Education in The Russian Federation
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Contents |
Overview
The Russian Federation is located in Asia and has a decentralized public education system that provides compulsory education for all pupils between six and fifteen years of age. The Ministry of Education and the heads of the 58 Russian regions are responsible for the implementation of education in the Russian Federation. State standards assisted in determining the basic level of the common educational content for the entire Federation. By 2003, Russia had developed temporary state standards including a basic curriculum of comprehensive educational establishments and requirements for students.
The Law on Education deems the federal bodies responsible for:
- Shaping and implementing federal policy and providing legal regulations for education
- Establishing the procedures of setting up, reorganizing and liquidating educational institutions, their licensing, certification and state accreditation
- Establishing the lists of professions concerning vocational training and professional education
- Elaborating and adopting standard regulations on educational institutions
- Establishing procedures concerning certification of educational staff
- Establishing labor rates and federal norms of payment at educational institutions, as well as minimum wage and salary rates in the state educational institutions
- Establishing federal components of state educational standards
- Determining the annual share of federal income for the financing of education and establishing federal funds for the development of education
- Providing information and scientific support, developing modern curricula and courses, producing texts and other teaching aidsm establishing a unified system of educational information within the Federation
- Creating a federal system of training and in-service training of teachers and educational managers
- Providing control over the implementation of the law and ensuring the realization of the federal standards
The main responsibilities of local authorities include:
- The development and implementation of the educational policy, in accordance with the Federation's policy, and the financial support to compulsory education
- The elaboration and implementation of republican and regional programs of educational development taking into their own peculiarities
- The establishment, reorganization and liquidation of educational institutions
- The establishment of national and regional components pf state educational standards
- The introduction of local taxes to support educational development
- The establishment, in addition to federal ones, of social incentives, types and forms of material support for students and teachers
- The elaboration and adoption of local regulations and norms
- The construction of infrastructures and facilities
Historical context
Russia inherited a vast and advanced system of education from the former Soviet Union. During the post–reform period, the nation’s academic community has done much not only to maintain its position as the excellent system of education passed on by many preceding generations of educators, but update it according to the needs of the nation, present–day requirements, and future prospects.
The Law on Education was adopted by the Parliament in 1992 set the foundation for educational reform with a focus on eliminating state monopoly on education. The Law on Education gives the right to establish educational institutions "to federal and local bodies; domestic and foreign enterprises and institutions, endowed and owned either by state, non-state, co-operative, private or any other organizations, as well as by physical persons; domestic and foreign public and private foundations; public organizations and churches, registered within the boundaries of the Federation" (World Data on Education Database)
Russia’s educational system today includes approximately 140 thousand state educational institutions of various levels, types, and forms; close to 15 hundred research organizations, innovation centers and technology shops that teach, educate, and employ around 39 million people.
Higher education
About three million students attend Russia's 519 institutions of higher education and 48 universities. As a result of great emphasis on science and technology in education, Russian medical, mathematical, scientific, and space and aviation research is generally of a high order. The number of doctors in relation to the population is high by American standards. However, even in major cities, medical care in Russia is far below Western standards.
There are three kinds of higher education institutions in Russia: universities, academies, and institutes. All of them have programs of undergraduate and graduate professional education. Universities cover a wide range of fields of study, including technical universities or classical universities. Academies differ from universities in that they are narrower in the specialties they teach. They are often connected with a particular industry, like the Academy of Railway Transport, Agriculture Academy, or Academy of Economics. Institutes must teach at least one discipline.
Statistical information
Russia's educational system has produced nearly 100 percent literacy.
Russia is one of the most educated countries in the world. In Russia, out of every thousand people (aged 15 and up), 902 have general secondary education (an increase of 20 percent since 1989), 156 have higher education, and 32 have an incomplete higher education.
It has 66,000 state-run general education schools with about 20 million pupils; 3,900 primary vocational training schools, with 1.7 million students; and about 2,600 state secondary specialized educational establishments, with about 2.2 million students. Russia also leads the world in highest number of students enrolled in higher education. Russian institutions of higher learning enroll over 70,000 students from more than 130 foreign countries. Despite economic difficulties of the last decade, higher education is experiencing a real boom. More students enter higher education now than ever in the country’s history.
For more information please visit:
- World Data on Education Database
- Russian Ministry of Education
- Organization for Economic Co-Operation & Development (OECD)
- http://www.learnapec.org
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