Higher Education In Russia
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Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, the state provides most education services regulating education through the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Regional authorities regulate education within their jurisdictions within the prevailing framework of federal laws. Russia's expenditure on education has grown from 2.7% of the GDP in 2005 to 4.7% in 2018 but remains below the
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average of 4.9%. Before 1990 the course of school training in the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
lasted 10 years, but at the end of 1990, an 11-year course officially came into operation. Education in state-owned secondary schools is free; ''first'' tertiary (university level) education is free with reservations: a substantial number of students enroll on full pay. Male and female students have equal shares in all stages of education,Education for all by 2015, p. 82 and underlying data tables except in
tertiary education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
where women lead with 57%.Education for all by 2015, p. 316 A 2015 estimate by the United States
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puts the
literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...
in
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
at 99.7% (99.7% for men, 99.6% for women). According to a 2016
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...
estimate, 54% of Russia's adults (25- to 64-year-olds) have attained tertiary education, giving Russia the second-highest attainment of tertiary education among 35 OECD member countries."Education at a glance in 2016: Russian Federation"
/ref> 47.7% have completed
secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...
(the full 11-year course); 26.5% have completed
middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...
(9 years) and 8.1% have elementary education (at least 4 years). The highest rates of
tertiary education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
(24.7%) are recorded among women aged 35 to 39 years (compared to 19.5% for men of the same age bracket). Compared with other OECD countries, Russia has close to average class sizes and some of the shortest instruction hours per year. In 2014 the Pearson/
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rated Russia's education as the 8th-best in Europe and the 13th-best in the world; Russia's educational attainment was rated as the 21st-highest in the world, and the students' cognitive skills as the 9th-highest. In 2015 the OECD ranked Russian students' mathematics and science skills as the 34th-best in the world, between
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and
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. In 2016 the US company
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rated Russia's higher education as the third-best in the world, measuring the percentage of high-school graduates who go on to attend college, the annual science and engineering graduates as a percentage of all college graduates, and science and engineering graduates as a percentage of the labor force. In 2014 Russia ranked as the 6th most popular destination for international students. The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Russia is fulfilling 86.8% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education, based on its level of income.


Levels of education

According to the law, the educational system of Russia includes 2 types of
education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...
: general and professional. General education has the following levels: *
Preschool education A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...
(level 0 according to the ISCED) * Primary general education (level 1 according to the ISCED) – the duration of study is 4 years * Basic general education (level 2 according to the ISCED) – the duration of study is 5 years * Secondary general education (level 3 according to the ISCED) – the duration of study is 2 years Furthermore, there is also an additional general education (school-based study groups and clubs). Professional education has the following levels: *
Training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...
for
profession A profession is a field of Work (human activity), work that has been successfully professionalized. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, professionals, who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are ...
s – it is available on the basis of primary general education; the duration of study depends on the particular
profession A profession is a field of Work (human activity), work that has been successfully professionalized. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, professionals, who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are ...
, as a rule, not exceeding several months *
Vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people for a skilled craft. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with req ...
– it is available on the basis of basic general education or secondary general education; the duration of study is 3 years (on the basis of secondary general education) or 4 years (on the basis of basic general education; in this case the program includes secondary general education) *
Higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
: **
Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
– it is available on the basis of secondary general education; the duration of study is 4 years **
Specialist degree The specialist degree is an academic degree conferred by a college or university. The degree is formatted differently worldwide and may be either a five-year program or a doctoral level graduate program that occurs after a master's degree but befo ...
– it is available on the basis of secondary general education and only for certain
medical Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
and
engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
specialties; the duration of study is from 5 to 6 years depending on the particular
academic major An academic major is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits. A student who successfully completes all courses required for the major qualifies for an undergraduate degree. The word ''major'' (also called ''con ...
**
Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
– it is available for persons who have any
academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions often offer degrees at various levels, usually divided into und ...
; the duration of study is 2 years *
Postgraduate education Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have ...
(
graduate school Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...
, residency in medicine, assistantship in the field of art, adjunctura in the field of
military science Military science is the study of military processes, institutions, and behavior, along with the study of warfare, and the theory and application of organized coercive force. It is mainly focused on theory, method, and practice of producing mi ...
) – it is available for persons who have a
specialist degree The specialist degree is an academic degree conferred by a college or university. The degree is formatted differently worldwide and may be either a five-year program or a doctoral level graduate program that occurs after a master's degree but befo ...
or
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
; the duration of study is from 2 to 4 years depending on academic discipline Furthermore, there is also an additional professional education. It is available for graduates of
institutions An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and ...
of vocational or
higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
.


Preschool and primary school

According to the 2002 census, 68% of children (78% urban and 47% rural) aged 5 were enrolled in
kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
s. According to UNESCO data, enrollment in ''any'' kind of pre-school programme increased from 67% in 1999 to 84% in 2005.Education for all by 2015, pp. 39, 268-269 Kindergartens, unlike schools, are regulated by regional and local authorities. The Ministry of Education and Science regulates only a brief preschool preparation program for 5–6-year-old children. In 2004 the government attempted to charge the full cost of kindergartens to the parents; widespread public opposition caused a reversal of policy. Currently, local authorities can legally charge the parents not more than 20% of costs. Twins, children of university students, refugees, Chernobyl veterans, and other protected social groups are entitled to free service. In 2019, pre-school (or Kindergarten) begins at the age of two months old to six years old. The Soviet system provided for nearly universal primary (nursery, age 1 to 3) and kindergarten (age 3 to 7) service in urban areas, relieving working mothers from daytime childcare needs. By the 1980s, there were 88,000 preschool institutions; as the secondary-education study load increased and moved from the ten to eleven-year standard, the kindergarten programmes shifted from training basic social skills, or physical abilities, to preparation for entering the school level. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the number decreased to 46,000; kindergarten buildings were sold as real estate, irreversibly rebuilt and converted for office use. At the same time, a minority share of successful state-owned kindergartens, regarded as a vertical lift to quality schooling, flourished throughout the 1990s. Privately owned kindergartens, although in high demand, did not gain a significant share due to administrative pressure; share of children enrolled in private kindergartens dropped from 7% in 1999 to 1% in 2005.Education for all by 2015, p. 269 The improvement of the economy after the 1998 crisis, coupled with historical demographic peak, resulted in an increase in birth rate, first recorded in 2005. Large cities encountered shortage of kindergarten vacancies earlier, in 2002. Moscow's kindergarten waiting list included 15,000 children; in the much smaller city of Tomsk (population 488,000) it reached 12,000. The city of Moscow instituted specialised ''kindergarten commissions'' that are tasked with locating empty slots for the children; parents sign their children on the waiting list as soon as they are born. The degree of the problem varies between districts, e.g. Moscow's Fili-Davydkovo District (population 78,000) has lost ''all'' of its kindergartens (residents have to compete for kindergarten slots elsewhere) while Zelenograd claims to have short queue. Independent authors assert that bribes or "donations" for admission to kindergartens compete in amount with university admissions while authorities refute the accusation. The number of Russian children enrolled in preschool institutions reached 7.44 million in 2020, marking a decrease from the previous year. The birth rate saw a decrease from 20

after growing in the late 2000s and the early 2010s.


Secondary school


General framework

There were 59,260 general education schools in 2007–2008 school year, an increase from 58,503 in the previous year. However, prior to 2005–2006, the number of schools was steadily decreasing from 65,899 in 2000–2001. The 2007–2008 number includes 4,965 advanced learning schools specializing in foreign languages, mathematics etc.; 2,347 advanced general-purpose schools, and 1,884 schools for all categories of disabled children; it does ''not'' include Vocational-technical school, vocational technical school and technicums. Private schools accounted for 0.3% of elementary school enrollment in 2005 and 0.5% in 2005.Education for all by 2015, p. 284 According to a 2005
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
report, 96% of the adult population has completed lower secondary schooling and most of them also have an upper secondary education.EDUCATION TRENDS IN PERSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE WORLD EDUCATION INDICATORS 2005 Edition
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
Retrieved on July 2, 2009
Nine-year secondary education in Russia is compulsory since September 1, 2007. Until 2007, it was limited to nine years with grades 10-11 optional;
federal subjects of Russia The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation () or simply as the subjects of the federation (), are the administrative division, constituent entities of Russia, its top-level political division ...
could enforce higher compulsory standard through local legislation within the eleven–year federal programme.
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
enacted compulsory eleven–year education in 2005, similar legislation existed in Altai Krai, Sakha and
Tyumen Oblast Tyumen Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is located in Western Siberia, and is administratively part of the Ural Federal District. The oblast has administrative jurisdiction over two autonomous ...
. A student of 15 to 18 years of age ''may'' drop out of school with the approval of his/her parent and local authorities, and without their consent upon reaching age of 18. Expulsion from school for multiple violations disrupting school life is possible starting at the age of 15. The eleven-year school term is split into elementary (years 1–4), middle (years 5–9), and senior (years 10–11) classes. The absolute majority of children attend full programme schools providing eleven-year education; schools limited to elementary or elementary and middle classes typically exist in rural areas. Of all the 59,260 schools in Russia, 36,248 provide the full eleven-year programme, 10,833 offer nine-year "basic" (elementary and middle) education, and 10,198 only offer elementary education. Their number is disproportionately large compared to their share of students due to lesser class sizes in rural schools. In areas where school capacity is insufficient to teach all students on a normal, morning-to-afternoon, schedule, authorities resort to ''double-shift'' schools, where two streams of students (''morning shift'' and ''evening shift'') share the same facility. There were 13,100 ''double-shift'' and 75 ''triple-shift'' schools in 2007–2008, compared to 19,201 and 235 in 2000–2001. Children are accepted to the first year at the age of 6 or 7, depending on the individual development of each child. Until 1990, starting age was set at seven years and schooling lasted ten years for students who were planning to proceed to higher education in Universities. Students who were planning to proceed to technical schools were doing so, as a rule, after the 8th year. The switch from a ten to eleven-year term was motivated by continuously increasing load in middle and senior years. In the 1960s, it resulted in a "conversion" of the fourth year from elementary to middle school. The decrease in elementary schooling led to greater disparity between children entering middle school; to compensate for the "missing" fourth year, elementary schooling was extended with a "zero year" for six-year-olds. This move remains a subject of controversy. Children of elementary classes are normally separated from other classes within their own floor of a school building. They are taught, ideally, by a single teacher through all four elementary years (except for physical training and, if available, foreign languages); 98.5% of elementary school teachers are women. Their number decreased from 349,000 in 1999 to 317,000 in 2005.Education for all by 2015, p. 332-333 Starting from the fifth year, each academic subject is taught by a dedicated subject teacher (80.4% women in 2004, an increase from 75.4% in 1991). Pupil-to-teacher ratio (11:1) is on par with developed European countries. Teachers' average monthly salaries in 2008 range from 6,200 roubles (200 US dollars) in Mordovia to 21,000 roubles (700 US dollars) in Moscow. The school year extends from September 1 to the end of May and is divided into four terms. Study programme in schools is fixed; unlike in some Western countries, schoolchildren or their parents have no choice of study subjects. Class load per student (638 hours a year for nine-year-olds, 893 for thirteen-year-olds) is lower than in
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,
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or
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, and slightly lower than in most states of the United States, although official hours are frequently appended with additional class work. Students are graded on a 5-step scale, ranging in practice from 2 ("unacceptable") to 5 ("excellent"); 1 is a rarely used sign of extreme failure. Teachers regularly subdivide these grades (i.e. 4+, 5−) in daily use, but term and year results are graded strictly 2, 3, 4 or 5. Some secondary schools conduct, in addition to the standard programme, an in-depth study of some subjects (schools focused on mathematics, foreign languages, arts, military-related subjects, etc.). These schools are considered more prestigious than the usual secondary schools.


Vocational training option

Upon completion of a nine-year program the student has a choice of either completing the remaining two years at normal school, or of a transfer to a specialized professional training school. Historically, those were divided into low-prestige PTUs and better-regarded technicums and medical (nurse level) schools; in the 2000s, many such institutions, if operational, have been renamed as ''colleges''. They provide students with a vocational skill qualification and a high school certificate equivalent to 11-year education in a normal school; the programme, due to its work training component, extends over 3 years. In 2007–08 there were 2,800 such institutions with 2,280,000 students. Russian vocational schools, like the Tech Prep schools in the USA, fall out of ISCED classification, thus the enrollment number reported by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
is lower, 1.41 million; the difference is attributed to senior classes of technicums that exceed secondary education standard.Participation in formal technical and vocational training, p. 10 All certificates of secondary education (Maturity Certificate, ), regardless of issuing institution, conform to the same national standard and are considered, at least in law, to be fully equivalent. The state prescribes a minimum (and nearly exhaustive) set of study subjects that must appear in each certificate. In practice, extension of study terms to three years slightly disadvantages vocational schools' male students who intend to continue: they reach
conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...
age before graduation or immediately after it, and normally must serve in the army before applying to undergraduate-level institutions. Although all male pupils are eligible to postpone their conscription to receive higher education, they must be at least signed-up for the admission tests into the university the moment they get the conscription notice from the army. Most
military commissariat A military commissariat (from , shortened as ), is an institution that is part of military service or law enforcement mechanisms in some European countries. As part of the British Army in the 19th century, military commissariats were used for ...
officials are fairly considerate towards the potential recruits on that matter and usually allow graduates enough time to choose the university and sign-up for admission or enroll there on a paid basis despite the fact that the spring recruiting period has not yet ended by the time most students graduate. All those people may legally be commanded to present themselves to the recruitment centers the next day after graduation. Males of conscription age that chose not to continue their education at any stage usually get notice from the army within half a year after their education ends, because of the periodic nature of recruitment periods in Russian army.


Unified state examinations

Traditionally, the universities and institutes conducted their own admissions tests regardless of the applicants' school record. There was no uniform measure of graduates' abilities; marks issued by high schools were perceived as incompatible due to grading variances between schools and regions. In 2003 the Ministry of Education launched the Unified state examination (USE) programme. The set of standardised tests for high school graduates, issued uniformly throughout the country and rated independent of the student's schoolmasters, akin to the North American
SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...
, was supposed to replace entrance exams to state universities. Thus, the reformers reasoned, the USE would empower talented graduates from remote locations to compete for admissions at the universities of their choice, at the same time eliminating admission-related bribery, then estimated at 1 billion US dollars annually. In 2003, 858 university and college workers were indicted for bribery; the admission "fee" in
MGIMO Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) (, also known as MGIMO University) is an higher education, institute of higher education located in Moscow, Russia. The institute is run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Russian ...
allegedly reached 30,000 US dollars. University heads, notably
Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...
rector Viktor Sadovnichiy, resisted the change, arguing that their schools cannot survive without charging the applicants with their own entrance hurdles. Nevertheless, the legislators enacted USE in February 2007. In 2008, it was mandatory for the students and optional for the universities; it is fully mandatory since 2009. A few higher education establishments are still allowed to introduce their own entrance tests in addition to USE scoring; such tests must be publicized in advance. Awarding USE grades involves two stages. In this system, a "primary grade" is the sum of points for completed tasks, with each of the tasks having a maximum number of points allocated to it. The maximum total primary grade varies by subject, so that one might obtain, for instance, a primary grade of 23 out of 37 in mathematics and a primary grade of 43 out of 80 in French. The primary grades are then converted into final or "test grades" by means of a sophisticated statistical calculation, which takes into account the distribution of primary grades among the examinees. This system has been criticized for its lack of transparency. The first nationwide USE session covering all regions of Russia was held in the summer of 2008. 25.3% students failed the literature test, 23.5% failed mathematics; the highest grades were recorded in French, English and social studies. Twenty thousand students filed objections against their grades; one third of objections were settled in the student's favor. The Basic State Exam is also held after nine years of education, two years before the Unified State Exam.


Education for the disabled


Physical disability

Children with physical disabilities, depending on the nature and extent of the disability and the availability of local specialized institutions, attend either such institutions or special classes within regular schools. As of 2007, there were 80 schools for the blind and children with poor eyesight; their school term is extended to 12 years and classes are limited to 9–12 pupils per teacher. Education for the deaf is provided by 99 specialized kindergartens and 207 secondary boarding schools; children who were born deaf are admitted to specialized kindergartens as early as possible, ideally from 18 months of age; they are schooled separately from children who lost hearing ''after'' acquiring basic speech skills. Vocational schools for the working deaf people who have not completed secondary education exist in five cities only. Another wide network of specialist institutions takes care of children with mobility disorders. 60–70% of all children with
cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...
are schooled through this channel. Children are admitted to specialised kindergartens at three or four years of age and streamed into narrow specialty groups; the specialisation continues throughout their school term and may extend to thirteen years. The system, however, is not ready to accept children who also display evident
developmental disability Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, espe ...
; they have no other option than home schooling. All graduates of physical disability schools are entitled to the same level of secondary education certificates as normal graduates. There are 42 specialized vocational training (non-degree) colleges for disabled people; most notable are the School of Music for the Blind in
Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...
and the Medical School for the Blind in Kislovodsk. Fully segregated undergraduate education is provided by two colleges: the Institute of Arts for the Disabled (enrollment of 158 students in 2007) and the Social Humanitarian Institute (enrollment of 250 students), both in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
. Other institutions provide semi-segregated training (specialized groups within a normal college environment) or declare full disability access of their regular classes. Bauman Moscow State Technical University and Chelyabinsk State University have the highest number of disabled students (170 each, 2007). Bauman University focuses on education for the deaf; the Herzen Pedagogical Institute enroll different groups of physical disability. However, independent studies assert that the universities fail to integrate people with disabilities into their academic and social life.


Mental disability

An estimated 20% of children leaving kindergarten fail to adjust to elementary school requirements and are in need of special schooling. Children with delayed development who ''may'' return to normal schools and study along with normal children are trained at ''compensatory classes'' within regular schools. The system is intended to prepare these children for normal school at the earliest possible age, closing (compensating) the gap between them and normal students. It is a relatively new development that began in the 1970s and gained national approval in the 1990s. Persistent but mild mental disabilities that preclude co-education with normal children in the foreseeable future but do not qualify as ''moderate, heavy, or severe retardation'' require specialized ''correction'' () boarding schools that extend from 8–9 to 18–21 years of age. Their task is to adapt the person to living in a modern society, rather than to subsequent education. Children with stronger forms of intellectual disability are, as of 2008, mostly excluded from the education system. Some are trained within severe disability groups of the ''correction'' boarding schools and orphanages, others are aided only through counseling.


Tertiary (university level) education

According to a 2005
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
report, more than half of the Russian adult population has attained a tertiary education, which is twice as high as the
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...
average. As of the 2007–2008 academic year, Russia had 8.1 million students enrolled in all forms of tertiary education (including military and police institutions and postgraduate studies).Participation in formal technical and vocational training, p. 91 Foreign students accounted for 5.2% of enrollment, half of whom were from other CIS countries. 6.2 million students were enrolled in 658 state-owned and 450 private civilian university-level institutions licensed by the Ministry of Education; total faculty reached 625 thousands in 2005.Education for all by 2015, p. 341 The number of state-owned institutions was rising steadily from 514 in 1990 to 655 in 2002 and remains nearly constant since 2002. The number of private institutions, first reported as 193 in 1995, continues to rise. The trend for consolidation began in 2006 when state universities and colleges of Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog and other southern towns were merged into Southern Federal University, based in Rostov-on-Don; a similar conglomerate was formed in
Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...
as Siberian Federal University; the third one emerged in
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as Far Eastern Federal University.
Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...
and Saint Petersburg State University acquired the '' federal university'' status in 2007 without further organisational changes. Andrei Fursenko, Minister of Education, is campaigning for a reduction in number of institutions to weed out
diploma mill A diploma mill or degree mill is a business that sells illegitimate diplomas or academic degrees, respectively. The term ''diploma mill'' is also used pejoratively to describe any educational institution with low standards for admission and gradua ...
s and substandard colleges; in April 2008 his stance was approved by president Dmitry Medvedev: "This amount, around a thousand universities and two thousands spinoffs, does not exist anywhere else in the world; it may be over the top even for
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
... consequences are clear: devaluation of education standard". Even supporters of the reduction like Yevgeny Yasin admit that the move will strengthen consolidation of academia in Moscow,
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
and
Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...
and devastate the provinces, leaving the
federal subjects of Russia The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation () or simply as the subjects of the federation (), are the administrative division, constituent entities of Russia, its top-level political division ...
without colleges for training local school teachers. For a comparison, the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
has a total of 4,495 Title IV-eligible, degree-granting institutions: 2,774 BA/BSc degree institutions and 1,721 AA/ASc degree institutions. Financial and visa difficulties have historically made it difficult to obtain higher education abroad for young adults in the post-Soviet era.


Traditional model

Unlike the United States or
Bologna process file:Bologna-Prozess-Logo.svg, 96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo file:Bologna zone.svg, alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements b ...
model, Russian higher education was traditionally not divided into undergraduate (bachelor's) and graduate (master's) levels. Instead, tertiary education was undertaken in a single stage, typically five or six years in duration, which resulted in a specialist
diploma A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offi ...
. Specialist diplomas were perceived equal to Western MSc/MA qualification. A specialist graduate needed no further academic qualification to pursue a professional career, with the exception of some (but not all) branches of medical professions that required a post-graduate residency stage. Military college education lasted four years and was ranked as equivalent to ''specialist'' degree. Historically, civilian tertiary education was divided between a minority of traditional wide curriculum
universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
and a larger number of narrow specialisation ''institutes'' (including art schools). Many of these institutes, such as the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, and the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, are concentrated primarily in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Institutes whose graduates are in wide demand throughout Russia, such as medical and teachers' institutes, are spread more evenly across the country. Institutes in geographically specific fields will tend to be situated in areas serving their specialties. Mining and metallurgy institutes are located in ore-rich territories, and maritime and fishing institutes are located in seaport communities. Legal education in Russia exists both within universities and as standalone law institutes such as the Academic Law University (Russian: Академический правовой университет, АПУ) founded under the auspices of the Institute of State and Law. In the 1990s many technical institutes and new private schools created their own departments of law; as of 2008, law departments trained around 750 thousands students. In the 1990s the institutes typically renamed themselves ''universities'', while retaining their historical narrow specialisation. More recently, a number of these new private 'universities' have been renamed back to 'institutes' to reflect their narrower specialization. In these institutes, the student's specialisation within a chosen department was fixed upon admission, and moving between different streams within the same department was difficult. Study programmes were (and still are) rigidly fixed for the whole term of study; the students have little choice in planning their academic progress. Mobility between institutions with compatible study programmes was allowed infrequently, usually due to family relocation from town to town.


Move towards Bologna Process

Russia is in the process of migrating from its traditional tertiary education model, incompatible with existing Western
academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions often offer degrees at various levels, usually divided into und ...
s, to a degree structure in line with the
Bologna Process file:Bologna-Prozess-Logo.svg, 96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo file:Bologna zone.svg, alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements b ...
model. (Russia co-signed the Bologna Declaration in 2003.) In October 2007 Russia enacted a law that replaces the traditional five-year model of education with a two-tiered approach: a four-year bachelor () degree followed by a two-year master's (, ''magistr'') degree. The move has been criticised for its merely formal approach: instead of reshaping their curriculum, universities would simply insert a BSc/BA accreditation in the middle of their standard five or six-year programmes. The job market is generally unaware of the change and critics predict that stand-alone BSc/BA diplomas will not be recognised as "real" university education in the foreseeable future, rendering the degree unnecessary and undesirable without further specialisation. Institutions like MFTI or MIFI have practiced a two-tier breakdown of their ''specialist'' programmes for decades and switched to Bologna process designations well in advance of the 2007 law, but an absolute majority of their students complete all six years of MSc/MA curriculum, regarding BSc/BA stage as useless in real life. Student mobility among universities has been traditionally discouraged and thus kept at very low level; there are no signs that formal acceptance of the Bologna Process will help students seeking better education. Finally, while the five-year ''specialist'' training was previously free to all students, the new MSc/MA stage is not. The shift forces students to pay for what was free to the previous class; the cost is unavoidable because the BSc/BA degree alone is considered useless. Defenders of the Bologna Process argue that the final years of the ''specialist'' programme were formal and useless: academic schedules were relaxed and undemanding, allowing students to work elsewhere. Cutting the five-year ''specialist'' programme to a four-year BSc/BA will not decrease the actual academic content of most of these programmes.


Post-graduate levels

Postgraduate diploma structure so far retains its unique Soviet pattern established in 1934. The system makes a distinction between ''scientific degrees'', evidencing personal postgraduate achievement in scientific research, and related but separate ''academic titles'', evidencing personal achievement in university-level education. There are two successive postgraduate ''degrees'': Candidate of Sciences (''Kandidat Nauk'') and Doctor of Sciences (''Doktor Nauk''). Both are a certificate of scientific, rather than academic, achievement, and must be backed up by original/novel scientific work, evidenced by publications in peer-reviewed journals and a dissertation defended in front of senior academic board. The titles are issued by Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Education. A degree is always awarded in one of 23 predetermined fields of science, even if the underlying achievement belongs to different fields. Thus it is possible to defend two degrees of ''candidate'' independently, but not simultaneously; a ''doctor'' in one field may also be a ''candidate'' in a different field. ''Candidate of Sciences'' can be achieved within university environment (when the university is engaged in active research in the chosen field), specialised research facilities or within research and development units in industry. Typical ''Candidate of Sciences'' path from admission to diploma takes 2–4 years. The dissertation paper should contain a solution of an existing scientific problem, or a practical proposal with significant economical or military potential. The title is often perceived as equivalent to Western Ph.D., although this may vary depending on the field of study, and may not be seen as such outside of Russia but as a more significant degree. ''Doctor of Sciences'', the next stage, implies achieving significant scientific output. This title is often equated to the German or Scandinavian
habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...
. The dissertation paper should summarize the author's research resulting in theoretical statements that are qualified as a new discovery, or solution of an existing problem, or a practical proposal with significant economical or military potential. The road from ''Candidate'' to ''Doctor'' typically takes 10 years of dedicated research activity; one in four candidates reaches this stage. The system implies that the applicants must work in their research field full-time; however, the degrees in social sciences are routinely awarded to active politicians. Academic ''titles'' of '' docent'' and ''professor'' are issued to active university staff who already achieved degrees of ''candidate'' or ''doctor''; the rules prescribe minimum residency term, authoring established study textbooks in their chosen field, and mentoring successful postgraduate trainees; special, less formal rules apply to professors of arts. Military postgraduate education radically falls out of the standard scheme. It includes military academy courses and adjunctura (). Unlike their Western namesakes, Russian military academies are ''postgraduate'' institutions conducting the advance training career commissioned officer programmes. Passing the course of an academy does not result in an explicitly named degree and enables the graduate to proceed to a certain level of command (equivalent of
battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...
commander and above). Adjunctura is a military analogue of civilian
graduate school Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...
, which allow commissioned officers to get academic degree of candidate of military sciences and be appointed to teaching and scientific positions in military educational and scientific research institutions.


Science outreach

On 1 June 2021, the Federal Law of 5 April 2021 №85-FZ "On Amendments to the Federal Law 'About education in Russian Federation'" entered into force. This law establishes the concept of the outreach activity: it is the activity, carrying out outside educational programs, which aims to dissemination of a knowledge and an experience, to formation of a skills, a values, and a competence, in order to intellectual, spiritual and moral, creative, physical, and (or) professional development of individual, and to meet educational needs of individual. The manner, conditions and implementation modalities of outreach activity and also the procedure for the control of such activity regulated by
Government of Russia The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...
. Outreach activity can be carried out by public and local authorities and natural and juridical persons concluded a contracts with educational institutions in the order determined by
Government of Russia The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...
. Although the
Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...
and numerous cultural and educational societies opposed the bill, it was adopted by the
State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...
, approved by the Federation Council and signed by the
President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
. According to scientists, science popularizers, educationalists, lawyers, this law, in fact, establishes the prior censorship of virtually every ways to share knowledge and conviction, contrary to the articles 19 and 29 of the Constitution of Russia. According to the authors, the law aims to shield Russian citizens against anti-Russian propaganda.


Government propaganda

On 21 May 2020, ''The Moscow Times'' reported that Russian President
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
made another effort to introduce "patriotic lessons" for Russian students. Following the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
, the Russian government increased their efforts to introduce "patriotic education" into schools. Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov is one of the architects of the '' Important Conversations'' lessons, which cover various topics from the Russian government's perspective, such as national identity, patriotism, traditional values and world events. The Associated Press reported that some parents were shocked by the militaristic nature of ''Important Conversations'' lessons, with some comparing them to the "patriotic education" of the former
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Some Russian students and their parents have been investigated by the police, or threatened with expulsion, for refusing to attend the ''Important Conversations'' lessons. Putin hosted an inaugural lesson with selected students in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, on 1 September 2022.


Education in languages of Russia

In December 2024, Russian State Duma accepted the law project, according to which schools will not accept foreign citizens who did not pass Russian language exam.


See also

* List of universities in Russia * Open access in Russia * Timeline of Russian inventions and technology records * List of Russian scientists * Education in the Soviet Union * Education in Bashkortostan


Notes

* * * * *


Further reading

* 'Communism, Post-Communism, and Moral Education', Special Issue, ''The Journal of Moral Education,'' Vol. 34, No. 4, December, 2005, (print) (online). Guest Editor, W. John Morgan. * see also
Russian version
* Johnson, David, ed., ''Politics, Modernisation and Educational Reform in Russia: From Past to Present'' (2010) * 'Russian Higher Education and the Post-Soviet Transition', Special Issue, ''European Journal of Education'', Vol. 47, No. 1, March, 2012, ISSN 0141-8211, Guest Editors, W. John Morgan and Grigori A. Kliucharev. * Morgan, W. John, Trofimova, Irina, and Kliucharev, Grigori A., ''Civil Society, Social Change, and a New Popular Education in Russia'', Routledge, London and New York, 2019, xiv and 188p. .


External links


The ministry of education and science of the Russian Federation

The data base of the Russian Scientific Electronic Library: The numbers of citations of scientists of the Russian Federation under the heading "Education. Pedagogy "(just under this section in the database of the Russian citation index - 11,000 Russian scientists in the field of educational sciences). Date: May, 5, 2013

World Data on Education:Russia, UNESCO-IBE(2012)
- Overview of the Russian education system
TVET in Russian Federation, UNESCO-UNEVOC(2012)
- Overview of the technical and vocational Russian educational system

webdossier by Education Worldwide, a portal of the German Education Server
Russian Education Centre
is a legally authorized representative working under the Aegis of the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation
Education in Russia for foreigners
legal representative working under the letters of authorization from Russian universities


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Education In Russia