The status of master’s programs may change in Russia

Deputy Head of the Ministry of Education and Science, Dmitry Afanasyev, stated the need to allocate master’s programs to a separate place in the higher education system. According to him, the department is currently discussing changing the status of master’s programs within the framework of the new education system.

Afanasiev told TASS that a new hierarchical education system is currently being discussed at the direction of the president, and a change in the status of the magistracy will be included in this system. He emphasized that the master’s degree should not replace other levels of education, but should deepen and specialize the basic level of education.

In June 2022, the Ministry of Education and Science announced that Russian universities were withdrawing from the Bologna process. The Russian authorities decided to abandon the Bologna system, which divides the educational process into four years of bachelor’s and two years of master’s, and create their own system. The Ministry of Education and Science supported the refusal to study in a master’s program after a non-core bachelor’s degree. The department plans to introduce a new education system in universities by 2025.