Participation and access in higher education in Russia: continuity and change of a positional advantage

In the last two decades massification has been the dominant trend in the development of higher education in Russia, but it has also been puzzling. With the breakdown of the Soviet Union in 1991, the entire social, political and economic structure in Russia has collapsed. No Soviet industry was thriving and demanded higher educated staff, no jobs were now assigned to the higher education graduates as it was in the USSR.