V I C T O R S A D O V N I C HI Y
President of the Russia Rectors Union
Rector of the LomonosovMoscowStateUniversity
Report at the VIII Congress
of the Russia Rectors Union
June 8-9, 2006
LomonosovMoscowStateUniversity
Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!
Dear participants and guests of the Congress!
Dear colleagues!
The people who gathered today in this hall are particularly responsible for the way of development of the Russian education.
About one thousand rectors, managing and executive officials of the ministries and departments, governors of the regions, deputies of the State Duma and members of the Council of Federation all of them are taking part at the Congress.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin the President of the Russian Federation participating at the Congress is a great honour for the whole educational community of our country.
Allow me on behave of the rectors corps to thank Vladimir Vladimirovich heartily for his constant attention to the problems of education and support of the HigherSchool!
Dear colleagues!
It is generally known that our future is not determined by raw stock or other natural resources. Intellectual potential, level of the science development, high technologies – these are the key points of the economics competitive capability.
Very good words. But the question is how to achieve this purpose.
Educational system in Russiaheretofore presents as one of the best. Specialists’ training on the different subjects corresponds to the international highest standards. Indirect but convincing confirmation of this fact is “brain drain” when the graduates of our universities are greedily wishful abroad.
For example more than one thousand graduates from the Russian higher education institutes work in “Microsoft”, about one thousand in IBM, one thousand and half in Intel. Many of the managers of these companies frankly say: “Don’t stop the training of such guys otherwise we will have nobody to work.”
Sergey Petrovich Kapitsa has told us: “The important international forum have taken place in USA recently, it was devoted to the neuroscience, 30 thousands of participants, this concept is on the top of development. It is known that expenses on the treatmentof nervous system diseases are equal to the expenses on the treatment of cardiovascular and oncological diseases taken together There are 300 graduates of Russian universities now working in America and other countries took part at the conference, and only 8 experts had come from Russia immediately”.
Undoubtedly there are a lot of problems brought by our life. During the Congress we have to discuss the row of strategic issues on education development such as increasing the quality, reproduction of the scientific personnel, perfection of administration and creation of the competitive system of the specialists’ training.
What are the general missions?
First of all let us emphasize on availability and quality.
As all the history and all the life show our country is extremely rich in talent people. They appears everywhere – in the capital and in the provinces, in small villages and in big cities. We should find them out, educe and give them the opportunity to realize themselves. And they will define the level of science, education and economy in future.
Availability is not an empty issue. It is the issue of spirits in the society. And it sounds very significant. Up to now the entrance to the leading university or institute of a schoolboy from small town or village is a very important event. It is an etalon of equity in our society in a sense.
Unfortunately on 90th the so-call “regionalization” of education has happened. School leavers, reasoning from the economy considerations mainly, preferred to enter to the institute of higher education which was situated no far from their home, but depriving themselves of education they desired and worthy to get.
However there is a back side of the problem. There is no mixing of different social strata which are living various regions. But many countries originate special programmes forpeople mixing to save joint cultural space.
What else should be done.
We think we promptly need to pass the law on olimpiads, creative competitions, different forms of special-purpose training for students, system of selection among the talent young people throughout the country. Without postponing need to establish clear entering regulations on the multivariable basis. And more about the issue is the creation of the purposeful training system for students and graduated students which are to be sent to the leading national universities having rich scientific base.
Of course we will face the problems of lack of dormitories and the others, but these problems are not so difficult compare to the problems of education availability and reproduction of scientific potential.
Quality of our education
The quality of education has decreased last years. Nowadays the school levels of training on mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, Russian language give a great concern. After all, these subjects are the basis of school education.
On April 2005 the «Russian Newsweek» magazine marked: “Every fifth of Russian school leaver is nonqualifying to receive the school-leaving certificate. Because the every fifth of them is flunk. According to the results of the State Unified Examination on 2004 the 19,5% of eleventh-formers flunked math exam, and it means they flunked the school program on this key subject. The results on other subjects are not more better. Nevertheless everybody received his school-leaving certificate.”
I’d like to remind that not long ago in USA the mathematics illiteracy was announced as the national security threat. Concerning this point the USA Congress adopted the special resolution, the large financial means were assigned.
We can remember that on 1701 Peter I decided to establish the «school of mathematics and navigation» in Moscow. Now let us remember the recent events. On 60-70th with a view to expedite the technological progress the state resolutions on mathematics teaching were adopted more the once.
At first, undoubtedly, the problem of education quality turns on the teachers’ material well-being and their status. The measures, proposed by the President of RF in the framework of the national projects including «Education» project, are initial but very significant steps towards resolving the problem. They should be promoted. In many regions the school conditions were improved, the prestige of teacher was enhanced. For this purpose it was decided to deviate from the Unified Tariff Scale and to introduce the elements of sectoral system. The aim of these innovations is to double the teacher’s salary at least.
The poor training at schools decreases the level of the higher education. Moreover the teachers are had to search the additional earnings break away from the main job.
Nowadays we have the paradoxical situation. The professor two thirds of his own time passes out of the main job earning for life at the different places. By some estimates, two thirds of his salary he earns «outside» too. Professor is worthy to draw good salary enough for life. In this case we can demand from him to spend all his time at the university. It should be recorded in the personal contract the same way as in many universities throughout the world.
There is an example. A week ago it was arranged the handing over of the invaluablemanuscripts written by Ivan A. Ilyin famous Russian thinker, philosopher, professor of the MoscowUniversity, to the MSU library. These manuscripts were kept at the library of the MichiganUniversity and were handed over to us of the scientist will.
Staff of the MichiganUniversity packed the manuscripts into the special containers in the evening gratuitously. The weight of the cargo was 500 kg. When they were asked why they worked in the evening but not in the daytime, the answer was: “We want to help the MoscowUniversity very much, but during the daytime we work for our university under contract and can help you only when have free time”. Here’s an attitude to their duties in the university!
We make a suggestion to work out and adopt the law on pedagogical worker. When working out the draft of this law it is necessary to consider the opportunities for the wage raise of teachers and research workers of the university. Even more the similar experiment has been already conducting at the Russia Academy of Sciences. The good support will be the planning increase of candidate’ and doctor’ level increment for three and seven thousands roubles conformably.
Secondly, the quality of education depends directly on the professional skills of the teachers. In many recently established institutes, these are for the most part legal, economic and administrative institutes, there is a hard lack of pedagogically qualified staff.There is no potential in our country capable of teaching at every institutes of higher education along with the branches. After all, there are 3345 institutes.
There are 93 structures of higher education in Moscow and the Region which are turn out certificated lawyers. And here the question is born who is teaching them, wherefrom a lot of high quality lawyers appear who are able to read complicated 300-400 hours lecture courses. It turned out, that in the member staff list, just for advertisement, the names of famous professors and experts are present, but they do not teach anybody there and often do not know about the «new job» at all.
On 2005 according to the Ministry of Education and Science information, four hundred educational establishments were inspected, only one hundred and sixty of them did not rouse the censures. Ministry’s Officials make no secret of the fact that most of the branches changed into the station of certificate issuing, most often not free of charge.
The equal certificates are given despite the fact that the potential is absolutely different and, correspondingly, the quality of education is not the same, but all the certificates are state approved. To my point of view we have two ways. On the one hand we should create effective and strict system of licensing and accreditation to put a place in order. On the other hand we can turn to the system of certificate of the university, in this case every university should be obliged to strive for the quality of its certificate.
Thirdly, we should create well thought-out, computerized system of quality control. Moreover this system should cover not only universities but schools too.
In that case there will be no mistakes when admission the institute of higher education. All the success of the school leaver, of the student will be taken into consideration systematically during the whole period of his studies. It will be clear who has abilities for study and who do not want to or can not study counting on the parents’ purse only.
In reality we speak about the very important thing: forming of the unified informational medium in the educational sphere. Many of the universities emphatically put a question on the creation of the appropriate resources centers using their base.
Now let’s discuss whom we are teaching students for? How the employers evaluate the level of our graduate?
Now a few words about the history of this question. Educational system of the Soviet Union was organized under the unique principle, it fulfilled its missions on training of the qualified specialists in the framework of the planned economics. This system could provide for unprecedentedburst of the scientific technological progress and priorities of our country on the space exploration, nuclear-power engineering and the other spheres.
Nowadays we are living in the changed country, we have another economics. And to train students for “nowhere” when many of them, sometimes most of them, work against their specialty, for example graduates from the pedagogical institutes, it seems like an absurdity.
That’s why the sharpest issue on the interrelationship between educational system, employers and business has appeared. There are a lot of hard problems, but the path of their resolving is very clear.
We often say that education defines the future of the country, because the future, first of all, is the high technologies, the newest achievements of fundamental science, the new discoveries in micro world, in macro world, in the space exploration, in the nature of living matter. And these discoveries help our country to reach the higher level of the economics, provide for its competitiveness. But who will make all these discoveries, inventions, technologies, preparations, goods? Only the specialists trained using the thorough knowledge, in the genuinescientific institutions, in the innovation environment.
How can we to lose sight that some countries due to their geopolitical interests use the different colours for the territories which are nearer and nearer to our borders. Well known to us Zbignev Bzhezinsky in his book «The Great Chess-Board»chapter “Geostrategy regarding to Eurasia” described the scenario of such events. We see that many things of this scenario is happening. How can we contain the threat to our national interests. Only by the high technological means of defense. And our graduates should construct them. Just for this reason the conditions of uninterrupted study and army service postponement for talent, inventively active masters, graduate students, working for doctor's degree persons, should be provided.
We used to refer to the foreign experience. For example, and it is necessary to mention that American universities take an active part in researching the military themes. According to the rector of NorthernCarolineUniversity, the budget of the university on research works amounts to one billion dollars. The 80% of the budget are the State orders and the lion's share of them are concerning to the Pentagon.
At any price, we have to save the high level of science in our country, the highest quality of the professional education. We know that President supports the development of important scientific efforts, the list of priority directions was confirmed. To accomplish these missions the powerful scientific institutions will be established, the universities and the research-and-development centers will join their efforts. And these measures are promptly required for our country at present situation. Perhaps we should bolder commit the famous scientists to the managing of the large-scale research projects. Everybody should know, who and what is personally responsible for.
Today the employers justly make great demands to the level of graduates’ professional skills. Sometimes they are not satisfactory. Surely, these are the costs of mass training of specialists especially at the recently established institutes, I’ve already mentioned this.
Of course, the employer should have the right to formulate his demands, so to speak, his order, the employer should participate in the discussion of standards and programs. There a lot of joint initiatives are already exist: special programs of training rest on fundamental scientific basis for the future work;graduates’ development when working in firms; retraining of the specialists; schools of perfection; and such a new form of joint training as corporate universities. Today there are more than four thousands of these universities all over the world. We think, this is the one of the strategic ways of resolving co-operation problems between university, employer and business.
In the President’s Annual Message the employer initiatives on financing of leading universities by means of special development funds and on forming of educational credit system were supported. To my mind, the issue on adopting the law on student’s credits and this kind of funds has come to a head.
Just today at the Congress we are planning to sign the agreement on strategic partnership of Russia Rectors Union with the largest integration of employers: Russian Union of Industrialists and Businessmen, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, “Delovaya Russia”, “Opora Rossii”. We are ready to sign the agreements with the other integrations.
The most all-important issue of education is reproduction of the scientific potential.
Unfortunately, the resource environment to resolve the issue is too slight now. Because of critical scarcity of teaching and scientific staff, sometimes the competitions on filling the positions of professor or head of chair are the mere formality.
Nowadays there are about 30-40 thousands proactive scientists who are quoted in Russia. Half of them works abroad, but they are on the list of our universities and institutes. In fact the staff of scientific institutions has lost the generation of 35-40-year-old people. It will be very difficult to patch up this tear within the scientific community. Moreover, the significant demographic problem is raising.
In the recent years the State has made some steps towards the creation of conditions to stimulate the reproduction of scientific and pedagogical personnel. These are the well-known decrees of the President and Government resolutions. However, it is necessary to recognize that in the meantime we could not see the radical turn on this issue.