The SUSU Rector Alexander Wagner has briefed the Council members on the new higher education model, its core principles, and new approaches to training personnel to meet the current and future economic needs of our region.
Large-scale work on transition to a new higher education model is being carried out in accordance with the instructions of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin. In his 2023 Address to the Federal Assembly, the head of our state emphasized that significant changes were needed in higher education, driven by new requirements for specialists in economics and social sectors. At the same time, it was fundamentally emphasized that it was necessary to incorporate the best of the Soviet education system and the experience of recent decades.
In this regard, a pilot project was launched that same year, aimed at testing the key changes that will subsequently be translated to the entire higher education system.
During a meeting with university rectors of the Ural Federal District, the Minister of Education and Science Valery Falkov has emphasized that the new model is not a revolutionary, but an evolutionary step.
“The success of transition to a new model of higher education depends primarily on you, on every faculty member and university staff member. This is why it is so important to clearly define the goals. This must be done in a way that is understood by everyone, from the ministry’s leadership to the department faculty. The transformations are not limited to changes in the length of study and levels of education. They must be comprehensive and must address the content of academic programmes, the facilities and equipment of universities, the teaching load and remuneration for faculty, their qualifications, the interaction of universities with the labour market, and the very list of specializations and areas of training in higher education,” has said the minister.
Valery Falkov has also added that ultimately, all changes within the system should lead to an improvement in the quality of education, ensuring that Russian universities train specialists more precisely for both current challenges and future labour market needs.
At the end of October, a strategic session was held at SUSU. Six working groups, comprising the university’s vice-rectors, directors of schools and institutes, faculty, and research staff, discussed and designed a new higher education model for the university’s advanced departments.
The Rector also held a major meeting with the most active members of student representatives. During the open dialogue, students engaged in the topic of transforming higher education and shared their vision of optimizing the educational process, practical, and extracurricular activities.
Alexander Wagner emphasized the importance of the ongoing changes for the entire higher education system in Russia. He noted that transition to a new educational model is a response to modern challenges related to technological development, digitalization, changing labour market, and growing demands of employers.
“Indeed, there are plenty of changes. The most important thing for applicants and students are innovations aimed at improving the quality of education, revising the content of academic programmes, their design principles, and increasing the involvement of industrial partners. The main objective of this strategic session is to discuss the changes so that students, university staff members, future applicants, and their parents understand what is happening, as these processes are already actively developing in the higher education system, including at South Ural State University,” said the Rector.
The priority units for developing the new higher education model will be the following: “Heart of the Urals” Advanced Engineering School of Engine Building and Special Equipment, the School of Economics and Management, and the VirtUm and Digital Ural top-level specialists training centres.
Key changes to the higher education system:
- single level of higher education is introduced (the new model will ensure the training of fully qualified specialists in a single cycle);
- duration of academic programmes should be sufficient for complete training. For most key specialties (engineers, doctors, and teachers), the duration of study will be five years. Shorter, four-year programmes will also be introduced, for example, for tourism and the hospitality industry. Six-year educational programmes will be provided for more complex, knowledge-intensive fields;
- state educational standards will be updated. They will be based on a unified core, consisting of social, humanitarian, and fundamental components. Principles underlying the development of standards include a mandatory increase in practical training and flexibility, meaning the ability to tailor education in the senior years of study to the needs of the labour market, employers, and individual students;
- closer connection between the higher education and the vocational system should be an important part of the new model;
- federal educational and methodological associations should at least by half consist of employers, who will convey expectations for the higher education system;
- Master’s programmes will be concentrated in universities and research institutes that have the appropriate personnel and educational and material resources;
- Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, jointly with universities and employers, is developing a new list of specializations that meets modern challenges.