Russia

University Sector in Need of Major Reform Says Rector

The rector of one of Russia’s top universities has called for sweeping reform of the country’s system of higher education. Speaking at a recent conference, Yaroslav Kuzminov said that the recent unrestricted growth of tertiary institutions has left the sector adrift with huge disparities in quality standards. The rector of Moscow’s Higher School of Economics went on to suggest that sweeping reforms should be focused on the merger of the best state universities into “seven to 10 federal universities” with increased funding for science to create a core of high-quality research universities.

Weaknesses in Russia’s primary and secondary schooling – which at 11 years is too short to prepare students adequately for the rigors of academic life – should be addressed by either increasing this period of education or by making higher education compulsory for all, with applied technical degrees taking the place of vocational education courses, according to Kuzminov. The rector added that tertiary-level vocational schools should be abandoned in favor of workplace training.

Too many institutions were attempting to teach university-level qualifications with inadequate resources and too few staff to cover the range and depth demanded of quality higher education, said Kuzminov. According to official statistics, nearly one-third of Russia’s 1,100 universities have one or fewer researchers and just 16 percent of Russia’s approximately 625,000 university teachers are engaged in research. Kuzminov described these statistics as “simply terrifying.”

Kuzminov’s views are reportedly in line with current Kremlin thinking on restructuring Russian higher education to prepare it for the challenges of the 21st century. At a meeting of the ruling councils of the Siberian and Southern Federal Universities in April last year, shortly before he was inaugurated as president, Dmitry Medvedev lashed out at the sheer number of Russian universities.

“This number of universities – around a thousand universities and two thousand branches – exists nowhere else in the world. That may be over the top even for China. The consequences are clear – devaluation of the educational market,” Medvedev said.

– University World News
January 11, 2009

UK-Russia Partnership Program Looks to Get Back to Work after Diplomatic Spat

An international higher education partnership program, pioneered by the British Council in Russia before a diplomatic crisis ground it to a halt, is reportedly close to restarting activities, while also developing wider educational benefits from the scheme.

The BRIDGE project was funded for four years until March last year and includes support activities for a further two years. It established Russian-UK higher education partnerships that allowed universities in both countries to set up dual bachelors and masters degrees, share best practice and develop mutual systemic understanding.

Under the program 47 partnerships were established, 37 of which are still functioning, said Alexander Mishin who, until September 2007, managed the project for the British Council.

The diplomatic crisis – sparked by a souring of UK-Russian relations following the murder in London of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko – exacerbated a long-simmering dispute over the status of the British Council in Moscow. All of the organization’s offices across Russia, apart from its Moscow headquarters, were closed down. Managers of BRIDGE, who still work out of the Moscow office, hope the work they put in to help create the network of university partnerships will not go the way of the council’s operations across Russia.

– University World News
January 18, 2009