“Optimizing” Higher Education in Russia University Teachers and their Union Universitetskaya solidarnost’

"This book is full of unique insights into higher education in Russia: the day-to-day realities for lecturers, the workplace relationships, the extent of academic freedom and both the successes and shortcomings of trade union activity. No-one is better placed to understand these dynamics than David Mandel, who has not only researched trade unions, but also actively supported and cooperated with trade union militants in Russia, for decades. His account is sympathetic to, but realistic about, these militants: this is not a view through rose-tinted spectacles."—Simon Pirani, Honorary Professor, University of Durham, and author of The Russian Revolution in Retreat and Change in Putin’s Russia