Translated material
Diploma in a foreign style
The government divided higher education into two levels
The Russian bachelor's degree has finally acquired the legal status of a full-fledged higher education. At the end of last week, the government approved amendments to the Law “On Education”, approving the legitimacy of several models for mastering a higher education course. “This will increase the competitiveness of graduates,” Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko commented on the innovation on Friday. “In addition, it will contribute to the harmonization of the Russian education system with European systems, since most of the European countries, as well as the CIS, have already switched to a level approach in higher education.”There are three models of higher education, or, as they are called in the bill, levels: bachelor's degree with a period of study from three to four years, master's degree with a period of study from two to three years, a program of continuous training of specialists for a period of five years (the last point will affect mainly doctors , engineers and military). “The training systems for graduates and bachelors should be considered not as sequential, but as parallel stages in obtaining higher education,” Andrey Fursenko emphasized. “Our task is to once again show and confirm that a bachelor’s degree is a higher education, a full-fledged higher education.”
The only significant difference between the old and the new is that the master's program will announce its own entrance exams, and, in addition, it will be possible to enroll in the master's program even in the event of a break in studies. It is noteworthy that the government did not agree to universally proclaim master’s degrees as a paid level in higher education. “An applicant for a master’s degree who has completed a bachelor’s degree will receive it at the expense of budget funds, even if after a bachelor’s degree he worked for several years in his specialty and only then decided to complete his master’s studies,” Andrei Fursenko assured.
It is planned to make changes to the current student training programs. In particular, the number of bachelor's programs will be reduced from 120 to 60-100, while the number of specializations in master's training will expand.
The new rules will come into force on September 1, 2007. The document has already received approval from the Union of Rectors, the Association of Technical Universities, the Trade Union of Education and Science Workers, and has been examined by the Public Chamber and the Legal Department of the President. However, as officials explain, this does not mean that the entire higher school will have to urgently restructure its curriculum by order. Those who are already de facto teaching or are almost ready to teach students according to the system accepted in Europe will switch. The Ministry of Education also promises that, regardless of the wishes of the administration, students will have the right to complete their studies according to the scheme in which they entered.
At the government meeting, only one significant doubt was voiced about the success of the planned changes. First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev expressed concerns that the two-tier system could put graduates in unequal conditions when hiring. He explained that many employers in this case will act on the principle: “I want a specialist, but I don’t want a bachelor.” Therefore, the government must decide how to regulate this process. The Deputy Prime Minister suggested that this could be regulated by special documents that would establish a certain priority or preference when hiring. If this is not done, Dmitry Medvedev believes, graduates will be divided “into whites and others.” Andrey Fursenko tried to allay his colleague’s concerns. He explained that employers themselves are interested in the new system of higher education. It will significantly change the situation with the need to further train specialists in production, as is happening now.