Higher education funding statistics in contemporary Russia: alarming trends

The purpose of this work is to determine the current level of financing of higher education in the country in recent years, based on the available direct and indirect statistical data, the dynamics of the process of financing it over the years, existing trends within the framework of this problem, and their impact on the development of higher education in Russia. The research method is the analysis (quantitative and qualitative) of the official statistics of Rosstat on the financing of higher education in the Russian Federation in the indicated years, with the addition and correction of its statistical information from the collections of the NRU HSE. The choice of this research method is due to the fact that the statistics of Rosstat on this issue, provided it is reliable, does not give a complete picture of the financing of higher education in the country. Based on direct and indirect statistical data, the author presents an analysis of the financing of higher education in the Russian Federation for 2000-2018, reveals the dynamics of expenditures for its maintenance for the specified years, indicates a tendency to reduce budgetary financing of higher education over the past years for all the parameters presented; the state’s desire was stated to shift the burden of financial expenses for the maintenance of higher education to the funds of organizations and the population, extra-budgetary funds and foreign sources, which in the current conditions cannot be considered as serious sources of its financing; the tendency of reducing funding for research and development in state, municipal and private institutions of higher education and an unstable, multidirectional trend of financial spending on other types of educational activities, mainly from extra-budgetary funds, are indicated.