Institutions and organisations in Russian higher education: the example of Rostov region education services market

The paper examines the process of transformation in institutional and organizational structures of Russian Higher Education (Rostov Region is taken as an example). Adaptive economic behavior of key actors on the Russian education services market has been studied in the context of constantly changing institutional and organizational environments. Original institutional approach in the tradition of J. Commons and J. Hodgson has been applied to analyze interconnections between institutions and organizations. The evolution of institutional and organizational structures in Russian Higher education has been divided into three stages. We distinguish between those stages taking into account the dynamics of quantitative indicators and the change in norms and standards that regulate actors’ behavior in the field. The period of 1990-2002 can be characterized by weakening of government regulation and, simultaneously, lack of financial support of Higher Education. Meanwhile, private Higher Education and paid university programmes developed rapidly during that period. These changes resulted in quantitative growth in the field on the one hand, and devaluation of Higher Education, on the other hand. It is assumed that the “bubble” in Russian Higher Education, which arose in 2002-2008, occurred to a great extent because of the expansion in extramural and lowquality full-time education aimed only at getting graduate diplomas. During the period of bubble formation and latter decline in demand on the Russian education services market, the Government strengthened norms and standards referring to regulation of Higher Education. Recent “optimization processes” of 2009-2015 resulted in reducing the number of students and lecturers, universities and their branches