Ph.D Elena Kurolenko
Siberian Federal University, Russia
High education reforms in Russia: the ways for transformations
The modern validity is perceived as an epoch of social and cultural, economic and technological, demographic and
other changes accepting global scale. In this situation the future of the
social and cultural institutes having long history is uncertain. In particular,
the high school future, its role in preservation and development of human
values, generation of scientific knowledge, technological, social and
cultural innovations becomes a theme of
intense discussions.
On the one pole there is a “future picture” according to which the
high school will play the lesser role, giving way to sphere formations, the network communities of researchers, to corporations “making” knowledge and
innovations etc. Value of high
school will be curtailed to a role of
the centre of certification which is
giving out certificates about higher education. On the other pole there is a “picture” of “new blossoming”
high school which becomes the centre of system knowledge. In this case the high
education crisis, which are found out not only in Russia, but also all over the
world, is only a symptom of a
transitive condition, illness of growth.
Changes occurring now in high education sphere are comprehended as
the many-sided crisis including the
contradiction between requirements of a labour market and professional
qualifications received in high school, falling of prestige of teaching
profession, necessity of change of a paradigm of formation, etc. High
education crisis is shown in “washing out” of functions at educational
institutes. For example, “educational events of individuality” leave colleges and universities, and they
start turn to educational supermarkets
or socially-adapting establishments. Personal education as reflection of
individual cultural-valuable kernel,
formation of base intellectual functions (thinking, understanding, reflexion,
communications etc.), situations of “performance
existence” occur at new communicatively-creative institutes.
Education institutes considerable changes at the point of centuries. The
paid education share has considerably increased in many countries; education
sphere gradually ceases to be the state (national) project and passes in sphere
of the personal initiative and responsibility. In the developed countries there
were notable changes in the maintenance and technologies in high education.
There were have distribution the
technologies leaning against own educational activity of a person. Universities lose the status of “temples of knowledge,” their activity becomes more and more
pragmatically focused on market.
On the other hand, the high education left for national borders and
became the important tool of the international influence and considerable
sector of the international business. The countries with successful economy and
the developed education sphere have an opportunity to accumulate the best
intellectual resources through selection of talented youth. This phenomena “are
already focused” by public consciousness and become a subject for public discourse, but their judgment did not
become the basis for development and acceptance of strategic decisions yet. The
judgment is impossible without the analysis of wide economic, social, cultural
contexts, and corresponding processes
in global and state frameworks. The understanding of depth and scales of
occurring processes, expansion of a substantial public discourse concerning the
present and the high school future became a necessary basis for working out at adequate strategy of development Russian education system.
The future can be thought by different ways, in different aspects. Often
it represent as the continued present. Concerning the high school it means,
that it is thought as institute of an industrial society, with characteristic
relations for it and communications between economy (first of all, the
industry), a science, formation, with characteristic “industrial” formats of
training, researches, innovations. Thus it is supposed, that the future should
be “better”, than the present, but expected improvements will occur in the same
limits, in the same horizon; for example, conformity between inquiries of
economy about shots and quantity and quality of the people (experts) prepared
by “the educational conveyor” will be reached. Another, more fruitful way is to
present it as change, horizon shift in which there is a high school with the new problems
of its activity. Now it is considered, that the new horizon will be
connected with end of an industrial phase of development that means that the industry will not be a leading sector of human activity.
Debatable there are questions: what concrete shape of the following
phase will be? What will be the most mass of activity? What activity will be
leaders (the most significant, defining incomes and defining development)?
Whether it is necessary to speak about “service economy” (postindustrial
economy), “creative economy”, “a society of knowledge”, “manufacture of
innovations”, or these concepts reflect various sides of society conditions in
the future? How much promptly or, on the contrary, how long and contrast the
new phase will be developed? What means this transition for Russia, whether it
will enter into number of leaders, or it will appear on periphery? How much
actually it is for Russia to speak about new frameworks in high school? On the other
hand - whether there are efforts on the education modernizations the preserving
factor for economy and a society?
At research of variants of the possible future in Russian high
school the theme “falsifications and
imitations” cannot be ignored. However overcoming (or level decrease)
imitations and falsifications is not “internal problem” of high school only. Required administrative
and political decisions which should change economy and a society of Russia. The next 3-5 years Russian high
school should make some the important steps which will define long-term prospect in 15-20 years.
The possible measures of a government policy leaded to development of
high school following: they are stimulation
of educational, research, innovative activity, strengthening of management and
economy, support of interaction between
the high school, business, the power and a society. According to experts,
the most significant measure of the policy directed on reduction of imitation
and falsification is measures to lower
influence of “educational bureaucracy” at
all universities levels; building high schools as communities of scientists and teachers.
To decide problems of strengthening of innovative
activity in high schools it is important:
1) to organise target support of patents of Russian scientists in international patent
systems;
2) to enter preferences, the tax privileges
stimulating occurrence of the small innovative enterprises at universities;
3) to process patent legislation, to raise level of
protection to stimulate activity of authors;
4) to create system
“compulsions to innovations” of large
companies with the government participation in that to develop the programs of
the technological modernisation, assuming participation of Russian high schools;
5) to expand the list of
technological platforms, having included platforms on working out of social and
humanitarian technologies;
6) to generate the federal target program providing support of
technological regional platforms of as new practice of partnership in high schools and business;
7) to develop and realise regional strategy and programs of
technological modernisation of base sectors of economy on the basis of
partnership of high schools and business;
8) to enter into system intermediate term and long-term planning of
social, economic and cultural development of regions and large cities with collaboration between high schools and business;
9) to generate practice of long-term state tasks for professional training within the limits of
federal and regional budgets (taking into account requirements of employers).
10) to create system of socially-professional monitoring to effective realize Strategy of innovative development of Russian Federation till 2020 (“Innovative Russia – 2020”).
11) to create a national network of the independent centers
of estimation of qualifications.
The next two decades in Russia there will be a contribution
reduction “the raw future”, the development “catching up modernization”,
“local leadership”, “cognitive society” will increase. These changes will set a
social and economic context of development
in higher school till 2030. Thus, the high school is not ready to serve as “the catalyst
of a new social reality” and it is not
perceived by experts in this quality. Its transformation into the leading subject of creation and
communications in 10-20 year is problematic.
It is possible to conclude, that
in horizon till 2030 the Russian high school can pass from a paradigm of “transmitting”
formation to a paradigm “active” formations on the basis of two “technological
packages” in high education. Simultaneously behind horizon of vision by experts
there is a humanitarian paradigm of formation and a corresponding package “anthropotechnical” technologies. Thus
rather possibly, what exactly the paradigm «developments of the person» will
provide competitive advantages of the developed countries and regions the next
20 years.
The high school can effectively operate and develop, be highly claimed
only in a society, in which different
aspects of life (manufacture, management,
a policy, communications) are intellectual. “Intellectualization” level becomes
in the modern world the major competitive advantage of the country in the field
of a global competition. Most significantly is to develop socially-government program “the School
learns to think”: to generate the educational programs directed on ability to
analyze, argue, put and solve informative problems; to create different conditions for wide activity.
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