Learn how not to sit down – Newspaper Kommersant No. 58 (7503) dated 04/05/2023

From September 1, all Russian universities will have to instill in students “an intolerant attitude towards extremism and terrorism.” The Ministry of Education and Science specifies that students will have to study, in particular, the law “On countering extremist activity” and the relevant decrees of Vladimir Putin. Up to 36 academic hours are allocated for the development of a new universal competence, no changes are made to the composition of disciplines. Experts doubt that the formation of such a competence can be adequately assessed, and they do not exclude that students will be warned not so much against “really serious crimes” as against any “oppositional activity”.

The head of the Ministry of Education and Science Valery Falkov signed an order to amend the federal state educational standards (FSES) of higher education. Now universities should form a civic position among students – in particular, “an intolerant attitude towards corrupt behavior.” The order of the Ministry of Education and Science replaced this wording with “intolerant attitude towards manifestations of extremism, terrorism, corrupt behavior” and “counteraction to them in professional activities.” The document will enter into force on September 1, 2023.

NRNU MEPhI draws attention to the fact that the order does not mean the introduction of a new academic discipline: “A change in competence may require changes to existing training courses. However, more detailed information on this issue will be available only in a few months. Ural Federal University told Kommersant that they have already accumulated sufficient experience on this topic: for example, since 2015, the master’s program “Prevention of extremism among the youth” in the direction “Organization of work with youth” has been implemented there. And about. Yury Rishko, vice-rector for education at NUST MISiS, told Kommersant that all the educational standards of the university have already been written down: students should be able to “analyze the main stages and patterns of the historical development of society; show an intolerant attitude towards extremism, terrorism, corrupt behavior and counteract them in professional activities. “This is implemented in the disciplines “History of Russia”, “Life Safety”, “Personal Efficiency”, Mr. Rishko explained.

The Ministry of Education and Science explained to Kommersant that changes are being made not to the composition of disciplines, but to the content of universal competence: “Disciplines that ensure the formation of such universal competence can be included both in the mandatory part of the program and in the part formed by the participants in educational relations.”

To do this, students must study the laws “On countering extremist activity”, “On countering corruption”, “On countering terrorism”, as well as the decrees of President Vladimir Putin on the approval of state strategies and regional concepts on relevant topics. Teaching staff with experience in teaching legal and legal disciplines can teach modules on issues of terrorism, extremism and corruption, the Ministry of Education and Science says. The department added that programs are already being developed on the basis of universities with the inclusion of topics and sections aimed at studying issues of extremism, terrorism and corruption. “The volume of hours is determined by the university depending on the direction and profile of the educational program,” they say in the ministry. “For example, a separate discipline can be allocated for legal specialties. For engineering education, it is possible to include certain topics and sections in disciplines related to the legal foundations of professional activity. The total amount of hours allocated for the development of universal competence can be up to 36 academic hours.

“For the formation of competence, practice is needed,” says Vladimir Blinov, director of the Research Center for Vocational Education and Qualification Systems of the Federal Institute for the Development of Education, RANEPA Vladimir Blinov. and combat experience. And what will be the practice? Where is it, under what conditions everything will be formed? If we are talking about citizenship, this is generally a complex concept, it is developed in the process of life and is based primarily on economic freedom. A person earns money, pays taxes and can show this position not only by participating in elections, but also in many everyday situations.”

Mr. Blinov wonders how it will be possible to measure the results of new competencies: “Developing a civic position as a goal is good. But let’s try to form some control and evaluation tools. How not to follow the path of setting a task, the results of which we simply cannot see. As global goals, this is correct, but tasks must have measurable result parameters.

Pavel Kudyukin, co-chairman of the independent trade union University Solidarity, notes that if changes are made to the Federal State Educational Standards, they apply to students of all specialties, and all teachers can be involved in the education of an “intolerant attitude” towards extremism.

Mr. Kudyukin fears that “because of the vague wording” of the order, it will be possible to make claims to any teacher that he is not engaged in educating “intolerance to extremism.”

Alexander Verkhovsky, head of the Sova analytical center (researches manifestations of xenophobia and extremism, is included in the register of foreign agents), does not see anything unusual in the fact that students will be told about the dangers of corruption, extremism and terrorism: “For example, it is obvious to everyone that one cannot go and blow up the train station. But not every student may understand that writing comments on social networks with the approval of such actions is also impossible. At the same time, Mr. Verkhovsky points out that even established lawyers “swim” on the issue of the legislative definition of extremism: “And here it is necessary to convey this in a general and understandable way to young people. For law students, this can be an interesting exercise, but for the rest it will be difficult to figure it out. The expert fears that in conversations with students, extremism will be understood not only as “really serious crimes on ethnic or other grounds”, but also any “opposition activity, uncoordinated rallies.”

Anna Vasilyeva