Scientific Research in Russian Universities: Problems and Regional Features

The article examines the issues and processes that determine the integration of higher education and science in the modern economy. The main attention is paid to changes in the financing of scientific research and development in universities, both in the Russian Federation as a whole and in 11 of its regions, which in recent years have accounted for almost ¾ of R&D expenditures in higher education institutions. These regions are: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk and Rostov regions, the Republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, Perm, Krasnoyarsk and Krasnodar territories. It is shown that in 2019-2023 there is a gradual increase in funding for university science from the federal budget. The increase began in 2020 with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. During the period under review, organizations invested in scientific research in higher education in different ways, but the general trend is that their investments lag behind federal budget funding. Moscow universities increased the share of income received from scientific activities in their total income in 2023 compared to 2019, in St. Petersburg this figure decreased despite the fact that four national research universities operate in the second Russian capital. In the remaining nine regions, the share of university income from R&D increased. In 2023, higher education institutions in these nine regions accounted for 20% of all Russian higher education income from science. Although the share of St. Petersburg universities' income from R&D decreased during the period under review, they nevertheless retained second place in this indicator after Moscow universities. Higher education institutions in the Tomsk region came in third place. In general, at present, funding for university science is not only not decreasing, but is growing in the main regions of its development. However, at least in the university science sector, it has not yet been possible to ensure this development through private money and, consequently, private initiative. As a result, there is an increasing nationalization of scientific research and development in higher education, and the crisis phenomena in the economy, in particular high inflation, contribute to this in many ways.