Prof. Dr. Anatoly V. Oleksiyenko

Drawing on semi-structured interviews with seasoned scholars from Georgia, Lithuania, and Ukraine, this presentation examines the enduring legacies of the Soviet construction of intelligentsia and explores the leadership challenges faced by academic intellectuals within the framework of a totalitarian university. The study investigates a range of phenomena such as authoritarian “matryoshka” management, surrogate academic freedom, punishment through immobilization, and other complex processes characteristic of the Soviet academic regime. As post-Soviet intellectuals become increasingly influenced by global paradigms of science and international research networks, this shift raises important questions about the future trajectories of higher education in their countries. Given that this domain has been historically shaped over decades by distinct philosophies and administrative practices rooted in an alternative conceptualization of learning and scholarly governance, understanding its evolution is both complex and crucial.

Anatoly Oleksiyenko is Professor of International Higher Education at the Department of Education Policy and Leadership, and Executive Co-Director of the Centre for Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies at the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). His research focuses on agential dilemmas in global higher education, with most impactful publications addressing transformational challenges in post-Soviet higher education. His papers received a range of awards from the Comparative and International Education Society in the USA (2016 – best article award from the Higher Education SIG; 2019 – best book award from the SIG International Students and Study Abroad; and 2024 – best research paper award from the SIG Europe and Central Asia). Professor Oleksiyenko holds a PhD in Higher Education from OISE-University of Toronto in Canada.