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As the director of academic programs at Parallels, I often have to communicate with universities, students, and applicants. In this article, I would like to share my opinion on what is happening with the system of modern education in Russia.

It is customary to scold Russian education. Nevertheless, the literacy rate in our country is 98% (higher than in most countries of Western Europe). Yes, and some of the best schools in the world. For example, in the PISA rating (the largest international program for assessing academic achievements of 15-year-olds), Moscow students rank third in reading literacy, fifth in math, and sixth in math. A striking indicator is the victories of our schoolchildren and students in all kinds of subject Olympiads around the world.



Of course, the capital alone cannot be used to judge the whole of Russia. But I went to Chuvashia, Bashkiria - there are lyceums that are in no way inferior to Moscow. And not only in Cheboksary and Ufa. Yes, this is not entirely systemic. In fact: the larger the city, the higher the level of education. But still in the regions there are many advanced schools and training centers that provide high quality training for applicants. In addition, education has become available through distance learning using the Internet.

For this reason, about two-thirds of the places in Moscow universities are occupied by visitors. So, if we talk about school education, then in the whole country it is good, although with nuances in regions and cities. Alas, the same cannot be said about the highest. Its quality in the regions is greatly affected - all the forces are thrown at the leading universities of Russia.

International Rankings and Competitiveness


Globally, the system of higher education began to change seven years ago. In 2013, the Ministry of Education and Science launched the 5-100 program, aimed at bringing Russian universities to the top world rankings. The largest universities joined the competition for additional state funding: they began to increase their research potential, improve the quality of the teaching staff, develop new educational programs that meet high international standards, improve management policies, and invest in internationalization.



On the way to a brighter future, not everything is going smoothly - because of reporting on publications, sometimes the best shots are lost, which have no time to publish, they taught students well. But in general, in order to meet the criteria, they began to pay attention to integrated development, as well as create a more comfortable environment for education.

Now more or less regularly, 48 universities fall into the prestigious world rankings. The best results are shown by the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. In 2019, he, in particular, entered the top 100 of two ratings: Academic Ranking of World Universities (87th place) and QS World University Rankings (84th place). And in other ratings, it takes its rightful place.

Among the leaders demonstrating similar stable high positions are also NSU, MEPhI, ITMO, MIPT, MISiS and HSE. They traditionally occupy not the last places in the top 500 and higher, fall into the first hundred in individual subjects and, as a rule, improve their positions by several points each year.

Given that there are about 1,400 higher education institutions in Russia, this is a drop in the bucket. We have to divide education in our country to study at advanced universities (which accounts for about 9% of the total number of students) and in all the rest.

What distinguishes the country's leading universities?


The competence of teachers. The higher the university in the ranking, the higher the salary and quality of its teachers. Today's graduates enter a completely new labor market and they need not empty knowledge, but combined with practical skills. Fortunately, universities understand this. Leading universities are actively collaborating with industry and business to engage practitioners in the educational process, with their help, dynamically change the content of training, modernize educational programs.

For example, MIPT has 113 basic departments of various organizations. Students for two years receive basic academic knowledge, after which they choose the most interesting direction for themselves and then companies that fully bear responsibility for the activities of their departments are responsible for their training. Such an approach provides the labor market with ready-made specialists of a demanded quality level of training.

Laboratories and modern equipment. The transition to practice-oriented training required the improvement of the technical base. Modern computers, interactive whiteboards, research equipment, multimedia and projection equipment have become an integral part of learning. The largest universities open numerous scientific laboratories so that students can engage in high-tech developments, conduct practical experiments and do everything they can to experiment. For example, over the past five years 50 such centers have appeared at MIPT, and 30 at MISIS.

Salary level


Whoever says anything, but the quality of training and the salary of the teacher as a whole are closely related. When a professor receives 14 thousand rubles a month, he has no desire to develop students' abilities, he is busy with his own survival. In leading Moscow universities, the average level of remuneration is 40-90 thousand rubles per month. Moreover, if an employee has serious scientific achievements and publications in foreign journals, he not only gives lectures, but is also involved in administrative work, he is paid significantly more.

For example, at the Higher School of Economics, thanks to various allowances that teachers can receive by hard work and, I emphasize, labor-consuming, up to 250 thousand rubles. In other advanced universities, a little less, but up to 200 thousand rubles with due diligence and also very, very large activity, professors can very well earn.

And what happens in other universities in Russia?


In theory (according to the presidential decree of 2012), since 2018, the salary of teachers of higher educational institutions should double the average income in the region. But many universities fulfilled this order only on paper - drew statistics. Somewhere, the employees were transferred to the category of auxiliary personnel, part-time, somewhere they played with the number of rates and additional agreements, somewhere the vice-rectors ’salaries were considered as standard teaching. These are not some isolated cases, as they did in all regions of the country, referring to the fact that the Ministry of Education and Science did not allocate the necessary amount to fulfill the presidential order.

As for the training system, nothing has changed globally over the past seven years. Due to the scarce state funding, most Russian universities do not have the opportunity to open modern laboratories, purchase new equipment, or attract highly qualified teachers who can provide a good theoretical base for students. It is difficult to motivate professors to work for a penny.

Business also does not go to them. In small cities, there are simply not a number of large companies willing to invest. And in large - organizations and enterprises do not see the benefits of cooperation. And they can be understood. It is inappropriate or sometimes impossible to teach practical things and specific skills to students who have not received a quality fundamental education in their first courses. This is throwing money away. A business does not have the resources to organize training at its own expense from scratch to a highly qualified specialist. Nevertheless, the development of the education system is the duty of the state.

Thus, we can say that vocational education is developing as a whole in the right direction. It largely depends on cash injections, which are not enough in the regions. And not only in the regions. However, in the capital and large Russian cities, really strong flagship universities have already appeared, which are worth looking up to. Their success can and should be multiplied, transferred to other higher educational institutions.

I would like that even in the current difficult economic situation, all levels of government find an opportunity not only to maintain the current level of financing of education, but also to constantly increase it. Strong universities and businesses will also carry their money, realizing that they will not be thrown to the wind.

As a result, everyone will benefit: the education system, and employers who will receive high-quality specialists, and society, as these specialists will help to quickly raise the general level of economic development and, as a result, the level of people's well-being.

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