Evaluation of Research and Innovation Policies : The Case of Russian Universities

In recent years, evaluation and impact assessments (IA) of research and innovation (R&I) policies have become of interest both to researchers and policy makers. The latter use the results of such assessments when developing new regulations and monitoring the implementation and effectiveness of policies already in place. The practice and methodology of policy evaluation and IA are characterised by the diversity of approaches used and the existence of a number of unresolved methodological problems. At the same time, efforts are being made to define conceptual frameworks for policy evaluation and IA, categorise relevant studies and cases, and draft recommendations.This paper looks at public policies and programmes aimed at stimulating R&I in Russian universities. For this purpose, 299 universities were surveyed in 2013-2014 to reveal their demand for the relevant policies in 2006-2012 and the effects they had. Based on survey results we assess the impact of the policies on universities and suggest recommendations regarding the improvement of state regulations and further conduction of similar assessments