The “Triple Helix” Theory and Institutional Gaps in the Engineering Personnel Training System in Russia

The article is the first one in a series of studies on the institutional mechanisms of engineering personnel training in Russia. The aim is to analyze the causes of persistent institutional gaps within the STEM specialist training system through a critical reassessment of the “Triple Helix” theory, and to substantiate new analytical approaches. The methodology is based on the Triple Helix framework, J. Alexander’s concept of the epistemological continuum, S.G. Kirdina’s concept of institutional matrices, and V.M. Polterovich’s theory of institutional traps. The empirical base comprises data from the research project “Satellites in the Third STEM Space” conducted at the Center for Sociological Research “14–35” of the State University of Management. The research findings indicate that the “Triple Helix” theory is not validated in practice. The state redistributive, academic university, and market production coordination matrices are structurally incompatible, which reproduces institutional gaps regardless of the existence of formal interaction mechanisms. The student survey data confirm that within this gap even professionally motivated students do not associate a career trajectory with formal institutional channels. A new research framework is proposed that identifies the possibilities of interaction between three actors (the state, education, and an industrial partner) in an environment with a heterogeneous institutional structure.