Recently, the Ministry of Education and Science announced the start of the next stage of reforms in regional higher education, the first step of which is to unite flagship universities in the regions into multidisciplinary universities, which will reduce their number by almost a quarter. The pros and cons of this decision are widely discussed throughout the country.
Statement
At a regular meeting held by the Russian Union of Rectors, Minister D. Livanov said that the Ministry of Education and Science is beginning to unite into multidisciplinary universities, flagship universities in the regions, which will contribute to the consolidation of higher education. The first stage - the creation of federal universities - has almost been completed. The start of the program for the second stage of reforms is scheduled for the very near future.
Funding, according to him, will accompany the progress of innovations until 2020. The merger will also affect universities subordinate to the Ministry of Education and Science, and all educational institutions of higher education subordinate toMinistries of he alth, culture and other departments. Multidisciplinary educational institutions will be funded under a five-year program.
Reason for reforms
Also, D. Livanov noted that more than twenty universities are potentially ready for merger. They will be supported in every possible way both financially and organizationally, since this step is responsible and important for the country. Nevertheless, academic councils of universities should make their own decisions about consolidation, because in any case it is voluntary.
This process is forced only because it is dictated by the demographic situation in the country. The number of 11th-graders is declining sharply and steadily, so universities with a small contingent of students will either have to merge with strong and large ones, or cease to exist.
The meaning of the reforms
Ten years ago, an education reform was developed, in which the Ministry of Education and Science was supposed to consolidate Russian universities, that is, to unite all small regional universities into a pivotal university. There is no exact timeline for the reform, but its meaning was outlined back in March 2015 in Vedomosti. In the article, D. Livanov and A. Volkov, a professor at the Skolkovo business school, explained to the country what and why this was done.
The main thing in the structural policy of higher education they see the creation of anchor universities, which will merge narrow-profile research institutes and small universities, since only a few universities that can survive in the current circumstances will be able to compete in world rankings. In addition to them, there willorganized a group of one hundred or one hundred and twenty higher educational institutions throughout the country, where all research, innovation and education will be concentrated.
Opposite opinions
HSE Rector (Higher School of Economics) Y. 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 of the reforms, because he agrees that a university with a small number of students will not be able to exist, it will not even be able to keep a staff of full-time teachers, especially high-class teachers. In his opinion, even if each region has its own flagship university, their number will not exceed one hundred.
The opinion of the rector of Lomonosov Moscow State University V. Sadovnichy is very different from the opinion of the rector of the Higher School of Economics. He believes that it is necessary to be more careful with the consolidation of such a plan, since consolidation, if it solves problems, is far from all. And practice shows that in the world there are quite a few universities, although not large, but extremely strong, for example, Harvard, where there are only ten thousand students.
United Universities
Associations began long before the above-mentioned statement by Minister D. Livanov. One has only to look at what the famous MIREA Institute consists of today: 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 development of the university. Will this monstrous fusion ever end? In 2015Several other mergers have been announced. Moscow State Pedagogical University is consolidating with Moscow State Pedagogical University - a pedagogical university with a humanitarian one, both universities - with their glorious history, with their own path, their achievements. MATI unites with MAI - aviation with aviation technical. Both universities, it would seem, are among the strongest, and are not offended by the attention of the entrants. Then why?
In addition, DGGU (Far Eastern State University for the Humanities) and TSU (Pacific State University), Orenburg University of Management (OGUM) and State University (OSU) have merged. In Krasnoyarsk, the flagship university is the first federal university in the country - Siberian. Back in 2006, three of the largest higher educational institutions of the region joined the Krasnoyarsk State University. At the moment, ten such federal universities have already been created. The youngest one is in Crimea, where seven universities of the peninsula have been consolidated into one. The Minister of Education is confident that these actions will help create attractive conditions for retaining students in the region.
Key regional universities of the Russian Federation
In October 2015, D. Livanov signed an order regarding the competitive selection of regional universities in order to provide financial support for their development programs and the subsequent creation of a base of educational organizations. A participant in this competition will be any state university of federal significance, where a joint decision has been made in favor of reorganization by joining one or more universities to it. This decision must be confirmed by the academic councils of all involved educational institutions. Universities in the process of consolidation can also take part in the competition if the reorganization order was issued after June 2015.
Out of competition
Cannot participate in the competition flagship universities of the Russian Federation (there are already ten of them), as well as those located in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Also participants of "Project 5-100" cannot participate in this competition. According to this project, by 2020, five Russian higher education institutions should take places in the first hundred top world rankings. In each case, a flagship university program is developed.
In 2015, the legendary nuclear MEPhI left the 95th line of the world ranking (only in teaching physics, not in general) and jumped to 36th place, overtaking even Lomonosov Moscow State University. Nevertheless, so far the experts of the Accounts Chamber have not established the effectiveness of the invested funds, none of the subsidized universities of the Russian Federation (including MEPhI) has become more competitive.
Irkutsk history
Governor of the region S. Levchenko called the flagship universities of the Russian Federation a harmful undertaking, urged the Ministry of Education and Science to do everything possible to evade participation in this competition. He is sure that without serious consequences it is in no way possible to carry out a purely mechanical merger into a flagship university: both students and the regional scientific elite will definitely suffer.
Such a plan of experimental division of educational institutions "by grade", ill-conceived and clearly violent consolidation in the name of some mythical seven indicators that supposedlythe most complicated process of education, S. Levchenko considers wrong and harmful.
Counteroffers
In his opinion, all specialized and sectoral universities in the regions should retain their independence and the identity that they currently have. S. Levchenko proposes instead of a mechanical merger a softer option - a corporate merger with autonomous management, in which it will be possible to avoid a conflict of interest.
Competitive conditions should be reviewed, according to Deputy Governor V. Ignatenko. There should be the possibility of sole participation so that any individual university can become a pivot, even if there is no need to merge, but it fulfills more than half of the indicators included in the conditions of the competition.
Funding
Funding will support only three types of higher education institutions. The first type is those ten federal universities that have been created in the regions of the Russian Federation. The second is national research institutes, of which only 29 have been approved so far in the country. These include IrNITU, MEPhI and others. The third type is the very flagship universities in Russia that began to be created in 2015. Until the end of 2016, the plans include the final determination of those hundred universities that will be authorized to become pivotal. To obtain such a status, a strategic development program is required, 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 isunification of the educational base of the entire region within the framework of one university. The state will heavily subsidize the flagship university for the first three years - at least two hundred million rubles a year. Plus, the local government will finance what is provided for by the program of personnel development of the region. Further, the anchor university will finance itself, but the quotas for state-funded education and foreign students will be increased - at the expense of other educational institutions that do not have the status of anchor. In five years, the flagship university program must be completed in all respects:
- At least ten thousand students.
- Training in at least twenty disciplines.
- At least eight teachers with advanced degrees per hundred students.
- Each scientist must spend at least 150 thousand rubles on research.
- The income of the university is at least 2 billion rubles.
