System of Russian Higher Education

The majority of state institutes of higher education are regulated by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. Some of them are regulated by other state Ministries, such as the Ministry of Health Care, the Ministry of Railway Transportation, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of International Affairs and others. For examples, institutes of higher education of aviation are regulated by the state, of railway and water transport — by the corresponding Ministries; legal academies are divided between the state and the Ministry of Internal Affairs; the largest medical institutes and medical departments of universities are regulated by the state, smaller — by the Ministry of Health Care.

Non-state educational institutes can be established institutionally and legally in the forms stipulated by the Russian Federation Laws for non-profit organizations. The majority of them teach humanities, economics, and law — the disciplines that do not require expensive high-tech equipped facilities and big capital investments. Students at non-state schools need to pay for their education during the whole period of study.

There are three kinds of higher education institutions in Russia: universities, academies, and institutes. All of them realize programmes of undergraduate and graduate professional education.

1. «University» covers a wide range of fields of study, for example, technical university or classical university.

2. «Academy» differs from universities by a narrower spectrum of specialties connected with a particular industry, for example, Academy of Railway Transport, Academy of Agriculture, or Academy of Economics.

3. The status of an «Institute» requires teaching of at least one discipline.

Universities also conduct fundamental and applied research in a wide spectrum of sciences, while the academies and institutes run their scientific activities in one field of Science or Art. To hold a status of a university or an academy it is obligatory to be a leading scientific and methodological center in the field of your specialization. Institutes mainly offer the professional training. Institute also can be established as a department of a university or an academy with the aim to conduct autonomic educational or scientific activities. For example, the Institute of Social Rehabilitation of Novosibirsk State Technical University or the Institute of International Affairs and Law of Novosibirsk State Academy of Economics and Management. According to the Russian Federation Laws, there are no preferences or limitations (discrimination of) for the graduates from accredited institutes, academies and universities.

Before 1990 only classical universities had the status of «universities». There were not so many of them, only in the big regional centers, for example, Novosibirsk State University, Moscow State University, and St. Petersburg State University. All other institutes of higher education held the status of «institutes» (do not mix with Research institutes whose business is not in teaching, but in conducting research).

With the reforms of 1990s institutes of higher education got the right to reorganize their main activities and this led to mass raising the statuses from «institutes» to «academies» and «universities». This tendency changed the structure of the state system of education.

According to the statistics for the period of 1991-1996 the number of universities increased 6 times and that of academies more than 30 times. In order to raise the status from institutes to universities and academies many institutes open new departments: economics, law, business administration, management. Unfortunately, very often this does not mean that these disciplines are taught on a high professional level. It needs to be mentioned that non-state schools usually have status of institutes. There are only 6 non-state universities and 4 non-state academies in Russia now.

Accreditation: Besides the division into universities, academies and institutes, state licensing and accreditation are the most important characteristics of any institute of higher education. State license gives institution the permission to offer educational services. That means that an institution has enough well-equipped space, which will allow teaching an appropriate number of students; that it has in its staff well educated and trained lectors and teachers. This document is issued by Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. Every branch of the institute of higher education needs to get state license separately from the head institution. There are two types of accreditations in Russia: state accreditation and community accreditation.

State accreditation means correspondence between the quality of education on accredited programmes and state educational standards. Accreditation also gives the right to issue state-standard diplomas. Constant state control of the quality of educational services is legally guaranteed only for accredited schools. Institutes of higher education can be accredited for the period, which not exceeds 5 years.

Accreditation certificate is not eligible without its attachment, where accredited programmes of all levels (the Bachelor, specialist and Master), stages of education and qualifications of graduates are listed. All branches of institute of higher education should be accredited at the same time as the head institute. The names and addresses of the branches, list of accredited programmes are mentioned in the attachment. The word «state» in the name of the institute of higher education guarantees that this institute issues state standard diplomas.

The aim of community accreditation is appreciation of the level of activities of institute of higher education, which corresponds to the criteria and expectations of civic educational, professional, scientific and industrial organizations. Community accreditation does not mean financial or any other obligations from the state.

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Education and Society

Education plays a crucial role in determining social status in Russia. People who leave school after 9 years generally can find only unskilled jobs. Even those who complete secondary education may rise no higher than skilled labor or low-level white-collar work. A college or university education is necessary for most professional and bureaucratic positions and appears to be highly desirable for a position of political power.

For example, a very high percentage of the members of Russia’s parliament are university graduates. Access to higher education is roughly proportionate to the social and financial situation of an individual’s family. Children whose parents have money and status usually have an advantage in gaining admission to an institution of higher education.

The reasons lie not only with the parents’ possible influence and connections but increasingly with the better quality of primary and secondary education that has become available to such children, enhancing their ability to pass difficult university entrance examinations. Moreover, such families can afford to hire tutors for their children in preparation for the exams and can more readily afford to pay university tuition in case the children do not receive stipends.

By the mid-1990s, the new phenomenon of individual commercial success began influencing the attitude of Russian society toward education and its goals. At the same time, the last generation of Soviet-educated Russians was finding itself ill prepared to deal with a new set of conditions for social and economic survival. In the new order, acquisition of money is much more important for both self-respect and practical survival, and career prestige by itself is of relatively less worth than it was in the Soviet system, where every career label ensured a known level of comfort. Significantly, in post-Soviet years, the phrase «to make money» has passed into common usage in colloquial Russian.

Together with the employment insecurity felt in the 1990s by well-educated Russians, the new values have dampened the educational ambitions of many, particularly with regard to higher education. Although older Russians resent those who achieve commercial success in the new «system», the generation now in school shows increasing interest in advancement in the private sector of the economy. At the same time, polls show that education ranks only ninth among the most pressing concerns of Russians.

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Mikhail Lomonosov

Russia’s first world-famed specialist in natural science, a poet who laid down the foundations of Russian literary language and an advocate of education, Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov (1711-1765) will forever remain in the history of Russian science as «the first and the greatest». Aspiring to get an education, Lomonosov left his native village of Kholmogory in Northern Russia in 1730 and travelled all the way to Moscow on foot.

The son of a poor fisherman, he had to conceal his origin in order to be admitted to the Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy of Moscow, where he started his education at the age of 19. Recognized by his instructors as an excellent student, he completed his education in St. Petersburg and in Germany. He became the first Russian professor of chemistry at St. Petersburg Academy of Science in 1745. His major scientific accomplishment was in the field of physical chemistry, with other notable discoveries in astronomy, geophysics, geology, metallurgy and mineralogy. Mikhail Lomonosov was the one who created a system of higher education in Russia. The foundation of a university in Moscow became possible only due to the efforts of M. Lomonosov, the outstanding Russian scholar and scientist, a person of encyclopedic knowledge. In 1940 on the occasion of its 185th Anniversary, Moscow State University was named after him.

Interested in furthering Russian education, Lomonosov wrote a grammar that reformed the Russian literary language by combining Old Church Slavonic with the vulgar tongue. He published the first history of Russia in 1760 and invented a new system of meter in his poetry, which consisted mostly of eloquent odes. He also revived the art of Russian mosaic and built a mosaic and coloured-glass factory.

Famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin was quite right when he wrote about the giant of the 18th century world science: «Combining the great will-power and the remarkable strength of perception, Lomonosov embraced all the branches of learning. A thirst for a deeper appreciation of things proved an overwhelming passion with that impassioned spirit. A historian, mechanic, chemist, physicist, astronomer, mining specialist, mineralogist, geographer, historian, philologist, artist and poet, he had experienced it all and perceived it all ...».

Even so, the vast scope of Lomonosov’s interests and the profundity of his knowledge appear amazing for that age. He carried out research and scientific and technical projects that were not simply enormous — they were immeasurable. Lomonosov invented the first gas barometer, developed the methods of exact weighting, brought up the kinetic theory of warmth, and developed the method of processing the colour glasses, which he used for his great mosaics. Lomonosov proved the organic origin of oils, stone coal and amber.

Lomonosov was the first Russian natural scientist of world importance. He had encyclopedic knowledge, interests and abilities, and he also is known as a poet, artist, astronomer and Russian historian, who made important contributions to both literature and science. Most of his accomplishments, however, were unknown outside Russia until long after his death in St. Petersburg on April 15, 1765.

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