Education has been oft-cited as the basis for a successful society. Not only does it give people the tools they need to build a stable, prosperous community imbued by vision, it also contributes, if properly done, to a more harmonious, unified and, hopefully, happier personality.

Russia has, historically, been famous for its high level of learning. In the tsarist period - at least among certain strata of the bureaucracy and upper classes - it was placed at a premium. And the Soviet claim that its population numbered among the most literate in the world was not simply propaganda - though, of course, a large segment of reading material was officially verboten.

This is one of the reasons why the decline of Russia´s educational system - which is, however, still quite high in general for those who can get access to it - is so tragic. For many, higher educations have been effectively priced out of reach. This interferes both with people´s abilities to enhance their own lives and, worryingly on a national level, with the nation´s ability to nurture the intellectual resources and know-how that will be necessary if Russia is ever going to become more than an export platform selling off its gas, oil and metals.

This is why it is good that organizations like the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation, featured in this issue, are beginning to develop in contemporary Russia. Admittedly, it may be a while before Potanin´s name is linked to the concept of philanthropy - John D. Rockefeller is a similar case that springs to mind - but it is an admirable thing that some of the money that has found its way at the top of the social ladder is beginning to trickle its way down to the population as a whole.

One can only hope that organizations like this, and the projects they undertake, expand the breadth and depth of their work in the future. For education, as the basis of society at large, is also the basis for the future of Russia.