Rector of ASU Takes Part in the Discussion of Amendments to the Law on Education

Konstantin Markelov attended a meeting of the Expert Council on Management in the Field of Higher Education and Science under the State Duma Committee on Science and Higher Education.

The participants discussed amendments to the federal law “On Education in the Russian Federation” in terms of defining the specialist’s degree as a separate independent level of education and its role in the education system. At the moment, a number of questions are arising in connection with the country’s withdrawal from the Bologna process, in particular, how to take into account the master’s training in the gradual transition from the bachelor’s degree to the specialist’s one, and what levels of education will be in the new system.

In the draft amendments to the law, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education made proposals on the division of bachelor’s and specialist’s programs into different levels of education. The points of view of the meeting participants on this issue were divided. The majority expressed the opinion that the specialist’s degree should be placed one step higher and considered as a completed higher education.

As part of the discussion, ASU Rector Konstantin Markelov touched upon the issue of considering a five-year education (for example, in pedagogical majors with two profiles) in the new emerging system, suggesting that it is classified as the specialist’s degree.

Most of the experts were in favor of letting the universities themselves decide on those areas that are important, and that they should be considered as professional training in specialist’s programs. At the same time, the Ministry has the opportunity to regulate this process through the admission quotas, which is why many rectors of educational institutions made these very proposals.