They taught in Soviet times. She assigns reading that includes the shattering memoirs of Nadezhda Mandelstam, wife of Osip Mandelstam, the poet who died in the Gulag. But holdovers from the Soviet era still do have an effect on the lives of most students, subjecting them, for example, to grueling entrance exams, rote learning, lottery-like oral exams at the end of each semester, and only minimal student participation allowed in classes led by dictatorial professors. Even at universities that tout freedom of choice, the number of mandatory courses is so great that students have little room to maneuver. Dormitories are cheap, but also dirty and dangerous.
Corruption is rife.
Education is becoming more regionally stratified. Fewer students are travelling to Moscow to study because of prohibitive travel costs and substandard living conditions. Russian universities now have closer ties with their Western counterparts than with their immediate neighbors. Another major unresolved issue is how closely intertwined higher education is with military service. In exchange for one day per week of military training they graduate as officers and avoid basic training if they end up having to serve.