Flagship universities of Russia. Key universities will bury education

The program for the creation of flagship universities, announced almost a year ago by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, began its work in the constituent entities of the Federation. Quite serious requirements are imposed on candidate universities, however, participation in the program can benefit both the university itself and the entire region where it is located, experts say.

In the summer of 2015, the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Dmitry Livanov announced the launch of a large-scale reform of higher education. It is planned that small regional universities will merge into multidisciplinary flagship universities, which will receive additional financial support from the state.

By the end of 2016, it is planned to create 20 such universities in Russia, a year later - about thirty more. Gradually, the total number of flagship universities in the country should reach 150. It is assumed that they will strengthen higher education in the regions. The competition for the creation of flagship universities began in October 2015. Three months after several stages of selection, the expert council of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation approved the list of the first 11 flagship universities. To date, work has begun on their formation in the regions.

Strengthen higher education in the regions

The current reform of higher education has become the fourth in the past few years, Ivan Nikitin, executive secretary of the Eurasian Association for the Assessment of Educational Quality (EAOKO), told RIA Novosti. “First, federal universities were created, then national research universities. After them, universities were singled out that took part in the 5-100 program. In all cases, it was about leadership either on the international arena or at the federal level. Today, flagship universities are being created to support regional development," he said.

Today, high-quality education in Russia can be obtained not only in the universities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, which is why the Ministry of Education and Science wants to strengthen basic universities in the regions, says Oleg Baulin, Vice-Rector for Educational and Methodological Work of the Ufa State Oil Technical University (UGNTU). "The flagship universities are faced with the task of closer integration with the region and specialized enterprises in all main areas of activity - educational, research and innovation, educational and social. Flagship universities are the center of attraction. Here, applicants and students want to get an education, employees want to work And partner organizations and government agencies come here to solve production and other problems," he told RIA Novosti.

The status of a flagship university is, first of all, important for the university itself. But it also matters for the region, because each flagship university should become a kind of communication platform, a place where decisions are discussed and made, Ivan Nikitin believes. "On the basis of flagship universities, in a number of cases, professional self-regulatory organizations will operate, which will develop industry standards and public and professional accreditation. In addition, the creation of flagship universities will help the regions retain strong applicants who today prefer to go to study in capital cities," he explained.

Portrait of the ideal candidate

In order to qualify for the status of a flagship university and financial support from the state, the university must be in the process of reorganization by merging two or more universities into one. If such a reorganization has not yet taken place, the university must submit documents to the competition commission stating that it will be carried out in the near future. This is a key condition, experts say. There is another requirement related to finances. The regulation on the competitive selection states that the state will annually, over a period of 1 to 3 years, allocate up to 200 million rubles to the university.

“But this money is not the only funds that should be included in the development program of the flagship university. Co-financing from the university itself is also provided. As a rule, this is money that is allocated by the regional partners of the university. The university itself must find and indicate in the documents the source these funds," Ivan Nikitin said.

Experts will also assess how the development program proposed by the university will allow it to achieve the target targets. Among them are the size of the university (it must have at least 10 thousand students), the number of programs for which educational activities are implemented (at least 20), and so on. There are also requirements regarding the scientific potential of the university. "In a word, the university should be large, diversified and conduct research and innovation activities on a commercial basis," the EAOKO Executive Secretary emphasized.

The experience of the Ufa oil

One of the first universities selected by the ministry as a base was the Ufa State Oil Technical University (UGNTU), which today trains specialists in key areas of the economy of Bashkiria and has a reputation as the most sought-after university in the republic. The university also has experience in reorganization through the merger of educational institutions, and other necessary competencies, Oleg Baulin said. “For more than 50 years, the Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering has been operating at our university, a separate structural subdivision of the university. In addition, USPTU has the status of Gazprom’s flagship university, which offers a similar design-targeted approach and program activities,” he explained.

According to the USPTU development program, which was approved by the ministry, the university should become, on the one hand, the backbone of the region, and on the other hand, the backbone of specialized industries and services. “By the word “support”, we mean not only providing the region and industry with personnel, not only performing scientific research and providing services, but also generating innovations that can develop the region and industry,” the Vice-Rector emphasized.

Hopes and fears

The students who will study in them will primarily benefit from the formation of flagship universities, experts believe. New opportunities and advantages will appear in all areas of the university - from education and science to sports. Opportunities to choose individual learning paths, academic mobility will increase significantly, and the circle of partners in "double" degree programs and networking will expand. The scientific material and technical base will be improved, hostels and sports facilities will be developed, and so on.

“Due to the enlargement of the university, we will increase the number of educational programs with in-depth study of foreign languages, in the format of networking, applied engineering training programs. Many of them will be implemented using distance learning technologies,” said Oleg Baulin.

He expressed hope that teachers and staff will also feel the positive effect of the reorganization of the university, as the material base of the departments will be strengthened, opportunities for organizing internships, mobility, and scientific publications will increase. When two universities merge, as a rule, their employees begin to worry about whether they are waiting for a layoff. According to Ivan Nikitin, their fears are often exaggerated.

“Indeed, when merging, some of the managerial positions turn out to be duplicative and they are optimized. But not a single development program talks about reducing the teaching staff. Most likely, the mergers of universities will occur quite painlessly,” he said.

Today it is difficult to say whether the program for creating flagship universities will achieve the goal of regional development, says Isak Frumin, scientific director of the Institute of Education of the National Research University Higher School of Economics.

"As they say, chickens are counted in the fall. But the very task of strengthening regional universities, improving the quality of their education and their connection with the regional economy and social development is extremely important. The program itself is arranged, it seems to me, reasonably. Another question is that the current the economic situation is not the best for her, but there are chances,” the expert concluded.

The Russian education system is undergoing a major reform today. And the second stage of the reforms carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science was the reorganization of the existing system of education in higher educational institutions into regional flagship universities, which are a voluntary multidisciplinary association of educational institutions in order to create a common training program.

The Russian education system is undergoing a major reform today. And the second stage of the reforms carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science was the reorganization of the existing system of education in higher educational institutions in regional flagship universities, which are a voluntary multidisciplinary association of educational institutions with the aim of creating a common training program.

It is assumed that this innovation will reduce the number of universities by 25% (we note that, according to representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, this is a forced measure that arose due to a decrease in the number of graduates of 11 classes), and will also significantly increase the competitiveness of Russian universities at the world level. Within the framework of this reform, the relevant ministry plans to create 100-150 main higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation, on the basis of which all the latest innovations in the field of education will be concentrated.

Measures to create flagship universities will cover:

• Educational institutions subordinated to the Ministries of Culture, Health and other departments.
• Universities under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and Science.
• All institutions of higher education.

So, what is a flagship university? This is an educational organization of regional importance, created on the basis of the most promising university by joining one or more educational institutions located in the same region. It is expected that the flagship universities will become a kind of center of gravity, which will perform the functions of an educational, educational, research, social and innovation center. Here, students will receive a quality education, employees will work, and partner organizations and government bodies will solve production and other problems.

How it all began

The idea of ​​reform has been brewing for a long time. At one time, Livanov and Volkov wrote about it in their articles (these innovations were recommended to small narrow-profile universities, which were clearly losing in the competition with larger universities).

However, reality has made its own adjustments. Many experts came to the unanimous conclusion that the modern system of Russian higher education does not need a huge number of universities that produce mediocre specialists. Today, there is a need to create several dozen strong universities, operating in close conjunction with the country's largest enterprises, which will not only improve the quality of training of young specialists, but also bring the Russian higher education system into a competitive environment.

To participate in the program for the creation of flagship universities, associations of federal subordination wishing to join the program were invited to send applications in which they had to:

• announce the decision on the reorganization of the created association,
• formulate development and activity paths for the next 5 years (2016-2020),
• provide a concept for the development of staffing.

It is noteworthy that not all universities were allowed to take part in the competition. In particular, those associations of universities that were created long before the start of the project cannot take part in the competition for the provision of subsidies. Moscow and St. Petersburg universities also turned out to be out of luck.

To date, the right to participate in the program creation of flagship universities received 11 applicants. They included:

• State Technical Universities - Volgograd, Voronezh, Donskoy, Kostroma, Omsk, Samara, Ufa.
• State universities - Vyatka, Oryol, Siberian, Tyumen.

Specialists are confident that these strongest universities will become an ideal basis for creating a powerful educational base at the regional level, which will not only ensure the training of highly qualified specialists and prevent the outflow of promising students to leading universities in such large cities as Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk, but will also contribute to the development the entire region as a whole.

Each of these structures claims to receive the main annual payment, in the amount of 200 million rubles (throughout the entire program from 1 to 3 years). At the same time, universities should direct 20% of the amount of the state subsidy to the development of their own project.

It is already known that funding is distributed in unequal shares. The leaders in this "race" are:

• Kostroma State Technological University;
• Oryol State University I. S. Turgenev;
• Vyatka State University.

It is these universities that will receive the main subsidies - 200 million rubles a year. This is evidenced by protocol No. DL-5/05pr dated February 1, 2016. The remaining applicants of the project will receive subsidies in the amount of 100 and 150 million rubles. This decision was taken by the commission on the basis of the university development programs and conditions for their implementation.

Achievements of goals

Upon the expiration of the time set by the financing program, each flagship university is obliged to switch to independent provision. At the same time, quotas for foreign students and state-funded places will be significantly increased. Such increases will occur at the expense of those institutions that are not defined as flagship universities.

Each newly established university must fulfill the following provisions of the program:

• The teaching staff must include at least 8 teachers with advanced degrees for every 100 students.
• The total number of students should be more than 100 thousand people.
• The association's income should be about 2 billion rubles a year.
• The university should provide high-quality training of specialists in at least 20 different professions.
• Financing of each scientific work should be about 150 thousand rubles.

Opponents of the program

Despite the clear support of the reform carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science from the vast majority of experts, programs for the creation of flagship universities There are also ardent opponents. These include the governor of the Irkutsk region (Levchenko). He believes that such changes will entail irreversible consequences and harm for both students and teaching staff. In his opinion, the independence of higher educational institutions is valuable in itself, and therefore should remain unchanged. But taking part in the subsidy program should be allowed for each university, despite its lack of desire to unite with other educational institutions.

Cautious in the matter of unification and Sadovnichiy (rector of Moscow State University). He believes that even small narrowly focused universities have the right to exist and cites Harvard University as an example.

In turn, the rector of the Higher School of Economics (Kuzminov) believes that even if each region creates its own flagship university, their number will not exceed 100 throughout the country. And for such a huge country as Russia, this is negligible.

In 2013, the government decided to create a new type of institutes and universities, which were to be called flagship universities.

The flagship institution of higher education is the university, which was created by combining several regional educational institutions.

Special requirements are put forward for such a university:

• The first requirement concerns the number of people being trained. According to the norms, at least ten thousand students should study at the institution.
• The second requirement is the institution's income. It must be at least two billion rubles.

According to the program, flagship higher education institutions become leading educational institutions in their regions and regional divisions.

List of privileges granted to flagship higher education institutions by the state:

1. The number of budget places is increasing. The program provides for an increase in budgetary places in such areas as:

• Metallurgy.
• Chemistry.
• Engineering.
• Pedagogy.
• Journalism.
• Publishing.
• History.
• Conflictology.
• Psychology.
• Linguistics.
• International relationships.
• Political science.
• Religious studies.
• Customs business.
• Theology.
• Physical Culture.
• Philology.
• Jurisprudence, etc.

All flagship universities in Russia with budget places. But it is worth remembering that the increase in budget places is provided exclusively for graduate and postgraduate studies.

2. Obtaining state subsidies for scientific projects within the university and the region.

3. Financing from the state to improve the technical support of the institution.

The application was submitted by 80 higher education institutions. Each petition was considered by a special commission.

In 2016, eleven such universities were selected by the Ministry of Education and Science.

In 2017, the number of flagship universities increased by another 22 universities, which were divided into two groups:

1. The first group consists of educational institutions financed from the state budget of the country.
2. The second group includes educational institutions financed by regional budgets.

Table: list of flagship higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation in 2016

List of higher education institutions included in the list of flagship universities in 2017:

1. First group:

• "VlGU".
• "MAGU".
• "NGTU".
• "SibGMU".
• "Tulgu".
• "CHGU".
• "YarGU".

2. Second group:

• "AltGu".
• "BSTU".
• KamlGU.
• "Kemgu".
• "MGTU".
• "MARGU".
• "Novgu".
• "PetrGu".
• "PsokvGu".
• "SGTU".
• "SGU".
• "Syktgu".
• "TGU".
• "YES".

Open Day

Each flagship higher education institution hosts an open day every year.

The open day is called the day of the entrant.

Why is it needed:

1. Advice on admission.
2. Acquaintance with the faculties.
3. Opportunity to decide on the choice of future specialty.

Important! Open days are held at the end of spring. You can find out the exact date of the applicant's day on the official website of the higher educational institution.

Scholarships

In Russia, there are more than 15 types of scholarship payments for students who entered to study on a budget.

Scholarship pitches:

1. Academic. Distinguish between simple and increased scholarship academic payment.

The size of scholarships depends on its type and status:

• The minimum scholarship payment is 1340 RUB.
• The increased scholarship ranges from 4 to 15 thousand RUB.
• A full-time resident receives a monthly scholarship in the amount of 6,700 RUB.
• Postgraduate scholarship is 6,300 RUB.

2. Social scholarship - 2,000 RUB. This is the minimum scholarship amount. The exact amount is assigned by educational lead based on the grounds for applying for a social scholarship.

3. Presidential. Students can receive presidential scholarship payments in the amount of 2,200 and 4,500 RUB for merits in studies and the educational process.

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Which will receive support as being of key importance for the industrial and socio-economic development of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Oleg Leshukov, head of the Regional Studies of Higher Education department at the Institute of Education, told Gazeta.Ru what results the introduction of flagship universities has already brought and what to expect from the project.

“People have heard more about the 5-100 university support program than about the flagship university program. What are the results of the first phase of this project, which already involves 11 universities?
- One of the formal results is an increase in the average USE score. Growth is small, within a few points, but it is. But the most important thing is the qualitative changes that have begun to take place in these universities. We see that almost all of them have begun to work with schools, which until recently was not always in the spotlight. Universities participating in this program are committed to becoming centers for attracting talent -

actually keep talented graduates in their regions so that they do not leave for metropolitan universities.

Universities began to consider these tasks for themselves as profile ones. They began to open specialized engineering classes and expand their networks of partner schools. In Krasnoyarsk, where the flagship university, the Siberian State Aerospace University, is located, the project to create a Technoschool turned out to be a priority — detailed targeted work with schoolchildren who plan to continue on the engineering path, generate startups, and work in technology companies.

The second result is a change in the development strategy of universities and internal management. All flagship universities are consolidating their potential at certain points of growth, for example, the creation of new laboratories, the opening of new master's programs.

— How much money did the universities of the first wave receive?

- Some universities received 100 million, some - 150 million. The amount of co-financing is different for everyone.

— What new criteria have been added for participation in the second wave competition?
— 2-3 indicators were added, such as the number of teams that are in business incubators of universities, the total turnover of small innovative enterprises for universities, etc. And the main indicators are the number of students, the total income of the university, the volume of R & D per one scientific and pedagogical worker, the share of employed graduates within a year after graduation ...

— What is the difference between the project of flagship universities and the 5-100 program? Universities are not hindered by the struggle for entry into these two programs?
- The answer is simple. The competition of flagship universities is not a competitor for the "5-100", these are different segments of higher education, and this is its peculiarity. Universities from the "5-100" are more focused on international global competitiveness, fighting for places in international rankings and inclusion in global academic networks.

Flagship universities have a fundamentally different task - to promote development within the region, and therefore their work is directed inside the territory where they are located.

— What difficulties and questions arose in the implementation of the first part of the project?
— This competition reflects the global trend towards the selection of a cohort of universities designed to work locally and promote environmental regional development. Speaking of the first wave, the demand for a merger of universities was a major challenge in the first place.

— Where did it come from? Why do you need to merge with someone in order to participate in the competition?
- Now it is difficult to reproduce the foundations that were laid in it, but there are a number of foreign studies that say that multidisciplinary large universities can be more successful than small niche ones. There are, however, directly opposite points of view, this requires additional analytics. But this challenge required a change in the corporate culture, when the teaching staff of one university merges with the teaching staff of another university, it becomes necessary to optimize the organizational structure, and so on.

— How do universities from poor regions, where there is no large-scale industry, attract co-financing?
- Universities located in developed industrial regions include work with these enterprises in their program. Universities from poor regions are beginning to take on the role of developing proposals for the socio-economic development of the region. For example, in Kirov, Vyatka State University launched a program to form a personnel reserve for the regional administration.

Is creating a personnel reserve for the administration an important regional-forming task?
- The university takes on the task of supporting the region in terms of developing a model for the socio-economic development of the region.

This competition encourages them to take such a proactive stance.

— Is it possible to say that the first wave of the project has already made regional universities more attractive for applicants?
- The program is only one year old, it is too early to draw any conclusions. But the aforementioned increase in the USE score speaks in favor of positive effects, and work with schools should lead to the fact that more school graduates will know that there is an opportunity to study at a flagship university. The new status of universities makes them more visible in the overall landscape of the higher education system. This will be an additional incentive for students and their parents to pay attention to them.

The Russian Ministry of Education and Science announced the beginning of a new stage in the development of education in the regions. Now the universities will be united into pivotal multidisciplinary universities. According to Minister Livanov, “in order to return to the quality standards of education adopted in the USSR.” The correspondent of Sib.fm, using the example of Siberian universities, figured out what changes to expect in higher education, how this will affect students, and what are the shortcomings of the new system.

WHAT HAPPENED?

On October 16, 2015, the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Dmitry Livanov signed an order "On the competitive selection of educational institutions of higher education for financial support of development programs and the creation of flagship universities on the basis of educational institutions."

“First of all, the creation of such universities will contribute to the concentration of intellectual potential and the formation of scientific and educational complexes aimed at the economic and social development of the regions of Russia,” the federal ministry said.