Breaking of the Path Dependence in Higher Education Systems in the Eastern Partnership Countries: The Case of the Republic of Moldova
Breaking of the Path Dependence in Higher Education Systems in the Eastern Partnership Countries: The Case of the Republic of Moldova

Summary/Abstract: As the rightful heir of all institutional arrangements of Soviet origin, after the disintegration of the USSR, the Russian Federation has intensively capitalised on the conceptual dependence on these arrangements. Thus, most of the independent states resulting from the dismemberment of the USSR remained captive in the legacies of Soviet origin for a long time. The break with the Soviet model of organisation and operation of the higher education systems in the former republics of the USSR occurred differently and chaotically. The trajectory was not a consecutive one based on a strategic conception, but rather it was emergent, oscillatory and reversible. After a series of consecutive critical events, the dismantling of path dependence materialised. The process of institutionalising a new path dependency in higher education has become irreversible. The path dependence established in the middle of the last decade is based on values derived from the Bologna Declaration. Without going into the depth of the historical processes, the article presents the main stages of breaking the institutional arrangements of Soviet origin regarding the organisation and operation of higher education. Thus, in the first part is briefly presented the general evolution specific to the Eastern Partnership countries. Subsequently, the developments of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine in breaking the dependence on the concepts promoted by the Russian Federation regarding higher education are analysed.

• Details
• Contents