MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Olga Sobolevskaya.)
Educational cooperation with the Commonwealth of Independent States has always been one of Russia's priorities, just as in many other spheres. The market of education services in the CIS is easily accessible for Russia. Western countries have no interest in Russian universities, but exporting Russian education to the CIS is a realistic and viable business.
Alexander Kazenov, deputy head of the Federal Agency for Education, said that since 1992 Russia had signed 14 multilateral agreements and cooperation programs in the CIS on nearly all educational aspects. They include adult education, exchange of information in the sphere of education, training specialists in radiation safety, the procedure for the establishment and operation of branches of universities, the coordination of licensing and certification of schools, and mutual recognition of degrees.
In January 2003, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science approved the admission rules to Russian state universities, which stipulate social assistance to the citizens of the former Soviet Union who have problems with receiving an education, Kazenov said. The Russian government instructed federal universities to admit citizens of the CIS countries on the same conditions as Russians.
In 2004, about 60,000 students from 14 CIS and Baltic countries were enrolled in Russian universities within scholarship quotas and international agreements (24,000 received scholarships from the federal budget). The number of state scholarships for foreign students admitted within specified quotas grows every year. A special admissions commission analyzes documents on the selection of future students, including within the quotas of public organizations (based on the recommendations sent to Russian foreign offices in the CIS and Baltic countries).
Russia's joint universities with other countries provide education modeled after Russian educational standards. Tuition in such universities is usually based on a combination of educational principles of the two co-founding states. Such joint universities were established under intergovernmental agreements in Kyrgyzstan (Russia-Kyrgyzstan University), Tajikistan (Russia-Tajikistan University) and Armenia (Russia-Armenia University). The total number of students enrolled there is over 7,000.
Differences in national legislations are a barrier to the establishment of branches of Russian universities in the CIS. However, this problem is not insoluble.
In September 2001, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Tajikistan signed an agreement on the procedure for the creation and operation of branches of Russian universities in the CIS countries. The Russian Ministry of Education drafted documents for opening two Russian universities in Kyrgyzstan, three branches in Armenia and ten branches in Kazakhstan. According to Russian embassies, 78 structural units of Russian universities have been registered in the CIS and Baltic countries.
Moscow University of the Economy, Statistics and Information, the Modern Humanitarian University (SGU) and the Slavic University are promoting distance education in the former Soviet Union. Experts say that the number of students in a CIS country depends on its policy towards Russia. For example, SGU has no students in Georgia and Turkmenistan and is not very popular in Ukraine, but Russian-language education is rather popular in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia. The cost of tuition differs. Latvia has shown a degree of interest in distance education in Russia.
According to the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, foreign students prefer to get engineering and medical degrees at the universities of Moscow, St. Petersburg and other schools of the European part of Russia. They get degrees in humanities mostly in regional universities and future managers and economists train in Moscow schools.
Under the concept of creating a common educational space of the CIS, Moscow Lomonosov State University is the most important school for training professionals in fundamental natural sciences, while St. Petersburg University has a better reputation for social studies, economics and humanities. Moscow State Linguistic University is the best-known school for languages and cultural education in the CIS.
The citizens of the CIS and other former Soviet states can seek admission to Russia's most prestigious school, Moscow State University (MGU). All applicants who pass the examinations and stringent entrance criteria are admitted on the same conditions as Russians. Naturally, young people from the CIS countries can also be admitted to the University on a par with foreign students and pay for the education. Similar schemes are practiced by other higher educational establishments.
MGU rector Viktor Sadovnichy has said more than once that the education reform, in particular the transition to two-stage higher education (bachelor and master degrees), should not undermine the traditional values of fundamental Russian education that have kept it at the top for many years.
At the same time, education should be modernized and adapted to practical real-life requirements. Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko said, "The main challenge is for the system to become open to external demands, meeting the requirements of the economy, business and civil society." At the moment, the education system "develops independently, setting its own tasks and solving them." Universities sometimes graduate specialists without due regard for the requirements of the labor market.
"We are considering a transition to the bachelor-master system, modular education, specialized secondary professional education and new standards in education," Fursenko said. "But we are not enforcing rigid schemes. The system should become more flexible." This will allow it to become closer integrated into the global educational system and partially adopt Western tuition standards.
In 2004 and 2005, Russia carried out a program designed to assist the education integration in the CIS. It aimed to promote Russian education and the study of the Russian language by CIS citizens and the training of teachers for Russian-language schools. The ultimate goal of the program was to restore Russia's positions as the educational center of the CIS and to create a common educational space on the territory of the former Soviet Union.
Total investment in the program was over 250 million rubles of budgetary allocations. Its results were summed up at a roundtable in the State Duma committee on education and science on November 4. The program stipulated the establishment of distance education courses and educational radio and television programs in the Russian language, and the promotion of Russian-language programs on the Internet. Eventually, this will expand the range of educational services offered to CIS citizens and facilitate the export of Russian education.
The leaders of the Duma committee said the Internet program includes 100 lessons in the Russian language, the history of Russia, biology, ecology and visual arts for distance students. There is a Russian language Internet portal for subscribers from the CIS. In 2004, Russia supplied 500 sets of teaching aids and multimedia publications to Russian-language schools in four CIS countries. This year it should supply reference materials, teaching aids, literature and multimedia textbooks in Russian to 400 school libraries and joint Russian (Slavic) universities in nine CIS states. Computer equipment is to be provided to 400 schools in nine former Soviet states by the end of the year.
Satellite television education channel has been added to the program in 2005. It provides for mounting satellite dishes for receiving the Russian satellite education channel Shkolnik TV broadcasting to the CIS in more than 250 schools in nine CIS countries. There are special programs for those who study Russian or want to apply to Russian universities.
The Duma committee on education and science says the core of distance education in Russia and the four member states has been established at the Slavic universities. There is a system of advance distance training for the teaching staff of Russian-language schools and universities. They participate in Internet forums to exchange experience and information about training sessions and teaching aids. Experts say that these informal Internet discussions are a crucial element.
Commenting on the outlook for 2006, the Duma committee spotlighted a specific part of the "Russian Language" federal target program designed for the period spanning from now until 2010, entitled "Ensuring an Effective Functioning of the Russian Language as the Basis for Promoting Integration in the CIS Countries." More than 400 million rubles will be allocated for this purpose within five years. The satellite education channel will be promoted to encourage the study of Russian and the ambition of CIS citizens to receive a Russian education.
Russian language radio quizzes, competitions and programs will be held in the CIS and the operation of Russian-language distance education centers at the CIS universities will be promoted. Plans also include many educational and scientific seminars and conferences on the Russian language and on teaching it in the CIS, competitions, festivals, and educational and book fairs.
Several major educational sessions, research conferences and competitions for school students are held every year. The winners from the CIS high schools receive scholarships and are accepted at universities to study the Russian language and literature, on the orders of the Ministry of Education and Science.
The winners in the international competitions of students from Russian-language schools in the CIS (held in Moscow by the Ministry of Education and the Pushkin State Institute for the Russian Language with the assistance of the Council for the Russian Language under the Russian government and Foreign Ministry) include children from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Moldova and Ukraine.
Specialists from the Pushkin Russian Language Institute usually hold seminars for delegation leaders -- teachers of the Russian language from the former Soviet republics, providing training in methodology.
There are student exchange programs with 30 states, including Estonia, Latvia and Belarus. "They provide informal and friendly language interaction and exchange of specialists," said Irina Ryzhukhina, deputy head of the department for youth affairs at the Russian Federation Agency for Education.
