Paraphrased: how officials “abandoned” the Bologna system
Source: nilov-oa.ru
According to European standards
At the end of May last year, officials from the Ministry of Education and Science (not to be confused with the "school" Ministry of Education) unanimously spoke about the inferiority of the Bologna system. We remind readers why this imported standard came to higher education in Russia. First of all, to synchronize educational programs between foreign educational institutions. Together with Russia, 49 countries joined the standard, or Bologna set of rules. By the way, the United States has never been in the system and does not seek to. Nevertheless, this does not prevent Americans from building a good, in general, higher education.
The countries that joined the "lapdog" had to create a unified system of credit units, which were to be taken into account in all universities. This is the so-called credit-module system, which allows a conditional student of Novosibirsk University to move for a couple of courses to study at the Sorbonne. Theoretically, it looks very nice, but practically unrealizable, primarily because of the chronic lack of money. International student mobility, which was never really implemented in Russia, was a regularly criticized component of the system. An illustrative example is the international supplement to the Russian diploma of higher education, which, in theory, was recognized in any country of the Bologna Treaty. But who has seen this European application? It is, but it is supposed to be for a lot of money or through a good acquaintance.
But the main irritant was not even flirting with European universities, but a two-tier system of higher education, which includes an incomprehensible creature - a bachelor. Who is it? There is a legend that European bosses invented a bachelor for uneducated migrants so that they would meet the minimum level of high-tech service personnel. The bachelor's level is very peculiar. On the one hand, this is a higher education level or undergraduate, on the other hand, a bachelor is a typical dropout. He cannot be engaged in science - candidate exams are not available, teaching at a higher school is impossible - even in the senior classes, schools do not recommend appointing bachelors as teachers without retraining. Also, the majority of managerial posts, even the initial level, are closed to the bachelor. No wonder the country's leading universities have allowed the "lap dog". But not everywhere. For example, Mekhmat, Faculty of Chemistry, faculties of fundamental physical and chemical engineering, psychology, space research, bioengineering and bioinformatics of Moscow State University remained on a five-year specialty. All other divisions, to one degree or another, are still on a two-stage education.
An anecdotal situation happened with the system of magistracy in universities. Not all educational institutions have the opportunity to complete the second stage - only a bachelor's degree is available. And if a student is talented and ready to gnaw at the granite of science for a couple more years? Then, please, to the regional center or even to the capital of another region. And this is without taking into account the fact that a large part of the master's programs are paid.
Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Valery Falkov. Source: etu.ru
In connection with Russia's rejection of the Bologna process, hopes were associated primarily with the rejection of the notorious division into bachelor's and master's degrees. Since it has already been decided to return to the good old Soviet school, then it is necessary to restore the specialty for everyone and everywhere. But April 2023 came and Minister Falkov announced that everything was not bad anyway.
"Bologna" remains
«Unique domestic system of higher education”- these are the epithets that high school officials and Minister Falkov himself bestowed on the upcoming reform. In fact, it turned out that in Russia a two-stage structure is preserved, and the term of education itself is stretched in time - for one or two years. As mentioned above, a chimera has surprisingly formed in the country from the European and Soviet stages of education - bachelor's degree (4 years), specialist's degree (5 years) and master's degree (additional 2 years on top). By the way, there were also bachelors studying for five years. How is this possible? To do this, students were simply offered two specialties at once in a diploma, which automatically extended the studentship for 12 months. This is widespread in pedagogical universities, for example. Therefore, if you have a university graduate in front of you, who has spent five years at the institute, this is not necessarily a specialist - it is quite possible, a “double-bachelor”.
Almost a year of consultations and meetings in the relevant department were not in vain. Now the Ministry of Education and Science has simply reformulated the Bologna concept in two stages - basic and specialized. It turned out the same, only a side view. At the basic level, students study for 4-6 years, depending on the needs of the market and the flexibility of the university, and the second specialized training is provided from one to two years. That is, now it is theoretically possible to study at a non-medical university for eight years at once. It is interesting to find out in which specialties suddenly had to so dramatically increase the time for obtaining a diploma. Students can now go up to 26-27 years old inclusive. In Soviet times, some at that age became candidates of science. Additional years of study will inevitably require an increase in budget funding, staff expansion and a bunch of rather big financial problems. Paid education will become less accessible - parents and students themselves will have to look for hundreds of thousands of rubles for a couple of years of study. Perhaps the only advantage of Falkov's innovation can be considered a more rigorous approach to choosing a master's degree. Previously, a bachelor's degree in chemistry could legally enroll in a master's degree in management or marketing. What happened in the end is hard to say. Now in a number of specialties this has been excluded - now the second stage is only in related disciplines. The basic level of education allows you to enter graduate school, however, after five years of study. That is, as there was a four-year course of the university with an incomplete education, it remained. This is another repetition of the "lapdog".
As some commentators rightly point out, for example, Pavel Kudyukin, co-chairman of the University Solidarity trade union, the ministry simply rephrased what was stated in the law on education back in 2012. Only now there is more uncertainty. Universities are said to be forced to become more flexible. Beneath this interesting formulation lies a complete confusion. Why then the Ministry of Education and Science, if now the universities themselves will respond to the challenges of the market and time? They themselves will interact with employers, choose programs and specialties. For example, the term of training at a specialized level in the Irkutsk region will be chosen by the rector of the university with local employers in one year. And then a university graduate leaves the region for Moscow, where they agreed on two years of study in similar specialties. Such a “drop-out” will not be hired? Or will they take it without waiting for the Muscovites to walk as students for another year? In general, if the task of the ministry was to make life as difficult as possible for all players in higher education, then it turned out perfectly.
If we discard the subtleties of rephrasing the Bologna process in a new way, an interesting detail becomes obvious. With the start of the special operation, government departments as one rushed to cut ties with the hated pro-Western past and present. Say, we will build our unique future on a rich historical heritage. First of all, in Soviet. A particular example of the Ministry of Education and Science showed at what actual level this is being implemented. The wording is changed to depict the activity. It remains to be hoped that the rest of the structures will not follow suit and really reconsider their principles. Otherwise, we will not be able to build a new Russia.
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