Adaptive Strategies in the Russian Vocational Education and Training System: Institutional Barriers and Rent-Seeking Behavior

The process of institutional change is going very rapidly in the Russian vocational education and training (VET) system. If implemented reforms are inconsistent with present working rules and institutions in the field, it causes inefficiencies of the VET system and may result in institutional traps. The actors involved in the VET system are working in an increasingly demanding environment. They have to adapt their behaviors to complicated and constantly changing rules. Seeking to meet the requirements of students and employers, who operate under resource constraints, educational organizations undertake curriculum reductions to minimize costs. These measures usually result in low education outcomes and poor quality of education. In an attempt to identify adaptive behavioral patterns of actors involved in the educational process, we have conducted and analyzed 50 in-depth interviews with lecturers, managers and students within the educational organizations of Rostov region that offer VET programs. Our research aims to contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of adaptation among academic staff members and VET students using the concepts of institutional economics and qualitative research methods.