Higher education in single-industry towns (a case of Russia)

​In the paper we make an attempt to answer the following questions: "What is the mission of universities in single-industry towns?" and "What is responsibility of these universities for local communities and regional labour market?" During the research expedition to Ural region, we have found out that the main universities' activity is teaching, but through this activity universities are building the local community and holding youth within the town.

University becomes a satellite of local industry, and if short-term tasks of workforce production are more or less fulfilled, long-term goals of regional development are at risk. Universities hold youth, and towns sustain themselves, but people are attached to towns that are usually at risk of instability - everything is tied to a single industry. Finally, universities may experience pressure of multiple stakeholders: federal and regional regulators, local public administration, industry, community. And thus university's own agency is hard to emerge.