The Transfer of Cultural Assumptions About American Higher Education in a Global Society: Perceptions of Visiting Russian Scholars
C. Carney Strange, Advisor This study examined the transfer of ideas about higher education gleaned from Russian administrators and faculty members, who returned to home institutions in the former Soviet Union following an exchange visit to the United States to gain insight into the workings of our complex higher education model. At the core of this assessment were these Russian educators’ perceptions of institutional output and process goals attributed to the U.S. institutions that hosted them, and their comparative experiences and expectations in the Russian system. The instrument used in this study is an adaptation of the Institutional Goals Inventory (IGI), a 95-item, Likert-type measure (Peterson, 1970) that assesses the importance attributed to 13 institutional output and 9 institutional process goals. For purposes of this study each goal was evaluated by respondents, as they perceived its associated items to reflect what they observed in the U.S., what they experience in their home institutions, and what they idealize for institutional aspiration in the Russian system. Data were gathered on-line through a Web-based survey, offered both in English and Russian, with minor modifications for clearer cross-cultural understanding. Through a combination of program participant lists, electronic networks, and direct solicitation, this method yielded a usable sample of 70 respondents, all of whom were individuals with careers in various disciplines from colleges and universities in the former Soviet Union.
Reforming Russian Higher Education: Towards more Autonomous Institutions
The radical changes of the post-"glasnost" period in Russia were brought about by her own people­ well-educated and highly-trained-whose value , . however, was not appreciated by the system. Being the product of the Soviet education (because and de­ spite of this fact) , they turned first of aIl to school with an eye to its transformation so as to enable the self-development of creative and responsible person­ alities . The major goals of the educational reform were conceptualized by the Temporary Research Col­ lective (VNIK) "School" and became part and the parcel of the 1 992 Law on Education. The underlying principles of the state educational policy, as adopted from the 1 992 Law on Education, Article 2, are the fo l l o w i n g : 1 ) h u m a n is m a s a c tu a l i z e d in a child-centered approach, commitment to univers al values and the free development of personalities and citizens; 2) multiculturalism which pursues both in­ tegrity of the federal cultural and edueational systems and protection of regional and ethnie cultural tradi­ tions; 3) secular character of the state and municipal educational institutions; 4) freedom and pluralism in education (implying choice of methods of teaching and teaching materials for teachers, choice of schools and programs for students and their parents, and over­ coming dogmatism in general); 5) democratic princi­ pIes of governance and autonomy of educational insti­ tutions. While these common principles were promulgated, the timing and policies relating to their introduction at the general and higher educational levels differed, but affected each other. Traditionally, higher education has enjoyed less control from the state in such areas as academic standards and research principles . AIso, the State Committee for Higher Education was earlier than the Ministry of Education in initiating systemic work for enhancing the responsibilities of regions and individual educational institutions . However, more rapid were the moves to radically decentralize general education financing; the transfer of up to 80% of school funding from the federal to the regional level was initiated (OECD, 1 998). The intended benefits of this reform put aside, its success was exacerbated by the lack of resources and many competing needs in localities. Thus, general education encountered enor­ mous hardship. This initial experience with decentral­ ization cooled down the enthusiasm of many Rectors for increasing the autonomy of their institutions, un­ less the new freedom was to be accompanied by rea­ sonable financial guarantees. Many of the Rectors feared that school-type "regionalization" became equated to parochialism and financial starvation of educational institutions . 1 At the same time the pros­ pects for institutional autonomy were looked upon as more remote than earlier since the federal funding, though considerably reduced, continued to comprise the largest share in institutional overall funding and the center continued to exercise most of the authority over higher education. This article will focus on the state of affairs and prospects of the stated policy towards institutional au­ ton orny in Russian higher education. It will analyze the background factors which further or impede the trend towards greater institutional autonomy, it will identify the key areas of institutional autonomy and the motives of the actors affected by the national pol-
Stereoselective interaction between the R enantiomer of warfarin and cimetidine.
The stereoselectivity of the pharmacokinetic interaction between warfarin and cimetidine was investigated in eight healthy volunteers. The warfarin enantiomers were given separately as single doses (15 mg) alone and during chronic administration of cimetidine (1 g day-1). Cimetidine did not interact with S warfarin but there was an interaction with the R enantiomer of warfarin. Cimetidine caused a significant increase in the mean plasma half-life of R warfarin (from 47.8 h to 57.8 h) and a significant decrease in its mean plasma clearance (from 2.3 to 1.7 ml h-1 kg-1) (P less than 0.02). Administration of a pharmacological dose of vitamin K1 together with the enantiomers of warfarin was necessary clinically and resulted in elevation of vitamin K1 2,3-epoxide concentrations, which were similar in each case.