A new requirement for Russian institutions to appoint rectors for students’ moral development is being interpreted as another sign of a country reverting to Soviet-style thought control.
Coined during the USSR era, the position of pro rector in charge of vospitatel’naya rabota — which roughly translates as ‘character-building’ — was once common in universities. Such individuals were tasked with benign activities, such as organising volunteering and student scholarships, as well as more insidious ones, viz, inculcating state propaganda in their young charges.
The post still exists at many universities, but now, it will be mandatory for all of them. Announcing this measure, Russian’s deputy minister of education Petr Kucherenko emphasised the importance of developing students not only as specialists in their fields, but also as “fully-fledged citizens of Russian society”, according to state media.
Scholars say this initiative recalls times when Communist Russia intervened heavily to shape young people’s worldview. “Given that the old system is gone, the Russian re-Sovietisers are looking for opportunities to recreate similar structures in their universities,” says Anatoly Oleksiyenko, a scholar of post-Soviet studies in higher education policies based at the University of Hong Kong.
Dr. Oleksiyenko says that for now, it is uncertain whether Moscow will hand-pick candidates for the job, but tasking rectors with selection could be a shrewd political manoeuvre. “Most likely the Kremlin will give this responsibility to rectors, so that they also feel greater responsibility – and thus become extra cautious and anxious – in the processes of student admissions and development,” he says.
Igor Chirikov, a senior researcher at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley, agrees that this initiative reflects a broader trend toward “re-Sovietisation of Russian universities”, with institutions “resurrecting or reinventing” Soviet rhetoric. “The Kremlin already has far-reaching influence,” agrees Maria Popova, associate professor in the department of political science at McGill University, Montreal, adding this is “a way to make the process of achieving political goals in the university setting more efficient and more centralised”.
