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The questions of "domestic notes" are answered by the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Alexander Klimov

"Domestic notes": What are the requirements of the modern economy for universities?

Alexander Klimov : Modern technologies are changing rapidly. New professions appear. The requirements for specialists are overturned. Representatives of high -tech companies say that they need fewer employees. And those that are necessary must have other competencies. Now it is difficult to find specialists in the field of composite materials, digital design, management of the life cycle of complex products, the organization of their service at the modern level and many others.

At the university, it is necessary to form basic competencies, which will subsequently allow a person to update his professional qualifications. The world becomes more dynamic and practical. The World Bank Studies indicate that modern employers are more about the activity of workers, their loyalty in relation to the organization, performance, sociability, the ability to plan their activities, willingness to enter into cooperation with work colleagues. Of great importance is the participation of students in real design, research, innovative, production activities. And one more thing: in the global world, it is difficult to overestimate the knowledge of foreign languages. We are still faced with the fact that graduates of universities lack these personal qualities and basic competencies.

Actualization of the professional competencies of a specialist should go constantly. The system of professional training and retraining of adults is very important. Unfortunately, in this part we cannot yet give an adequate response to the needs and challenges of the modern economy.

OZ: To what extent does our higher education meet these requirements?

A.K.: Not yet. There is no realization that the whole system should be rebuilt in accordance with the requirements of the modern global economy, key integrated production structures, the tasks of developing small business and entrepreneurship. The existing higher education system is very inertial. Within the framework of development programs, significant funds are spent on the purchase of equipment, repair and construction of buildings and structures, and increasing the wages of employees. At the same time, universities often have no understanding of how to prepare specialists in demand by the economy.

Oz: What exactly can such an understanding be expressed in?

A.K.: The fundamental contours are understandable. Developing the basic departments at enterprises and organizations, network programs, targeted contract training, remote and electronic training, small innovative enterprises.

How all this should work in practice - a question that the academic community should discuss as part of the cooperation of leading universities and representatives of employers. Otherwise, there will be no breakthrough in the content and quality of education that our economy needs so.

OZ: Will it not turn out the same as with the Bologna system, which is formally learned, but essentially does not function like the original? Under the new title of “loans” the previous “clock” hid, and a former specialty settled under the sign of the undergraduate.

A.K.: I believe that leading universities should play an important role in the future development of higher education. They should become growth points, work out new approaches to training, test more advanced mechanisms of interaction with the developing sectors of the economy. Recently, federal universities signed a cooperation agreement, within the framework of which it is supposed to implement network programs, the development of distance and electronic education and other initiatives. This format of joint activity creates the prerequisites for the actual movement forward.

An important task is to update federal state educational standards (GEF). There are more than four hundred of them now. Standards were developed by different working groups. The requirements for basic competencies in all standards are different. Their unification is required in this part, taking into account the prospects for the formation of the national qualifications and enlargement of undergraduate standards.

According to the results of the work group with the participation of university representatives, a new list of areas and specialties of training was developed. In principle, it corresponds to modern international approaches. The development of the Federal State Educational Standard of graduate school, assistance, installation, residency, adjuncture. The volume of work is very large. And we are grateful for supporting universities and other ministries.

OZ: Is the development of the Federal State Educational Standard? Isn't the task of the ministry?

A.K.: No. Standards should be developed by university associations and educational and methodical associations with the participation of experts and representatives of professional communities. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the requirements for the basic characteristics and the specifics of the activity, which is described by professional standards. The development of professional standards in 2013-2014 is coordinated by the Russian Ministry of Labor. The task of the Ministry of Education and Science is to organize a content examination of projects of educational standards, to ensure the possibility of their open discussion. The final decision on the adoption, deviation or the need to finalize is made by a special council under the ministry.

OZ: Do we need educational standards? In many developed countries they are not.

A.K.: Mechanically copying foreign experience is an ungrateful business. We must proceed from the current realities, while integrating successful foreign experience into the domestic system of higher education.

Third -generation GEDs give a high degree of academic freedom and allow you to implement modern educational programs. Even at the level of undergraduate, the variable part of the program is 50 %, which allows you to build individual and group educational trajectories, taking into account the real needs of students and future employers. According to the GUADS and graduate schools, the degree of variability is even higher.

Another thing is that universities capable of implementing an individual training program for each student or small groups are not enough for us. For this, flexible schedule management and the wide possibilities of individual work of teachers with students are necessary. By the way, the basic departments at enterprises expand the range of university capabilities in this regard. Network programs and electronic educational resources also help to solve this problem.

OZ: How to measure the effectiveness of a higher education system?

A.K.

OZ: In countries that developed without conducting experiments, the success of the educational model is evaluated by market mechanisms, direct economic demand for graduates, and indirectly - a course of university shares in the reputation market. When the ministry re -creates its own measurements of effectiveness, embarrassment is possible, which we seem to have observed recently.

A.K.: Criteria for monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of universities were as simple and intelligible as possible. They can be measured and checked. I have not yet seen a single brilliant university that would have signs of inefficiency.

Regardless of our desire, we are forced to compete with fast -growing effective economies and higher education systems of foreign countries. And the lag in the training of qualified personnel will have negative consequences for priority industries and the economy as a whole.

OZ: According to the results of monitoring of the Russian State University, it is assigned to a group of universities requiring optimization of activities, and applicants are torn there, and the best graduates of schools. Isn't this the main sign of effectiveness?

A.K.: The average USE score is the first criterion for assessing the effectiveness of the university. If graduates of schools with a high USE score go to the university, then he has a brand that serves as a magnet attracting gifted children. As part of the monitoring, we evaluate the situation in the university as a whole. The “superiority centers”, which are in any university-the department, the faculty, where talented scientists are concentrated, proved by their results that they can work perfectly-drown in a common gray picture arising from a massive reception to paid places of all in a row. Worthy. Regardless of school learning outcomes. If only there was a certificate. If only they had money.

When we assess the master's programs and distribute the control figures for admission to the magistracy on a competitive basis, we take into account the scientific results in each direction. As a result, in some areas, the university can get more budget places only because a certain department demonstrates better scientific effectiveness.

Oz: Yes, "the property will be given." It resembles a sport of high achievements. But such centers simply cannot exist without an appropriate environment. It is impossible at a provincial university not to teach philosophy at all.

A. K.: The mobility of the population is not too high. This year we distributed 70 % of the control figures for admission at regional competitions. It should not be so that all philosophers receive education in two or three cities, even if the best opportunities for their training are created there.

We understand that in each region there should be different experts: it is precisely for this that the mechanism of regional competitions is introduced, which serves as the distribution of control figures for admission. It is extremely important this year to form the most realistic forecast for the need for budget reception in different directions and specialties of training in the regions. From the center, of course, one cannot evaluate the specifics of development and the needs of the subjects of the Federation in all details. This year, many regions are more seriously thinking about who and in what quantity it is necessary to prepare in universities that teach students on their territory. And the relevant ministries have taken on the role of liability centers for the formation of a state order for the training of relevant specialists.

OZ: The business groans from the lack of workers who are preparing a system of secondary vocational education, and young people are torn to the education of the higher. How to be with it?

A.K.: Recently, the collegium of the ministry was considered and received a fundamental approval of the training strategy for the training of working personnel and the formation of applied qualifications. There are several important innovations.

The Ministry began work on the creation and implementation of applied undergraduate programs. Industry requires qualified workers to serve modern highly intellectual equipment. Applied undergraduate programs combine practical training and the necessary theoretical knowledge. In the future, up to 30 % of university students will study under such programs.

It is necessary to create structural units of professional education organizations in enterprises. The new law on education gives such an opportunity. In fact, part of the educational process is transferred to the enterprise or to the organization. This makes it possible to conduct training on the equipment with which the graduate will deal in real production.

Part of the system of vocational education should focus on high international standards of working qualifications. Advanced production technologies require a working not only wide professional skills, but often knowledge of a foreign language, a new production culture, developed project and innovative thinking.

The key mechanism for the development of vocational education is the broad cooperation of educational organizations and employers. This concerns the participation of employers in the development of professional standards, the creation of structural divisions in enterprises and organizations, the participation of industrial specialists in the educational process, the payment of additional scholarships in the framework of targeted contract training with subsequent employment of graduates in enterprises.

OZ: We have to wait for a long time until the entrepreneurial environment grows up to understanding what is needed, among other things, and people who know Latin and Greek ...

A.K. I think that the world is moving towards greater flexibility and variability, including in the education system. People live longer, want to change professions and career trajectories, actively working in old age.

The time when a single curriculum hung on the wall for years at the wall is left irrevocably. And I am sure that the system of higher education can and should comply with the needs of the economy and expectations of society.