This process was initiated last year by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Thursday, March 21, the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University hosted a meeting to discuss the interim results and prospects of the pilot project to improve personnel training for the Russian economy. Its participants were Andrey Fursenko, Assistant to the President of Russia, Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education, Liliya Gumerova, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture, Sergey Kabyshev, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Science and Higher Education, as well as rectors of all six participants of the pilot project.
As Valery Falkov noted, the venue for the meeting was not chosen by chance. After all, "Mining University is the institution with the largest number of students, who are engaged in educational programs, already adapted to the challenges of today".
Rector Vladimir Litvinenko reminded about what these tasks are. He stated that the achievement of technological independence of the country is possible only if the deficit of personnel in the real sector of the domestic economy is eliminated. Or, more precisely, the elimination of its cause, which lies in the fact that the educational standards imposed on us by the West 20 years ago do not meet Russia's needs at all.
Our country today is in dire need not of bachelors and masters, but, first of all, of young competent engineers motivated to work in production. In other words, one of the most important areas of work of the academic community is to develop a unified approach to personnel training that would meet both the needs of the labor market and the solution of state tasks. Actually, this is exactly what is happening now.
The Minister told the audience that "a number of our universities are ready to enter the pilot project". At least, already this year to introduce into their curricula some elements that have been developed by the participants of the experiment. These include the mandatory presence of the "core" of higher education, within which students of all areas of training in the 1st and 2nd year study the same disciplines, obtaining fundamental knowledge, as well as a sharp increase in the time allocated for industrial practice.
"The essence of the pilot project is to develop common criteria for the entire system of higher education on the example of six universities. This is our goal - to set optimal standards and scale them up to the whole of Russia," Valery Falkov emphasized.
He also noted that the main short-term task for all participants of the pilot project is the need to "enter the new academic year with fully modernized curricula". And he stated that Mining University has already done this, after which he asked the hosts to share their successfully implemented ideas.
Rector Vladimir Litvinenko said that during the previous admission campaign, just under half of the budget places for first-year students included four-year bachelor's degree programs. However, back in the fall, all young people who enrolled in them were offered to voluntarily transfer to a specialty. That is, to get a full-fledged technical education, which the absolute majority of students did. Now all of them study the so-called "core" - a single course of general education and general technical disciplines.
"In addition to a full-fledged mastering of fundamental knowledge within two years, without which it is impossible to become a competent engineer, this approach gives our students a number of other advantages. It is clear that applicants mainly choose those training areas that their parents recommend to them. But this does not always coincide with their own aspirations. So, if at the end of the fourth semester one of them decides that he made a mistake, he can move to another, even more prestigious specialty. But such a chance, of course, will be obtained only by those students who are distinguished by good academic performance, as well as show themselves in science, social work or sports", - explained Vladimir Litvinenko.
Among other innovations within the framework of the pilot project he named the creation of the institute of tutors and mentors, who help junior students to adapt to an unfamiliar environment, as well as are engaged in educational work. In addition, the rector emphasized the reduction of classroom load in order to free up time for electives, work in laboratories and independent studies, as well as increasing the period of industrial practice to 8-10 months.
"Now we are working on the creation of a methodological council, which will analyze training programs and adapt them to the needs of enterprises. It should include representatives of six ministries at the level of deputy ministers. I am sure that this approach will strengthen coordination with real production and will allow us to better adapt our graduates to the tasks set by potential employers who are in urgent need of an influx of young competent engineers. This is not a revolution, we are following an evolutionary path," emphasized Vladimir Litvinenko.
At the end of his speech, he said that many universities, including Almetyevsk University and St. Petersburg Institute of Technology and Design, are ready to fully enter the pilot project. He suggested the Minister to include them among its participants this year, and next year - to scale the experience gained throughout Russia, because time is of the essence.
Alexander Fedorov, Rector of the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, said that "we need not just qualified personnel, but personnel capable of transforming the industry through a combination of fundamental knowledge and good practical training." This is one of the objectives of the changes taking place in the higher education system today.
"The main disadvantages of the bachelor's degree are the loss of the fundamental nature of education, for which domestic higher education has always been famous, and the need for graduates to complete their studies at work. As for the first problem, within the framework of the pilot project we increased the time allotted for fundamental training by 12%. This is probably not enough, as our industrial partners would like to increase this figure to 20%. Today they are in dire need of research engineers in the field of chemistry, and I am confident that, thanks to the changes taking place, we will be able to meet their needs for such specialists. Among other things, thanks to cooperation with Mining University. It has a clear intension and aspires to a clear goal, which we all also want to achieve," said Alexander Fedorov.
Ms. Alevtina Chernikova, Rector of MISIS, also emphasized the need to involve employers in the development of curricula and their evaluation. In addition, she paid much attention to the relevance of the "core of higher education", as well as the integration of classroom training and scientific activities. Including through interdisciplinarity. As an example, she cited the process of students creating robots, which requires competencies of engineers, bioengineers and IT specialists.
"As part of the pilot project, we are also increasing the time of industrial practices. Together with our partners, we are revising and transforming our project "Polygon of working professions". It stipulates that our children should obtain at least one working profession, which will obviously increase their competitiveness in the future," said Alevtina Chernikova.
At the end of the meeting all the participants emphasized that the implementation of the ideas laid down in the pilot project is extremely important for the intensification of sustainable development of Russia. They called the meeting itself extremely relevant, as it will allow to coordinate the modified curricula of all six universities and to start in the foreseeable future to develop a single educational standard for the entire system of domestic higher education.
