [Integration of Education], 2017, vol. 21, no 3, pp. 385-394. (in Russian) 
  3. Leskina N.V. Evropejskij regionalizm v sfere obrazovaniya: ot Bolonskogo processa k Sorbonskomu [Higher Education Regionalism in Europe: from Bologna Process to Sorbonne]. Contemporary Europe, 2021, no. 2, pp. 158-166. (in Russian) 
  4. Nikolaev V.K. Ehksport obrazovaniya v vuzakh Rossii v usloviyakh novoj realnosti [Exporting Russian Higher Education in the Conditions of a New Reality]. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii [Higher Education in Russia], 2022, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 149-166. (in Russian) 
  5. Pogorelskaya A.M. Ehksport uslug stranami-uchastnicami Evropejskogo prostranstva vysshego obrazo-vaniya: uroki dlya Rossii [Export of services by European Higher Education Area countries: Lessons for Russia]. St. Petersburg University Journal of Economic Studies, 2024, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 273-299. (in Russian) 
  6. Rypnevskaya A.S. Perspektivy vzaimodejstviya gosudarstv-uchastnikov Sodruzhestva Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv [Prospects of Cooperation in the Commonwealth of Independent States]. Contemporary Europe, 2024, no. 2, pp. 203-211. (in Russian) 
  7. Titarenko L.G., Zaslavskaya M.I. Evropejskaya integraciya sistem vysshego obrazovaniya Respubliki Belarus' i Respubliki Armeniya [European Integration of the Systems of Higher Education of Belarus and Armenia]. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology, 2019, no. 1, pp. 102-112. (in Russian) 
  8. Shhipkov V.A. Regionalizm kak ideologija globalizma [Regionalism as the Ideology of Globalism]. Moscow, MGIMO University Publishing House, 2017, 188 p. (in Russian) 
  9. Yun S.M. Obrazovanie kak sfera sotrudnichestva v ramkakh Evrazijskogo ehkonomicheskogo soyuza: problemy i perspektivy [Educational Cooperation in the Eurasian Economic Union: problems and prospects]. Tomsk State University Journal of History, 2017, no. 50, pp. 89-92. (in Russian) 
  10. Chou M.-H., Ravinet P. The Rise of ‘Higher Education Regionalism’: An Agenda for Higher Education Research. Huisman J., de Boer H., Dill D.D., Souto-Otero M. (eds.) The Palgrave International Handbook of Higher Education Policy and Governance. London, Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2015, pp. 361-378. 
  11. Dang Q.-A. Unintended Outcomes of the EHEA and ASEAN: Peripheral Members and Their Façade conformity. Curaj A., Deca L., Pricopie R. (eds.) European Higher Education Area: The Impact of Past and Future Policies. Springer, 2018, pp. 401-420. 
  12. de Wit H. Internationalization of Higher Education in the United States of America and Europe. A Historical, Comparative, and Conceptual Analysis. Westport : Greenwood Press, 2002, 270 p. 
  13. Hamanaka S. The World of Overlapping Regions: Explaining Exclusionary Regionalism from a Social Psychology Perspective. IDE Discussion Paper N 835. Institute of Developing Economies, 2022, 23 p. 
  14. Kushnir I., Yazgan N. Shifting geopolitics of the European higher education space. European Journal of Higher Education, 2024. DOI 10.1080/21568235.2024.2398742
  15. Longhurst K.A., Nitza-Makowska A., Skiert-Andrzejuk K. International Higher Education as Foreign Policy: Comparing the Strategies of the EU, China, and Russian Towards Central Asia. Polish Political Science Yearbook, 2022, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 111-123. 
  16. Minaeva E., Prostakov I. International student recruitment and mobility in Russia: Upgrading the post-Soviet model. De Wit H., Minaeva E., Wang L. (eds.) International Student Recruitment and Mobility in Non-Anglophone Countries. Routledge, 2022, pp. 119-142. 
  17. Moscovitz H., Zahavi H. The Bologna Process as a foreign policy endeavour: motivations and reactions to the externalisation of European higher education. European Journal of Higher Education, 2019, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 7-22. 
  18. Nye J. Soft Power and Higher Education. Forum for the Future of Higher Education (Archives), 2005, no. 1, pp. 11-14. 
  19. Panke D., Stapel S. Exploring overlapping regionalism. Journal of International Relations and Development, 2018, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 635-662. 
  20. Robertson S. ‘Europe/Asia’ Regionalism, Higher Education and the Production of World Order. Policy Futures in Education, 2008, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 718-729.
  21. Scheeck L. Nested Regionalism and Politics of Linkage: The EU, NATO and the Council of Europe – Case Studies for a Comparative Research Agenda. de Sales Marques J.L., Seidelmann R., Vasilache A. (eds.) States, Regions and the Global System. Europe and Norther Asia-Pacific in Globalised Governance. Nomos, 2011, pp. 121-140. 
  22. Wojciuk A., Michałek M., Stormowska M. Education as a source and tool of soft power in international relations. European Political Science, 2015, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 1-20.
  23. Zhakyanova A.M., Baisultanova K.Ch. The EU and the Common Central Asian Higher Education Area: The Kazakh Dimension. European Review, 2023, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 1-12.



Full text (russian)