Why is the number of dissertations declining in Russia?
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University graduates are devoting themselves less and less to fundamental science: the number of dissertations over the year has decreased by almost a quarter, as calculated by the Russian Book Chamber. If in 2022 more than 10 thousand abstracts, that is, brief conclusions of the work, were received, then in 2023 – less than 8 thousand. The Ministry of Education and Science did not agree with such data and called them premature.
What might the dynamics be related to? And why don’t Russians strive to write dissertations? According to MSU student Elena, graduates, in particular, do not see any prospects after defending their PhD thesis: “I studied in graduate school for three years and took an academic leave right before graduating from university and defending my dissertation, realizing that it is very difficult to combine full-time scientific activity and work. It’s quite difficult to do this without some kind of passive income.
In addition, I am not motivated by the prospects, because I have a humanitarian direction, and after defending my dissertation, I will most likely be able to work at the department or do tutoring. This will seriously hit my income and standard of living, because at the same department I will earn four or even five times less than I do now at my main job.”
The reduction in the number of dissertations is also associated with tightening requirements for defense and the true motivation of students to obtain higher education – many enter universities only for the sake of deferment, noted Irina Abankina, professor at the Institute for Educational Development of the Higher School of Economics: “The growth in requirements for both graduate students and defenses has begun quite for a long time.
Now many of those who receive a postgraduate diploma believe that this is enough and that it is not necessary to spend time and effort on defense. Plus, of course, some students entered graduate school in order to have one or another deferment, and also did not intend to defend themselves.
At the same time, the requirements for the works themselves have greatly increased: foreign publications are not accepted, and the obligations regarding the number of Russian ones have changed greatly. We expect that, perhaps, those who are waiting for the publication of the article will already begin to work, and then after a year, and sometimes even after two, they still come to the defense. But leading universities, which have been given the right to their own defense rules, have significantly increased the requirements: four articles are required if a student is defending a dissertation text. If defense is based on publications, then they needed articles published in foreign journals in the first quarter, now this has become almost unrealistic.”
The Russian Academy of Sciences announced the problem three years ago. They calculated that the number of scientists has decreased by 10 thousand people over ten years, and the number of dissertation defenses has decreased from 21 thousand in 2012 to 9 thousand in 2019.
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