Recently, the Ministry of Education and Science has beenannounced the launch of the next stage of the reform of regional higher education, the first step of which is supposed to unite the support universities in the multi-profile universities in the regions, which will reduce their number by almost a quarter. Pros and cons of this decision are widely discussed throughout the country.
At the next meeting, held by the RussianUnion of Rectors, Minister D. Livanov said that the Ministry of Education and Science is starting to unite in the multi-profile universities of basic universities in the regions, which will contribute to the consolidation of higher education. The first stage - the creation of federal universities - is almost complete. The program for the second stage of the reforms is scheduled for the very near future.
Financing, he said, will accompanythe course of innovations until 2020. The Association will also touch upon the higher education institutions 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 by a five-year program.
Also D.Livanov noted that more than twenty universities are potentially ready to unite. They will be supported in every possible way both financially and organizationally, since this step is responsible and important for the country. Academic councils of universities, however, must independently make decisions on consolidation, because in any case it is voluntary.
This process is forced only becauseis dictated by the demographic situation in the country. The number of eleventh graders is shrinking sharply and steadily, so universities with a small contingent of students will be forced either to unite with strong and large, or cease to exist.
Ten years ago reform was developededucation, in which the Ministry of Education proposed the consolidation of Russian universities, that is, the unification of all small regional ones into a basic university. The reform does not have exact deadlines, but its meaning was set forth in March 2015 in Vedomosti. In the article D. Livanov and the professor of the business school from Skolkovo A. Volkov explained to the country why and why this was started.
The main thing in the structural policy of the higherthey see the creation of basic universities, which will be merged with narrow-profile research institutes and small universities, as only a few universities that can survive in the current circumstances will be able to compete in world rankings. In addition, a group of one hundred and one hundred and twenty higher educational institutions will be organized throughout the country, where all research, innovation and education will be concentrated.
Rector of Higher School of Economics (Higher School of Economics) Ya.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 the reforms, because he agrees that a university with a small number of students will not be able to exist, even to keep the staff of teachers at full rate, he will not be able, especially teachers of high quality. In his opinion, even if each region has its own supporting university, their number will not exceed one hundred.
Мнение ректора МГУ имени Ломоносова В.The gardener is very different from the opinion of the Rector of the Higher School of Economics. He believes that with the consolidation of such a plan you need to be more careful, since problems of enlargement, if you decide, are not all. And practice shows that in the world there are quite a few universities, although not large, but extremely powerful, Harvard, for example, where there are only ten thousand students.
The associations began long before the abovestatements by Minister D. Livanov. One has only to see what the famous MIREA institute consists of: MIREA plus MGUPI plus MITHT 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 university's development. Will this monstrous synthesis ever come to an end? In 2015, several other associations were announced. MGPU is consolidating with the MGUH - the pedagogical university with a humanitarian one, both universities - with its glorious history, with its own road, its accomplishments. MATI unites with MAI - aviation with aviation and technical. Both universities, it would seem, from the strongest, the attention of the abortion is not offended. Then why?
In addition, the DGSU (Far EasternState Humanitarian University) and TSU (Pacific State University), Orenburg University of Management (OGUM) and the State University (OSU). In Krasnoyarsk, the basic university is the first federal university in the country - the Siberian one. Back in 2006, three largest higher education institutions of the region joined the Krasnoyarsk State University. At the moment, there are already ten such federal universities. The youngest one is in the Crimea, where the seven higher educational institutions of the peninsula were consolidated into one. The Minister of Education is confident that these actions will help create attractive conditions for keeping students in the region.
In October 2015, D.Livanov signed an order to conduct competitive selection of regional universities in order to provide financial support for their development programs and the subsequent creation of a database of educational organizations. The participant of this competition will be any state-owned federal university, where a joint decision is made in favor of the reorganization due to the accession of one or several universities to it. This decision must be confirmed by the academic councils of all involved educational institutions. The universities that are in the process of consolidation can also take part in the competition, if the order for reorganization was issued later than June 2015.
The basic higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation can not participate in the competition(there are already ten of them), as well as those in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Participants of "Project 5-100" can not participate in this competition either. According to this project, by 2020 five Russian higher educational establishments should take places in the first hundred tops of world ratings. In each individual case, the program of a basic university is being developed.
In 2015, the legendary nuclear MEPhI left the 95tha string of world rankings (only in physics teaching, not in general) and jumped to the 36th place, overtaking even the Lomonosov Moscow State University. Nevertheless, for the time being, the experts of the Accounting Chamber have not established the effectiveness of the invested funds, no Russian higher education institution from subsidized (including MEPhI) has become more competitive.
Governor of the region S.Levchenko called the main universities of the Russian Federation a harmful undertaking, called on everyone to try to evade participation in this contest by the Ministry of Education and Science. He is sure that without serious consequences it is impossible to conduct a purely mechanical union in a basic university: students and the regional scientific elite will necessarily suffer.
Такого плана экспериментальное деление учебных institutions "in grades," ill-conceived and clearly violent consolidation in the name of some mythical seven indicators, supposedly capable of determining quality in the most complicated educational process, S. Levchenko considers wrong and harmful.
In his opinion, all specialized andbranch universities in the regions should preserve their independence and the identity that they currently have. S. Levchenko suggests instead of a mechanical merger a softer option - a corporate association with an autonomous management, in which it will be possible to avoid conflicts of interest.
Competition conditions should be revised, according toopinion and Deputy Governor V. Ignatenko. There should be the possibility of one-on-one participation, so that any particular institution of higher education can become a core, even if there is no need for unification, but it fulfills more than half of the indicators entered in the conditions of the competition.
Budgetary financing will supportonly three types of higher education. The first kind is the ten federal universities that are created in the Russian regions. The second is the national research institutes, which so far have approved only 29 in the country. This includes the Institute for Nuclear Research, MEPhI and others. The third type is the most basic Russian universities, which began to be established in 2015. Until the end of 2016 in the plans - the final definition of those hundred universities, which will be authorized to become the base. To obtain this status, we need a strategic development program, 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 unificationeducational base of the whole region within the framework of one university. The state will subsidize a strong primary school for the first three years - at least two hundred million rubles a year. Plus, the local government will finance what is envisaged by the personnel development program of the region. Further, the basic university will finance itself, but the quotas for budgetary education and foreign students will be increased - at the expense of other educational institutions that do not have the status of basic ones. For five years the program of a basic university should be implemented in all respects:
