Recently, the Ministry of Education and Science announced the launch of the next stage of regional higher education reforms, the first step of which is to unite core universities in multidisciplinary universities in the regions, which will reduce their number by almost a quarter. The pros and cons of this decision are very widely discussed throughout the country.
Statement
At a regular meeting held by the Russian Union of Rectors, Minister D. Livanov announced that the Ministry of Education and Science is starting to unite core universities in multidisciplinary universities in the regions, which will contribute to the consolidation of higher education. The first stage - the creation of federal universities - is almost completed. The start of the program of the second stage of reforms is planned for the very near future.
Financing, he said, will accompany the progress of innovations until 2020. The association will affect both the universities subordinate to the Ministry of Education and Science, and all higher education institutions subordinate to the Ministries of Health, Culture and other departments. Multidisciplinary educational institutions will be funded under a five-year program.
Reason for Reform
D. Livanov also noted that more than twenty universities are potentially ready for unification. They will be supported in every way, both financially and organizationally, since this is a responsible and important step for the country. Nevertheless, academic councils of higher education institutions must independently make decisions on consolidation, because it is voluntary in any case.
This process is forced only because it is dictated by the demographic situation in the country. The number of eleventh graders is declining sharply and steadily, so universities with a small student body will be forced to either unite with the strong and large, or cease to exist.
The meaning of reform
Ten years ago, a reform of education was developed, in which the Ministry of Education and Science envisaged the consolidation of Russian universities, that is, the unification of all small regional universities into a core university. The reform has no exact deadlines, but its meaning was stated back in March 2015 in Vedomosti. In the article, D. Livanov and Skolkovo business school professor A. Volkov explained to the country why and why it was started.
The main thing in the structural policy of higher education they see is the creation of core universities, which will merge narrow-profile research institutes and small universities, since only a few universities that can survive in the current circumstances can compete in world rankings. In addition to them, a group of one hundred or one hundred and twenty higher educational institutions will be organized throughout the country, where all research, innovation and education will be concentrated.
The opposite of opinions
HSE Rector Y. Kuzminov believes that the result of the program announced by the Minister will be a reduction in the number of regional universities by 25 percent. Y. Kuzminov approves of the reforms, because he agrees that a university with a small number of students will not be able to, even it will not be able to keep the full-time staff of teachers, especially teachers of high quality. In his opinion, even if each region has its own supporting university, their number will not exceed one hundred.
The opinion of the rector of the Lomonosov Moscow State University V. Sadovnichy is very different from the opinion of the rector of the HSE. He believes that with the consolidation of such a plan, one must be careful, since enlargement, if it solves, is far from all. And practice shows that in the world there are quite a few universities, though not large, but extremely strong, for example, Harvard, where there are only ten thousand students.
United universities
Associations began long before the aforementioned statement by Minister D. Livanov. One has only to see what the famous MIREA institute consists of today: MIREA plus MGUPI plus MITT plus VNIITE plus RosNII ITiAP plus IPK of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. And at least four different stories of the development of the university. Will this monstrous synthesis ever end? In 2015, several more associations were announced. The Moscow State Pedagogical University is consolidating with the Moscow State Pedagogical University - a pedagogical university with a humanitarian, both universities - with their glorious history, with their own path, their accomplishments. MATI unites with MAI - aviation with aviation-technical. Both universities, it would seem, from the strongest, are not offended by the attention of applicants. Then why?
In addition, the DGGU (Far Eastern State Humanitarian University) and TSU (Pacific State University), the Orenburg University of Management (OGUM) and the State University (OSU) merged. In Krasnoyarsk, a supporting university is the first federal university in the country - Siberian. Back in 2006, the three largest higher educational institutions of the region joined the Krasnoyarsk State University. Currently, ten such federal universities have been created. The youngest is in the Crimea, where seven universities on the peninsula are consolidated into one. The Minister of Education is confident that these actions will help create attractive conditions for the retention of students in the region.
Supporting regional universities of the Russian Federation
In October 2015, D. Livanov signed an order regarding the competitive selection of regional universities in order to financially support programs for their development and the subsequent creation of a base of educational organizations. A participant in this competition will be any state-owned university of federal significance where a joint decision has been made in favor of reorganization by joining one or more universities. This decision must be confirmed by the academic councils of all involved educational institutions. Universities in the process of consolidation can also take part in the competition if the reorganization order was issued later than June 2015.
Out of competition
Supporting universities of the Russian Federation (ten of them have already been created), as well as those located in St. Petersburg and Moscow, cannot participate in the competition. Also, participants in the "Project 5-100" cannot participate in this competition. According to this project, by 2020, five Russian higher education institutions should take places in the first hundred of the top world ratings. In each individual case, a core university program is developed.
In 2015, the legendary nuclear MEPhI left the 95th line of the world ranking (only in physics teaching, not in general) and jumped to 36th place, overtaking even Lomonosov Moscow State University. Nevertheless, experts of the Accounts Chamber have not yet established the effectiveness of the invested funds, not a single university of the Russian Federation from subsidized ones (including MEPhI) has become more competitive.
Irkutsk history
The governor of the region S. Levchenko called the supporting universities of the Russian Federation a harmful undertaking, and called for all efforts to avoid the participation of the Ministry of Education and Science in this competition. He is sure that without serious consequences it is in no way possible to carry out a purely mechanical union into a supporting university: both students and the regional scientific elite will certainly suffer.
Such a plan is the experimental division of educational institutions "by grades", ill-conceived and clearly violent consolidation in the name of some mythical seven indicators, supposedly capable of determining quality in the most difficult process of education, S. Levchenko considers it wrong and harmful.
Counter offers
In his opinion, all specialized and sectoral universities in the regions should maintain independence and the identity that is currently inherent in them. S. Levchenko offers a softer option instead of a mechanical merger - a corporate association with autonomous management, in which it will be possible to avoid a conflict of interests.
Competitive conditions should be reviewed, according to the deputy governor V. Ignatenko. There should be the possibility of sole participation, so that any individual university can become supportive, even if there is no need for unification, but it fulfills more than half of the indicators entered into the competition conditions.
Financing
Budget funding will support only three types of higher education institutions. The first type is those ten federal universities that are created in the districts of the Russian Federation. The second is national research institutes, which so far have approved only 29 in the country. These include IrNITU, MEPhI and others. The third type is the very basic universities of Russia, which began to be created in 2015. Until the end of 2016, the plans include the final definition of those hundred universities that will be authorized to become supportive. To obtain such a status, a strategic development program is needed, which must be submitted for the competition, as well as a regional concept for the development of the territory in the field of staffing.
However, the main condition is the unification of the educational base of the entire region into one university. The state will subsidize a heavily supportive university for the first three years - at least two hundred million rubles a year. Plus, the local government will finance what is provided for in the region’s personnel development program. Further, the supporting university will finance itself, but quotas for budgetary education and foreign students will be increased - at the expense of other educational institutions that do not have supporting status. For five years, the program of the reference university should be completed in all respects:
- At least ten thousand students.
- Training in at least twenty disciplines.
- At least eight teachers with advanced degrees per hundred students.
- Each scientist must master at least 150 thousand rubles in research.
- The income of the university is at least 2 billion rubles.