“World-class” universities can harm others

With the significant costs involved in developing world-class institutions that can attract and retain top students and academics, there may not be as much money for second- and third-tier institutions within a country.

Eye-watering amounts are being spent on upgrading universities by countries such as the People`s Republic of China, which wants to create as many as 50 world-class institutions. South Korea, Japan and Taiwan have similar ambitions, Vietnam has introduced a New Model Universities strategy. Similar initiatives are taking place in France, Germany, Spain and Russia.

The Russian government ought to allocate up to 137 billion rubles to the development of education from 2011-2015 under a new federal target programme. Most of the money is expected to be spent on strengthening universities.