What to expect for students after the exit of Russian universities from the international system

What to expect for students after the exit of Russian universities from the international system



"Tower" without "Bologna"

Russia's withdrawal from the Bologna system has confused many. How is it that we have been building a new system of university interaction for so many years, and now we are breaking it down again? How long will it take to study - 4 years, 5 years or more, and a master's degree? And what about foreign universities? .. Leading experts in the field of higher education gathered in the MK press center to say: the abolition of the Bologna system for universities is not as terrible as it is painted.

Professor Irina Abankina, head of the Institute for the Development of Education at the Higher School of Economics, recalled what the Bologna Process was famous for. The student could choose the courses and universities he wanted, and with the same quality of education, take any courses in any universities. And the teachers were also free to choose the department, according to the principle of academic mobility. Alas, when leaving the Bolonka, our and Belarusian universities were closed in international registries.

“Yes, the departure from the Bologna system is not as terrible as it seems to the non-expert community,” says Evgeny Szhenov, scientific director of the Scientific and Educational Policy Expert and Analytical Center. Like, it seems to the layman that they built-built the university reform and now they have destroyed everything. And, for example, the “2 + 2 + 2” system, when after two years of a bachelor's degree you can change your specialty, and do it again for a master's degree, has not changed. This is our development, and it is "tested and approved by the authorities." It has nothing to do with the Bologna system at all. By the way, like the exam, Abankina noticed. Therefore, rumors about changing or canceling the final school certification should not be supported.

What innovations are planned then? It is possible that the 9th grade + secondary vocational education system will be introduced. And profile, directly from the employer. And after that it will be possible to go to a specialist in a shortened course. Somewhere, on the contrary, the training time will increase, according to the formula 2 + 2 + 3. More in-depth preparation, response to the "quick challenges of the time".

Engineering specialties, which are now so much talked about, will have "specialties of the future." As well as some technical and natural science specialties, training for which should be not only in-depth, but also longer. And IT specialists, on the contrary, will be able to study in shortened courses. With a sufficient set of sufficiently qualified applicants, the programs will be shortened.

On the other hand, not everything is clear “at the junctions” of different levels of education. Will graduates of the specialty be able to enter the master's program for free, so far only the bachelor's degree is prescribed in the law. Many are still confused by the possibility of transferring to another specialty after a bachelor's degree. What if a nuclear physicist wants to go to graduate school in ballet, and a bachelor of psychology wants to go to applied mathematics? Experts reassure that this does not happen in practice, there are no large overflows.

Postgraduate study, which is now legally fixed as the third level of education, will it be equalized with a master's degree? In the meantime, graduate students complain about the abundance of theory in the programs, 20 hours a week - there is no time to do science. But there is good news for young scientists as well. “Last year, 286 million rubles were allocated for housing certificates for young scientists, and a billion this year,” Szhenov said.

A special question was: what will academic mobility look like after Russia's withdrawal from the Bologna system? Even experts present it differently. On the one hand, the 48 countries participating in the Bologna process are not the whole world, there is Asia, China (also not part of the Bologna system), the CIS countries and Latin America. “And a branch of a Russian university has recently opened in China,” Szhenov emphasized. Personal scientific ties between countries are not interrupted, scientists communicate.

On the other hand, the same Chinese who study in our country by the thousands, especially in IT and medicine, do not know what a specialty is. “Therefore, explanatory work is needed on the part of Rossotrudnichestvo,” Irina Abankina believes. “A lot of work is needed to improve communication. Myths need to be removed. Establish independent centers for awarding qualifications”. And... pay Russian scholarships to foreign students.

Strong universities are economic drivers with a social mission in their region. Students are owners of micro-competences, each level of which they choose themselves. Qualifications of graduates demanded by employers - such an optimistic picture is seen by education experts when they talk about “national education”. Leaving the Bologna system does not exclude it at all.

Published in the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets" No. 28875 dated September 23, 2022

Newspaper headline:
Although our universities are not in Bologna ...



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