In April, the Russian Federation was “disconnected” from the Bologna system, and a month later the Ministry of Education and Science came to the conclusion that Russia should build its own education system, taking into account the interests of the national economy. This was stated by the head of the department Valery Falkov.
Members of the Bologna Process
48 states participate in the Bologna process, including the countries of the European Union, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and a number of others. The largest countries of Asia – China, India and Japan, all countries of North and South America, as well as Africa do not take part in the process.
Meanwhile, European universities have signed agreements with leading American and Asian universities, according to which student mobility is not limited by the European framework, and, in fact, it is also recognized in the USA, Japan, China, Australia and Brazil.
RF joined the process in September 2003. And on April 11, 2022, Russia and Belarus were expelled from the Bologna process, a month after 185 rectors of Russian universities signed a letter of support for a special military operation in Ukraine.
Didn’t fit in the yard
The Bologna system is primarily the convertibility of diplomas, the ability to recognize diplomas of one country in other countries that are included in this agreement. However, Russian diplomas still stood apart; in fact, they were not recognized as equal in rights with European or American ones.
“The Bologna system was needed for integration into the world education system and standardization of education, which never happened. Russian diplomas have not received full recognition. And the effectiveness of the Bologna system in terms of improving the quality of education is considered by many experts to be low,” said Gulnara Ruchkina, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Financial University.
Vice-Rector of the University of State and Municipal Administration (USMU, Moscow) Alexander Beloborodov emphasizes one more point: “One of the main requirements of the Bologna process, the academic mobility of students and teachers, was practically not fulfilled. In the Bologna system, it was assumed that the last year of the master’s program students study at foreign universities, but in Russia this rule was almost never implemented. Compared to European universities, Russian universities have always had a low level of joint training and research programs.”
If Russian students traveled to European universities quite often and successfully, then there was practically no exchange between universities within Russia. Even when moving from one university to another, students were forced to finish certain subjects or take certain courses again.
“A relatively small number of students and teachers, mainly from Moscow, St. These people will undoubtedly feel the consequences of not participating in the Bologna process. Russia’s withdrawal from the Bologna system will not have a noticeable impact on the vast majority of students and teachers,” says Olga Vorontsova, director and founder of the St. Petersburg Technological College.
What will be the transformation of education according to new principles?
The current university graduates – bachelors who would still like to unlearn a master’s degree, are now at a loss. Experts reassure: most likely, a transitional period will be announced, allowing those who completed their bachelor’s degree to finish their studies at the master’s program within the framework of the direction they chose.
The diplomas of bachelors and masters issued this year, of course, will not lose their legal force. It’s just that for many years different types of higher education diplomas will be in use in Russia. But this has been happening since the introduction of the two-tier system and the preserved specialty. Another thing is that bachelor’s run the risk of losing for a purely psychological reason: the attitude towards them as non-specialists, if they have not completed a master’s program, may increase against the backdrop of an increase in the number of graduates with specialist diplomas.
Yes, and educational programs on the knee can not be redone. Whatever new education system is adopted, new curricula will have to be drawn up for it.
Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor of the Department of Communication Technologies of the Moscow State Linguistic University Alexander Chumikov believes: “Now the task of building a new one has been proclaimed in Russia, but no one has yet said whether we will destroy the bachelor’s and master’s programs or not. But even if he did, it would be impossible to destroy it in a year or two or three, because people entered the bachelor’s program last year and they will do it this year – this is at least four years. It will take many years to get out of the system, and I assume that the specialty will simply be increased, and the undergraduate and graduate programs will be reduced, but not eliminated.
The head of the Russian Academy of Education, Olga Vasilyeva, supported the idea that a five-year specialist should take leading positions in the structure of domestic higher education programs. In her opinion, engineering, legal, pedagogical education will only benefit in the event of a return to a five-year education.
At the same time, in a number of areas, including programs aimed at foreign students, it is quite possible to train according to a two-level system.
“I have already said and I will repeat once again that we need to give a legal assessment of Russia’s participation in the Bologna process, to look at the legacy that it will leave us,” Vasilyeva added.
There is another alternative – at the beginning of the year, presidential aide Andrei Fursenko proposed switching to educational programs according to the 2 + 2 + 2 scheme – for six years, but in three stages, which gives students a flexible trajectory and a choice.
“Students can enter universities not for a specific specialty, but for enlarged groups of specialties and areas of training (GSNP), and after studying at a university for two years, then choose a specific specialty, area of training. This, of course, is very important for young people – it is difficult to decide on the choice of a particular profession even at school.
This is evident in the example of one of the largest admissions of applicants over the past 25 years – to choose to enter the “Economics” or “Management” or “State and Municipal Administration”. Yes, and in the field of exact sciences, it is often difficult for a schoolchild to decide whether to choose “Mathematics and Informatics” or “Applied Mathematics” or “Information Technology” or “Business Informatics,” said Vladimir Filippov, President of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Academician and Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Education.
“Universities should independently decide on the choice of the model of education. In any case, it should be guided by the needs of the Russian economy and, as a result, the labor market,” said Ruchkina, in turn.
Experts are unanimous in their opinion that the reforms of secondary and higher education should be aimed at achieving results. If it is necessary to prepare a person for a workplace as soon as possible on specific requests, then it is possible to train him in two years. If there is a need for fundamental education, then a specialist will help.
