The authors discuss the need to balance the unique history of Russian higher education, preserving and developing those areas in which the country has traditionally excelled and competed successfully at the international level, with the country's signatory acceptance of the Bologna Agreement for European educational integration. While apprehensive that, as a result of hasty and insufficiently considered reorganizations, much may be irretrievably lost not only to the culture of Russia but also to European and world culture, the writers acknowledge that inaction or slow movement along the path of cooperation could marginalize Russian education. Based on responses from a December 2005 through February 2006 survey of 300 students and 100 instructors/associates at Udmurt State University, the authors conclude that the most acceptable strategy for Russian higher education to become a part of the unified educational space is a gradual, phased adoption of the individual components of the Agreement. This position is seen as in harmony with assessments of the prospects of the adoption of elements of the Bologna process in Russia as a whole, while providing an optimal strategy at the current time.