applicants want to get practical skills from the university, the value of the diploma is declining

Applicants and their parents want to get practical skills from the university, and the value of a diploma of higher education is gradually decreasing. These conclusions were reached by the Center for Sociological Design “Platforma” and the online research company “OnIn”, after analyzing the level of demand for higher education. For this reason, school graduates are increasingly interested in secondary specialized education (SVE). Experts interviewed by Kommersant confirm the growing popularity of vocational education, but note that many college graduates then go to study at universities.

Center for sociological design “Platform” and online research company “OnIn” analyzed level of demand and attractiveness of higher education in Russia. In August 2023, sociologists conducted an online survey of 900 respondents from different parts of the country, half of whom were potential applicants (18-25 years old), and half of whom were parents of children of this age. As it turned out, only 38% of the “young” respondents consider it optimal to receive full-time higher education after school. But among the “parents” this option was preferred by 63%.

“We see that the formal norms of a “correct and successful life” — school, university, career — have less and less influence on young people,” notes Alexei Firsov, general director of the Platforma CSP, sociologist. “For a significant part of respondents, higher education is no longer perceived as a necessary attribute success. Although among the older generations – “parents” – the opposite point of view dominates. Therefore, Mr. Firsov is confident that “higher education will require adaptability, which today a very small number of universities are ready to demonstrate.”

The next most popular educational trajectory is obtaining secondary specialized education. This option was chosen by 18% of “youth” and 19% of “parents”. “This corresponds to the structure of demand in the labor market — there is a higher demand for “applied” specialties and fewer barriers to entry,” the authors of the study believe.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko, in 2023, 1,236,022 first-year students entered universities. And Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova reported that “a total of 1.2 million first-year students started studying at colleges and technical schools” this year. The Ministry of Education and Science assured Kommersant that it was “impossible to see any kind of competition here.” The department stated that “the system of secondary special education, professionalism, higher education is a single mechanism in which the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Education, as well as the regions themselves, in whose direct jurisdiction are colleges, participate.” The department also noted that “the demand for secondary vocational education is a positive trend for the Russian economy.” And they recalled that “many college graduates do not stop in the educational process and go to universities.”

Professor of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Academician of the Russian Academy of Education Viktor Bolotov believes that the choice in favor of colleges speaks of the growth of independence of children, “since the majority of parents are still focused on universities.” “Some schoolchildren soberly assess their knowledge and abilities – and understand that they may not get normal scores when passing the exam. And, consequently, not to enter good universities,” notes Mr. Bolotov. “However, no less than ninth grade graduates, like many eleventh grade graduates, want to quickly get on their feet. And choose colleges. The expert also notes that college students often want to get higher education.

Young specialists are of interest to many employers, regardless of their level of education. So, the press service of Rosatom Kommersant reported that about 2 thousand graduates are employed annually in the nuclear industry, both from colleges and universities: “We have a need to attract 350 thousand specialists to the industry by 2030, from we expect 70,000 of them from colleges and universities.” The company finds potential employees, including holding events in educational institutions of different levels of education.

Sociologists also analyzed which specialties are most popular among graduates. It turned out that 21% choose the IT sector. In second place with a noticeable gap were engineering specialties – 10%. The authors of the study note that “the interests of both applicants and parents correspond to the main technological trends,” however, there is a risk of “overstocking” IT specialties, so “it is important to work on a long-term image of the professions of the future and differentiation of choice.”

Vitaly Altukhov, director of development and research and co-founder of Profilum, notes that the IT industry is still one of the highest priority industries for the state, and “a whole range of measures is aimed at overcoming the shortage of personnel in this area within the framework of the Digital Economy national project “”. The expert believes that in the next 5-10 years, the demand for IT specialists will continue due to the active digitalization of many industries. Nevertheless, Mr. Altukhov notes that the risk of a further decrease in the number of positions in IT really exists “due to the automation of many routine processes, including the use of neural networks.”

“The IT sector will only grow and create new specialties that will require learning new skills. And the goal of education today is to predict obvious and hidden trends in the labor market with the help of available artificial intelligence technologies and connect them with individual educational trajectories,” said Anastasia Shishkova, head of the Skyeng online school. The expert believes that the problem of oversaturation with certain personnel can be solved precisely at the level of education: “Having a career route that is understandable for every person, adaptable to changes in the labor market, macro- and microeconomic indicators, we will be able to quickly understand why and how much time we need to spend on study and what it will give you in the end. Thus, technologies in education will connect with the labor market and will be aimed at maximizing the potential of everyone with a guarantee of employment and self-realization.”

Polina Yachmennikova