Jamil Salmi and Alenoush Saroyan 4 Universities in Innovation and Economic Development Sachi Hatakenaka

partners. In the United Kingdom, government funding for
“third mission activities” has helped academics as well as
administrators work closely with industry and other sectors,
providing valuable learning and networking opportunities.
A good starting point for building relevance is a dialogue
between universities, industry, and government. For that to be
effective, society needs to drop its scepticism and believe that
universities can contribute to its development, and equally aca-
demics need to recognize that they can strive for relevance
without compromising their scientific integrity.
5
i n t e r n a t i o n a l h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n
international issues
Universities can play a less direct yet important
economic role by setting forth the social, cultural,
and intellectual tone of a local area. 
Internet Resources
Visit our Web site for downloadable back issues of
International Higher Education and other publica-
tions and resources at http://www.bc.edu/cihe/. 

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The Idea of a Research
University in Russia
Anna Smolentseva
Anna Smolentseva is a senior research fellow at the Institute for
Educational Studies at Moscow State University. Address: 5/7 B.Nikitskaya
Ul, Moscow, 125009, Russia. E-mail: [e-mail].
A
s in many countries of the world, the concept of the
research university, its criteria, and functions have been
discussed in Russia. Generally there are three major obstacles
to developing such an institutional model in Russia. First,
higher education historically was not the main source of
knowledge production. Second, government funding of
research, especially in higher education institutions, has bro-
ken down, and new sources of funding are limited. Third, for
many reasons faculty are not ready to meet the challenge of
knowledge production involved with the concept of research
university.