It turned out when the specialty will be legally equated with a bachelor’s degree

Not all specialists will be able to enroll in a master’s program for free

Admission to the budget in the magistracy will probably become available for those who have graduated from the specialty. Previously, the path to a specialist led either to graduate school to obtain an initial scientific degree, or to a paid master’s program. President Putin instructed to review this rule.

Since such an instruction to the government on behalf of the state was announced at a meeting of the president with representatives of engineering schools, one must think that the innovation will primarily affect engineering and other technical specialties. It was also agreed that “the expediency of granting persons who have completed their studies in the specialist’s programs the right to enroll in master’s programs” will be determined in some areas of study. That is, not yet for everyone. And that the master’s degree should correspond to the direction of study in the specialty.

The fact that our higher education is divided into three levels: bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and specialist’s degree was discussed a lot back in the spring. In the heat of the battles over the withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the Bologna system, Viktor Sadovnichy, Chairman of the Union of Rectors of the Russian Federation, especially singled out this problem in his speech in the State Duma. And Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the Duma meeting on the “lap dog”, was more indignant at the fact that after a bachelor’s degree one can go to a master’s program in a completely different profile and to another department.

– There are several positive aspects in this initiative of the president, – Evgeny Serov, an expert in the field of higher education, comments. – Firstly, we don’t have enough budgetary master’s programs, and bachelors do not have enough of it either. If they increase the quota for specialists, it’s already good, at least in technical areas. It is technical, because, as we remember, following the results of the discussion “to refuse or not to refuse” from the Bologna system, we decided that those who need to study for a long time will have a specialty: engineers, analysts, doctors … And it’s good that they were given the right to receive advanced higher education. In addition, in the heat of introducing a two-level bachelor-master model in our country, as well as the “2 + 2 + 2” system – when after the second year of a bachelor’s degree you can change the direction of study, and change again when entering a master’s program, a hole crept into the law. And, roughly speaking, an economist after a bachelor’s degree can go to nuclear physicists, and a physicist, for example, to historians … Therefore, it is very correct that the new legislative initiative immediately outlines the directions in which, after 5 years of study in a specialty, you can go to a master’s program. Of course, there are rectors who do not see this as a problem and say that it is always possible to arrange additional entrance exams so that everyone does not go to the magistracy. However, from the experience of regional colleagues, I know that we have a problem with non-specialized magistracy, and it is serious.

In a conversation with MK, the expert noted that even with the approval of the government, a change in the law “On Education” will be submitted to the State Duma. There, the initiative is waiting for consideration in the relevant committees, public examination and three readings, only after that the bill will be signed by the president. That is, such a change will not happen quickly, and it is unlikely that, to some extent, the equating of a specialty with a bachelor’s degree will be carried out by the admission campaign of 2023. Most likely, it will go according to the previous rules.