The agenda is formed by the political class. While the political class in any country is indeed formed by leading universities, they serve not just as sources of knowledge, but they also define positions. As well, what is also of equal importance is the fact that the individuals’ social networks and their network of mutual support is formed there. Universities are associated with their graduates and those instructors who are visible in the political field...

The educational system is a more conservative system than business and the modernisation of this system is a rather complicated task. We do not fully understand the actual state of things in the realm of Russian higher education and just how many problems we have in this sphere. Official figures indicate that, in Russia, there are more students per capita than in the United States. Is this a good or bad thing? Nobody actually knows. There are plenty of students pursuing higher education as a cover in order to evade military conscription...

In the USA, the influence that the university community has on politics is either absent whatsoever or is, in a sense, slightly negative. In China, by contrast, many of the most important leaders in the party in power come from just a small number of universities. Thus, in China we can observe a much closer connection between universities and the government...