At a meeting Tuesday of government and business leaders, Russia’s president, Dmitri Medvedev, said the country’s higher-education system needed to reorient itself to better meet the needs of industry.
“Education should take into account the real needs of the economy undergoing modernization.” Mr. Medvedev said during a joint meeting of the State Council and the Commission for Modernization and Technological Development of Russia’s Economy.
Andrei Fursenko, the minister of education and science, provided participants with an overview of existing reform efforts, which he noted have had limited success.
Mr. Fursenko said, for example, that only 150 universities—out of 658 state and 450 private universities—met government higher-education standards and only one-third of universities participated in competitive grant programs designed to foster innovative research in science and technology. He also said that most Russian universities offer virtually nothing to help students find employment after graduation.
Mr. Medvedev, a former university professor known as a reformist in higher-education circles, began making changes to the system through the Education Priority National Project, which was created in 2008 by the education ministry. The goal of the project has been to improve the quality of education and scientific research at Russian universities.
The project has fostered many changes in Russian higher education, including efforts to reduce corruption and increase institutional autonomy.
Mr. Medvedev discussed these changes and others during the meeting, telling participants that Russia has made progress in several areas. It has created seven federal universities, and 29 institutions have received the status of national research universities. A number of regional scientific institutes have also been set up on university campuses.
Still, he said, “a full-scale modernization of education requires further steps. We need to go back to the basics in advancing higher and vocational education and to integrate it in the ongoing development processes in our country, especially as regards modernization.” Mr. Medvedev said that money was not the problem.
“In recent years we have been able to concentrate enormous resources in the education system,” he said. Last year the education budget amounted to 1.75 trillion rubles, or $60-billion. “This is a very substantial amount of money, even for such a large state as Russia. This year it amounts to almost 100 billion more, which is over 1.85 trillion rubles. And it is crucial to dispose of that kind of money properly.”
Connections for Change
Council members agreed that further progress requires more involvement by, and financial support from, businesses.
Mikhail Prokhorov, a leading businessman and member of the modernization commission, noted that his companies, which are involved in the nickel and metal industries, have frequently sponsored educational programs because a typical university education does not provide the skills needed to work in industry.
“In general we can see that although 70 percent of school graduates receive higher education, only 10 percent work by their specialty—this unbalance should be fixed,” Mr. Prokhorov said.
Some participants recommended restoring the Soviet system of requiring students to work for certain companies after graduation, but Mr. Medvedev rejected the proposition, saying that such requirements would be illegal.
Mr. Medvedev was especially keen on the idea of building stronger ties among industry, universities, and fundamental and applied-science institutions to help set up small businesses. Mr. Fursenko, the education minister, said that 350 to 400 such university business entities were already operating at 135 universities.
Mr. Fursenko also noted that the number of college-age students will shrink by 25 percent by 2013 and suggested that the government explore moving extra staff members from strong to weaker universities. Mr. Medvedev seemed reluctant, though, and suggested “to think more” about the idea.
He also brought up another issue he hopes to tackle: lifelong learning.
“One of the key development principles of higher education is its continuity. Today adult continuing education in our country seriously lags behind the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,” he said.
Despite such needs, however, the former law professor dismissed online education and distance learning. “As a person who spent quite a long time teaching, I can say that there is no substitute for direct contact with students,” he said. “It is the only way to inspire people.”