Russia
Федеральное государственное бюджетное учреждение “Национальное аккредитационное агентство в сфере образования”
National Accreditation Agency
Leninsky Prospekt, 2A (floor 6A),
Moscow, Russia
zip: 119049. National Accreditation Agency
Phone: +7 (495) 317-17-10
Fax: +7 (495) 665-00-15
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://nic.gov.ru
Head of National Accreditation Agency: Natic Kuliev, Acting Director
Education
All information regarding the system of education in the Russian Federation can be found at this link:
- https://nic.gov.ru/en/inrussia/eduinfo (English language)
- https://nic.gov.ru/ru/inrussia/eduinfo (Russian language)
Министерство просвещения Российской Федерации
Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation
Министерство науки и высшего образования Российской Федерации
Ministry of Science and Education of the Russian Federation
Link(s): Russian
Федеральная служба по надзору в сфере образования и науки
Federal Service of Supervision in Education and Science
Link(s): Russian
Description of the Russian Education System
Education system of the Russian Federation
According to the Federal Law №273 «On Education in the Russian Federation», the education system consists of the following levels:
General education consists of four levels:
Pre-school education is provided by licensed institutions for children up to age 6 – 7 years, that is, before they enter formal school. Primary general education comprises grades 1-4, from the age of 7 to 10 years. Lower secondary education takes 5 years and comprises grades 5–9, from the age of 11 to 15 years. Upper secondary education takes two years (grades 10–11). Students complete secondary education at the age of 17-18 years.
All four levels of general education are provided on the basis of their own state standards. Secondary general education with 11 years of formal schooling is compulsory. On completion of upper secondary education (grade 11) a school leaving certificate is awarded. The name of this qualification is the Certificate of Secondary General Education (Attestat o srednem obshchem obrazovanii).
The general secondary school study programme is culminated with mandatory state final attestation of each graduate in the Russian language and mathematics, which is an obligatory part of the USE. Graduates who have successfully passed the Unified State Examination – USE in Russian language and mathematics are issued Certificates of Secondary General Education.
Technical and vocational education (srednee professionalnoe obrazovanie) offers training programmes of two stages:
– first stage programmes: for skilled workers, junior technicians and employees;
– second stage programmes: for mid-career professionals.
Graduates of technical and vocational education programmes are awarded Diplomas.
Education institutions of the second stage vocational education are generally known as Tekhnikums and Colleges. College can be independent educational institution or constituent part of HEI. It offers professional education programmes of basic and advanced types. As a rule these programmes are well coordinated with university level programmes in the same field of study.
Higher education
There is the multilevel system of training of specialists with higher education in Russia and the following levels of higher education are set:
Bachelor degree (240 credit units) is conferred after a four-year course of study. Bachelor programmes cover wide range fields of study. The function of Bachelor degree is to provide a more academically rather than professionally oriented education. Bachelor degree is a prerequisite for admission to Magister studies. State final attestation includes the defense of a thesis prepared over a period of four months and State final examinations. Following a successful attestation, a state Diploma is issued attesting conferral of Bachelor degree.
The qualification of Specialist Diploma (300-360 credit units) has two functions. It opens access to professional practice (e.g., to engineers, teachers, chemists, etc.), and it is also the traditional prerequisite for admission to doctoral studies likewise master’s degree. The qualification of Specialist Diploma is conferred after studies lasting not less than five years. The diploma is awarded predominantly in technical fields of study (specialities). The State final attestation for a Specialist Diploma covers the defense of a project or a thesis and State final examinations.
Master programme (120 credit units) is a two-year course focused more on research activities in comparison with Specialist programme (up to 50% of student’s workload). But above all, this is a profound analytical and practical training of professionals in a particular field of study and practice. State educational standard defines only general requirements for Master educational programmes and not the requirements regarding the content of education. HEIs are free to make their own decisions regarding the contents of Master programmes. The State final attestation for a Master degree covers the defense of a dissertation and State final examinations. Access to Master studies is open for holders of Bachelor degree. HEIs themselves set up admission procedures (examinations, interviews, etc.) for applicants. Those holders of HE degrees wishing to pursue Master programme in different field of study must pass an additional tests which reflect the requirements for the chosen Master programme.
Doctoral Programmes. The hierarchy of advanced scientific degrees in Russia traditionally includes Doctor’s degrees of two levels: Candidate of Sciences (Kandidat Nauk) and Doctor of Sciences (Doktor Nauk). The Candidate of Sciences degree normally requires three years of study after the award of Specialist or Master degrees. The Doctor of Sciences degree can be earned after a period of further study following the award of the Candidate of Sciences degree. In reality, to earn a Doctor of Sciences degree requires five to fifteen years beyond the award of the Candidate of Sciences degree.
National Information Centre (NIC) Information and Activities
The National Information Centre
Russian NIC represents the National Accreditation Agency, which ensures the authority of the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Education and Science (Rosobrnadzor) on recognition of foreign education on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Nowadays the National Accreditation Agency is actively involved in international activities of the ENIC-NARIC network, Asian network of national information centers, Groningen Declaration Network, and other platforms, taking part in the discussions, meetings, surveys, publications, comparative studies, and other research activities. The Russian NIC is carrying out its work in recognition through online services entirely, has an electronic database of all issued certificates since 2012, actively implements automatic recognition tools, and participates in the development of international agreements on mutual recognition of education. Throughout its existence, the Russian NIC has actively used current resources to maintain and strengthen cooperation and collaboration with national stakeholders as well as with representatives from other ENIC/ NARIC Centers. The Participation of Russian NIC in this project will be a good opportunity to exchange experience, find and use new mechanisms and methods for developing cooperation with stakeholders in a new practical plane.
The Russian NIC participates in the ERASMUS+ project “Online course catalogues and databases for transparency and recognition (OCTRA)” (1st October 2020 – 30th September 2022).
The project addresses priority on reaching automatic recognition by developing practical support to academic recognition and improving links with other stakeholders. The project also addresses the priority of encouraging the automatic recognition of HE qualifications and upper secondary qualifications by strengthening cooperation among NARICs, EQF NCPs, and National Europass Centres, as well as elaborating recommendations for further development of existing online national qualifications databases and registers (NQD) to promote their use in a fair recognition.
The project provides support to HEIs and national authorities in developing new and improving existing national guidelines for course catalogues and NQDs, including a flexible and transparent design of study programmes and qualifications based on learning outcomes and ECTS credits, as well as providing relevant recommendations for improvement of these online tools, and improving the effective use of ECTS for automatic recognition.
The project aims to increase dialogue with HEIs by agreeing on a template of course catalogues and improvement of NQDs that would guide to structured and transparent learning outcomes of HE qualifications facilitating the automatic recognition. Linking course catalogues with the NQDs is important since both include similar information on qualifications.
The project partners represent NARICs (Latvia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Croatia, Poland), ENICs (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia), HEIs (Latvia), Rectors’ Conference (Latvia), as well as Students’ Union (Latvia) as an associated partner; thus, involving all the relevant stakeholders.
The project activities
- desk research – exploring situation regarding course catalogues of HEIs and NQDs in the NARIC and ENIC project partner countries;
- guidelines and recommendations for HEI and NARICs, ECTS Users’ guide (2015) about online course catalogues and NQDs – to provide ideas for necessary improvements of the online tools;
- peer-learning seminars – to discuss the guidelines and recommendations with the relevant stakeholders;
- national workshops for HEIs – to present the guidelines and recommendations to the representatives of HEIs in the partner countries;
- international conference.
Target groups
HEIs, credential evaluators, students, employers, policymakers, EQF NPCs, and National Europass Centres.
The guidelines and recommendations elaborated in the project serve as an assisting tool for HEIs to improve or create appropriately useful and consistent course catalogues corresponding to the NQDs (if existing), and for bodies responsible for NQDs to make adaptations in the content useful for credential evaluation. The document is an additional guide to the existing information for transparency of qualifications to ease fair recognition and a valuable instrument to support dialogue with HEIs and policymakers regarding automatic recognition. For students, improved course catalogues and NQDs will provide structured information on study programmes, which will serve for increasing mobility.
The main impact of the project is foreseen to promote the availability of transparent and structured information about qualifications, study programmes, and study courses, which will lead to the automatic recognition of HE qualifications in the future and effective use of ECTS for automatic recognition.
In the framework of the Federal project “Export of education” carried out a complex of measures for the systematic recognition of documents on the education of the Russian Federation in foreign countries on a bilateral and multilateral basis:
- Interactive map, which displays relevant information regarding existing and potential agreements on recognition of education; the dynamics of foreign students over the years, information resources for the verification of the fact of issuance of foreign documents on education.
- Additional information services (6 language versions) of the portal of the National Information Center to facilitate the recognition of foreign and Russian education.
- A training manual “Methodological foundations and practical mechanisms for the recognition of foreign qualifications in the Russian Federation and foreign countries” has been published in 2018.
Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation
- https://edu.gov.ru/ (Russian language)
- https://edu.gov.ru/en (English language)
Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation
- https://www.minobrnauki.gov.ru/ (Russian language)
Federal Service of Supervision in Education and Science
- http://obrnadzor.gov.ru/ (Russian language)
Higher Education Institutions (HEI) Landscape and Mobility
Register of licenses for educational activities
(in Russian language)
The Russian NIC has developed and posted on the official website the information regarding the mobility of HEI’s foreign students in the Russian Federation.
Trends
In the era of the growth of digital technologies, striving to keep up with the latest technological developments and innovations states encourage the internationalization of education, in particular through the academic mobility of students, scientists, and teachers. A precise and short definition is given in the Global Convention on the Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications, adopted at the 40th UNESCO Assembly, which speaks not only of physical, but also virtual mobility.
States stimulate academic mobility not only with the purpose of human capital development and establishment of cultural and scientific ties but also with the purpose of increase of influence through the foreign policy of «soft power». Traditionally, the education of foreign students at Russian universities has been mainly in the context of “soft power” in order to create a favorable image and loyal attitude. This approach is still preserved, but new approaches have appeared, such as the export of educational services in order to generate income.
Annual Soft-Power Ranking 2020
The training of foreign students in Russia has always been considered in the context of solving strategic and current tasks of state policy, ensuring the national interests and national security of Russia. Traditionally, the education of foreign students at Russian universities has been mainly in the context of “Soft Power”.
In the annual soft power ranking for 2020, which ranks the countries in which the most influential world leaders have received their education, Russia ranks 4th, after the USA, Great Britain, France, which testifies to the successful implementation of the “soft power” approach in modern Russia. Russia has provided 15,000 government scholarships for foreign students annually since 2015, and this number has grown to 18,000 in 2021. The organization of selection for 18,000 state scholarships is carried out jointly by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and the special agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia – Rossotrudnichestvo. Budget scholarships are one of the main tools of the Russian Foreign Ministry in cooperation with foreign states on the humanitarian track. The geography of the scholarship distribution reflects the general interest in Russian education on the part of the foreign citizen.
New priorities of state policy indicated the need for sustained high growth rates of exports of Russian services and replenishment of labor resources for the national economy at the expense of highly qualified migrants, which was reflected in the changes in the migration educational policy outlined in the Executive Order “On national goals and strategic objectives through 2024 “dated May 7, 2018, No. 204, namely: an increase in the number of foreign citizens studying in educational institutions of higher education and scientific organizations at least twice, as well as the employment of the best of them in the Russian Federation.
In 2019, by the Order of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Strategy for the Development of Export of Services until 2025 is adopted, in which a separate section “Educational Services” is devoted to the export of education.
Currently, foreign students study in Russian educational institutions on a contract and budgetary basis. Income from the training of foreign citizens in Russian universities in the 2018/2019 academic year amounted to 17.538 billion rubles.
Targets were set in the Export of Education project – to reach 425 thousand foreign students by 2024.
The dynamics of the growth of foreign students are shown on the slide, and the total number of foreign students in Russia has passed the 300 thousand barriers.
Foreign students from the CIS countries account for more than half of the total. The leading countries in the number of foreign students among the Commonwealth countries are Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Students from China are the second largest group of students after Kazakhstan.
Last year has become a year of stress, many plans have been changed and it is impossible not to say about it. During the pandemic, a report was prepared by the rectors of leading universities with a large sample of student surveys, the study of social networks – Stress test lessons. One of the conclusions is – «The most vulnerable group of students turned out to be foreign students, whose chances of returning to the “normal educational process” in September 2020 became impossible. It is necessary to work out options for continuing education for foreign students who left the Russian Federation, and to develop distance programs for foreign students (maintaining the position of universities in the education export markets)».
The COVID-19 pandemic has put universities both in Russia and around the world in difficult conditions, forcing them to adapt to the current events in the shortest possible time, spend significant funds for accelerated digitalization, and adaptation of both teachers and students to new conditions. Universities found themselves forced to solve a lot of pressing issues in a short time: in what forms to conduct distance learning; what technical means to use for this; how to assess the assimilation of the material by students; how to conduct final exams and how to recruit for the next academic year. I must say that, in general, Russian universities coped with this task, although, of course, each was prepared in completely different ways for these challenges.
At the same time, the sensation of the admissions campaign in 2020-2021 was the fact that the admission of foreign students who enrolled in Russian universities practically did not decrease, and even increased in some universities. This is clearly illustrated by the example of medical universities. For 5 years, the number of foreign students in the universities of the Ministry of Health increased by 50%, and in 2020 – by 9.1%.
In our opinion, important measures for overcoming a stressful situation, taking into account experience, should be:
- recognition mechanisms for different forms of online education;
- coordination of restrictive measures against foreign students, at least in a bilateral regime;
- drafting friendly migration legislation;
- state support for universities (international students) affected by the pandemic.
Policies
The general policy in the sphere of recognition is developed by the Ministry of Education and Science. The Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science (Rosobrnadzor) is its agency responsible for recognition procedures throughout the country. “Glavexpertcenter” as a subordinate organization of Rosobrnadzor technically implements this function: provides information support and credentials evaluation, but Rosobrnadzor is empowered to take a final decision on recognition of qualifications/degrees both in academic and professional purposes except for research/scientific degrees.
The procedure of foreign education recognition
The foreign education and (or) qualifications recognition in the Russian Federation means the official confirmation of importance (level) acquired abroad education and (or) qualifications with granting academic, professional, and (or) other rights to the owners. The decision on recognition is taken by Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Education and Science (in abbreviated form – Rosobrnadzor).
The links for detailed information on the procedure of foreign education recognition:
- https://nic.gov.ru/ru/proc/nic (Russian language)
- https://nic.gov.ru/en/proc/nic (English language)
Projects & Initiatives
