Project 5-100: dynamics and development patterns of universities

This paper is an analytical study that aims at determining the development patterns of universities participating in the Project 5-100 from the perspectives of their financial structures, development priorities and key performance indicators’ dynamics. Using statistical techniques, including cluster analysis, we attempt to record the development patterns within several frames. The analysis based on the data of the Monitoring of performance of Russian higher education institutions of the Ministry for Education and Science; on the target and actual indicators, fixed in the roadmaps of the participating. The cluster analysis was implemented in two key time points of the Project: at the starting point (2013), when the second stage of the Project started (2015), and in the last available time point (2016). The analysis revealed the patterns of financial structures’ changes, the patterns of actual development in accordance with the roadmaps. We also identified four complex patterns using the cluster analysis. Moreover, the identified patterns were matched with the dynamics of universities’ progress in terms of inclusion into worldwide rankings. These results can be used in further researches of Project 5-100 or similar excellence initiatives in higher education, as well as when studying participating universities’ performance.