Education in Russia
[23] Twins, children of university students, refugees, Chernobyl veterans, and other protected social groups are entitled to free service.
By the 1980s, there were 88,000 preschool institutions; as the secondary-education study load increased and moved from the ten to eleven-year standard, the kindergarten programmes shifted from training basic social skills, or physical abilities, to preparation for entering the school level.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union the number decreased to 46,000; kindergarten buildings were sold as real estate, irreversibly rebuilt and converted for office use.
Historically, those were divided into low-prestige PTUs and better-regarded technicums and medical (nurse level) schools; in the 2000s, many such institutions, if operational, have been renamed as colleges.
In practice, extension of study terms to three years slightly disadvantages vocational schools' male students who intend to continue: they reach conscription age before graduation or immediately after it, and normally must serve in the army before applying to undergraduate-level institutions.
The set of standardised tests for high school graduates, issued uniformly throughout the country and rated independent of the student's schoolmasters, akin to the North American SAT, was supposed to replace entrance exams to state universities.
Thus, the reformers reasoned, the USE would empower talented graduates from remote locations to compete for admissions at the universities of their choice,[49] at the same time eliminating admission-related bribery, then estimated at 1 billion US dollars annually.
[59] Other institutions provide semi-segregated training (specialized groups within a normal college environment) or declare full disability access of their regular classes.
[62] Persistent but mild mental disabilities that preclude co-education with normal children in the foreseeable future but do not qualify as moderate, heavy, or severe retardation[63] require specialized correction (Russian: коррекционные) boarding schools that extend from 8–9 to 18–21 years of age.
[30] As of the 2007–2008 academic year, Russia had 8.1 million students enrolled in all forms of tertiary education (including military and police institutions and postgraduate studies).
[67] 6.2 million students were enrolled in 658 state-owned and 450 private civilian university-level institutions licensed by the Ministry of Education; total faculty reached 625 thousands in 2005.
Andrei Fursenko, Minister of Education, is campaigning for a reduction in number of institutions to weed out diploma mills and substandard colleges; in April 2008 his stance was approved by president Dmitry Medvedev: "This amount, around a thousand universities and two thousands spinoffs, does not exist anywhere else in the world; it may be over the top even for China ... consequences are clear: devaluation of education standard".
[70] Even supporters of the reduction like Yevgeny Yasin admit that the move will strengthen consolidation of academia in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Novosibirsk and devastate the provinces, leaving the federal subjects of Russia without colleges for training local school teachers.
[72] Financial and visa difficulties have historically made it difficult to obtain higher education abroad for young adults in the post-Soviet era.
Unlike the United States or Bologna process model, Russian higher education was traditionally not divided into undergraduate (bachelor's) and graduate (master's) levels.
[75][76] A specialist graduate needed no further academic qualification to pursue a professional career, with the exception of some (but not all) branches of medical professions that required a post-graduate residency stage.
Historically, civilian tertiary education was divided between a minority of traditional wide curriculum universities and a larger number of narrow specialisation institutes (including art schools).
[78] The move has been criticised for its merely formal approach: instead of reshaping their curriculum, universities would simply insert a BSc/BA accreditation in the middle of their standard five or six-year programmes.
The job market is generally unaware of the change and critics predict that stand-alone BSc/BA diplomas will not be recognised as "real" university education in the foreseeable future, rendering the degree unnecessary and undesirable without further specialisation.
Institutions like MFTI or MIFI have practiced a two-tier breakdown of their specialist programmes for decades and switched to Bologna process designations well in advance of the 2007 law, but an absolute majority of their students complete all six years of MSc/MA curriculum, regarding BSc/BA stage as useless in real life.
[79] Defenders of the Bologna Process argue that the final years of the specialist programme were formal and useless: academic schedules were relaxed and undemanding, allowing students to work elsewhere.
The dissertation paper should summarize the author's research resulting in theoretical statements that are qualified as a new discovery, or solution of an existing problem, or a practical proposal with significant economical or military potential.
The system implies that the applicants must work in their research field full-time; however, the degrees in social sciences are routinely awarded to active politicians.
[81] Academic titles of dotsent and professor are issued to active university staff who already achieved degrees of kandidat or doktor; the rules prescribe minimum residency term, authoring established study textbooks in their chosen field, and mentoring successful postgraduate trainees; special, less formal rules apply to professors of arts.
Unlike their Western namesakes, Russian military academies are postgraduate institutions conducting the advance training career commissioned officer programmes.
Outreach activity can be carried out by public and local authorities and natural and juridical persons concluded a contracts with educational institutions in the order determined by Government of Russia.
Although the Russian Academy of Sciences and numerous cultural and educational societies opposed the bill,[86][87][88] it was adopted by the State Duma, approved by the Federation Council and signed by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin.
[89] According to scientists, science popularizers, educationalists, lawyers, this law, in fact, establishes the prior censorship of virtually every ways to share knowledge and conviction, contrary to the articles 19 and 29 of the Constitution of Russia.
[96] Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov is one of the architects of the Important Conversations lessons, which cover various topics from the Russian government's perspective, such as national identity, patriotism, traditional values and world events.
The Associated Press reported that some parents were shocked by the militaristic nature of Important Conversations lessons, with some comparing them to the "patriotic education" of the former Soviet Union.
