The purpose of the present article is to generalize and unify the approaches to improvement of the institutional environment that ensures optimal functioning and sustainable development of the Russian academic sphere. The following conclusions and results have been obtained through presentation of the materials in the article: (1) Improvement of the institutionalization of science and education must be reviewed in the context of evolutionary transitions that advance new demands for academic and human resourcing of state administration, financial and economic activities, and social development; (2) Russian (just as Soviet) academic sphere is described by structural imbalances, which can be regarded both as a consequence of the shocking transition to market relations and as a consequence of imperfect institutionalization; (3) Solutions proposed in the article are primarily aimed to unify the goals, tasks and results of interaction of the actors integrated into the institutional environment of the Russian academic sphere; and (4) Formalization of the structural model of development of the Russian education and science on the basis of the institutional approach (using the triple helix mechanism of H. Etzkowitz) can serve as a basis for the development of practice-focused concepts (as targeted programs, roadmaps), which will detail the specific measures; Realization of these measures will ensure the structural balance of the national academic sphere, which in turn can be regarded as a cognitive and intellectual potential of the transition from industrial to post-industrial economic formation of society.