There are more budget places in colleges in the capital
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Next academic year, the capital’s colleges will receive an additional 10 thousand budget places for 9th grade graduates. When choosing educational programs, not only the preferences of applicants were taken into account, but also “the demands of the labor market and city employers,” officials explain. Experts point out that vocational education is becoming increasingly popular among ninth-graders, largely because it allows them to enter a university without the Unified State Exam.
The expansion program for the capital’s colleges was approved last week by Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. Earlier, on January 25, he announced “a large-scale program for the reorganization of secondary technical education.” The capital’s Department of Education and Science told Kommersant that 69 colleges subordinate to the Moscow government will receive new budget places. It is expected that this will not require expansion of the teaching staff. The department emphasizes that places are reserved specifically for 9th grade school graduates.
Colleges belong to the system of secondary vocational education (SVE). Graduates of both 9th and 11th grades can enter college, but different educational paths are provided for them. Students admitted after the 9th grade study not only professional disciplines, but also general education subjects. And 11th grade graduates immediately begin professional programs, so their study periods are shorter.
College graduates have the opportunity to obtain higher education bypassing the Unified State Exam, based on the university’s internal entrance tests. Each university sets its own list of such exams; in some cases, he can accept only based on the results of the Unified State Exam. Also, college graduates have the right to pass only part of the Unified State Exam, and pass the remaining tests at a university. They can also take both the Unified State Exam and the internal exam, and then choose the best result.
Taking into account 11th grade graduates in the fall, there will be about 40 thousand budget places in colleges subordinate to Moscow. The department reported that in 2023 all 30 thousand budget places were filled, and the competition was 8 applications per place. The most popular specialties were “graphic designer” and “cook” – up to 15 applications per place.
The department did not specify for which specific specialties new budget places will be opened. Officials only said that these are “more than 100 of the most in-demand and promising professions in all sectors of the city’s economy, including IT, hospitality, education, social services, creative industries and others.” The selection took into account not only the preferences of applicants, but also “the demands of the labor market and city employers.” Deputy Director of the Institute of Education at the National Research University Higher School of Economics Ilya Korshunov approves of this approach: “Applicants and their parents often do not understand the nuances of production, they know only about general areas – information technology, design – but without technological details. When more places appear in specialties oriented to the needs of modern production, the applicant also considers them. And as a result, he receives applied training, which later makes it easier to find a job and earn more.”
The Federal Ministry of Education told Kommersant that over the past three years, enrollment in secondary vocational education institutions has increased by 9.4%. In 2023, 1.2 million people were admitted to budget and paid places (of which 964.9 thousand were ninth-graders). The ministry explained that the number of budget places in colleges depends primarily on the number of school graduates and the personnel needs of the region. Now “the structure of employers’ demand is shifting in favor of technical blue-collar professions.” Thus, in 2023, the share of students enrolled in state-funded professions and technical specialties reached 55.3% (408.7 thousand people).
“Even 10 years ago, SVE was chosen mainly by unambitious guys who were afraid of not being able to complete university programs,” recalls the director of the Novosibirsk Chemical-Technological College named after. D.I. Mendeleeva Elena Sartakova. “Now the picture is changing significantly.” According to the expert, previously colleges taught according to the logic of universities, but with less knowledge. And now “the conceptual approach has changed, and a practical orientation has come to the fore, which many people follow for the sake of separation from the family and in search of an answer to the question of their purpose.” “In secondary vocational education, students immediately try out what they are capable of in real production conditions,” says Ms. Sartakova. “The state pays attention to equipping colleges and partnering with business, which also increases the attractiveness of colleges.”
“Now more than half of 9th grade graduates choose colleges. Further, this number will most likely continue to increase,” suggests Ilya Korshunov. “But there will be no tendency to complete studies at the SVE level without subsequently enrolling in a university.” The expert believes that “at this stage, when Russia is building a domestic sovereign production system, trying to get away from Western templates,” the employer expects from employees not only workers, but also engineering skills. This is why many college graduates continue to improve their skills at a university: “It works the other way around: engineers are required to have blue-collar skills. After all, this allows them to work and improve innovative equipment and their own enterprise technologies. Therefore, the employer gives preference to a candidate with such experience.”
Mr. Korshunov believes that college graduates will choose a university more consciously in the future, “and they will already be able to work in the profession they acquired in college.” “In Moscow it is not so easy to get into a good university, and tuition fees are expensive. But after secondary vocational education, a person already has not only a separate educational trajectory provided for such graduates, but also experience that can be relied upon during entrance examinations,” the expert is confident.
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