The forced merger of universities, carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science, caused dissatisfaction among many rectors, protest among students and concern among experts. Suspending this process, the new Minister of Education Vasilyeva went to meet them. However, some universities benefited from the merger, opening up new prospects for them. Now the professional community is waiting for what reforms the new leadership of the Ministry of Education and Science is preparing for higher education.

The future of higher education reform remains uncertain. The statement of the new head of the Ministry of Education and Science, Olga Vasilyeva, about the termination of the process of merging universities, begun by her predecessor Dmitry Livanov, raised more questions in the expert community than it answered. A few phrases that the minister dropped about stopping the merger "before each specific trial" did not clarify the fate of the reform. Her press service, which ignored the request of "Profile", could not explain this either. The only obvious reason is the dissatisfaction of the rectors, whose universities were subject to optimization.

President Vladimir Putin first spoke about the need to reorganize universities in 2012. And in April 2013, Livanov sent a corresponding program to the government. The first "black list" included 30 educational institutions. Since then, it has grown and expanded every year. In April of this year, the head of Rosobrnadzor, Sergei Kravtsov, announced that more than 600 universities and branches were closed in 2015.

The merger process turned out to be painful for the professional community, not without scandals. Thus, students of the Russian State University of Trade and Economics (RGTEU), which was attached to the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (PREU), went on strike in 2013. In 2015, the Moscow Aviation Institute of Technology (MATI) merged with the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) with scandals. The rector of the united university was accused of mass layoffs of MAI employees, and a petition for his resignation gained more than 10 thousand signatures. The last major scandal this year was associated with the merger of the Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSLA) with the State University of Management (GUU).

Throughout the reform, officials emphasized the voluntary nature of the merger of universities, they say, so they themselves wish. However, Vasilyeva's decision to suspend this process was additional evidence of its coercive nature - by order of the ministry.

professional pressure

It was the resentment of the rectors that could have been the reason for the minister's decision. “The idea of ​​merging universities is not very popular in the community of rectors. I think their dissatisfaction was largely the reason for the suspension of this process,” said Tatyana Klyachko, director of the Center for the Economics of Lifelong Education at the RANEPA. “Practically all regions have begun the process of merging universities, it is going differently everywhere: somewhere it goes at an accelerated pace, and somewhere with great difficulty. But everywhere this is met with very serious resistance from universities, ”confirmed Sergey Komkov, head of the All-Russian Education Fund.

The sharp decline in the number of students for demographic reasons gave rise to the idea of ​​merging universities, Klyachko says. If in 2008 there were 7.5 million students in Russia, then in 2015 there were already 4.7 million - the same number as in 2000. “That is, the student body has decreased by a third. In 15 years, we have passed the peak of student demographics and returned to the previous level,” the expert said. - Until 2008, we observed a process of growth in the number of universities and their branches, which in the new demographic situation should have been replaced by a process of shrinking the higher education system. Because there is no need to have such a huge network of universities with such a strong reduction in the number of students. And it, according to the forecast, will decrease by about one million more by 2024. And even in 2030, the number of students is unlikely to exceed 4.4 million - that is, it will be almost the same as in 2000. “Therefore, the government really faces a serious problem of optimizing the network of universities. The question is how to change this network,” Klyachko said.

Obviously, the first proposal was to close the actually empty branches. As for large universities, they were divided into efficient and inefficient ones. The weak ones decided to join the stronger ones in order to raise the quality of education. “But this is actually a controversial approach. Let's say a university accepts one hundred people, of which 80 are strong guys, Klyachko argues. - And after merging with another - weaker university - he should accept 300 people, but where is the guarantee that he will be able to find, say, 250 strong guys? It may turn out that the university will be forced to “dilute” strong students with less capable ones.”

The former minister, according to her, wanted to bring the number of state universities to 500 by 2020 and keep the number of state-funded students at the legal minimum (at least 800 state-funded students per 10,000 Russian population aged 17-30) so that each of them has more budget money. According to the forecast, by 2020 there should have been 4.3 million students in Russia, of which 1.8 million were on the budget.

Komkov sees no practical benefit from the university merger program. “The main problem is that, in fact, there is a liquidation of sectoral institutions that train specialists of a narrow profile,” he said. – The idea of ​​creating so-called flagship universities involves the creation of some regional monsters, in which both money and scientific and pedagogical staff would be concentrated. It was assumed that all small industry universities would join there - both medical, and pedagogical, and transport, and economics. Take, for example, the Ural region, where there is an acute shortage of mining professionals. If they enter the flagship university as a small specialization, this will doom them to extinction, and the region will lose a serious support in the field of higher professional education.”

As soon as the idea of ​​merging universities arose, a group of experts, which included Komkov, opposed it. “Sufficiently a few such flagship universities in the central regions - in Moscow, St. Petersburg, possibly in Volgograd and the Crimea, and in other regions there should be well-functioning regional universities of industry significance,” he believes.

In his opinion, the minister took the right step by listening to the opinion of the professional community. “Those who conceived this reform took their cue from the American model. Indeed, there are several such large regional flagship universities in the United States,” said Komkov. - There have never been branch universities. And Russia has a different experience, we don't have to follow the American way. By the way, many of our European colleagues with whom I spoke agree with this opinion.”

Finances sing romances

As Klyachko noted, the idea of ​​creating flagship universities was to better finance leaders in the regions, albeit artificially created ones. “That is, we either “smear” budget funding across all federal state universities, or choose those that we will give more,” Klyachko said. And in order for the financing of the university to be cost-effective, it must have a sufficiently large number of students. Small universities, as a rule, cost the budget more. “It is clear that a small university requires more costs than a large one, so there is a desire to enlarge universities in order to ensure the so-called economies of scale,” Klyachko explained.

Komkov is sure that this process, on the contrary, increases funding. “We looked at this in the Kursk region. Universities began to count and figured out what the headquarters of the flagship university would look like,” he said. - It should be taken into account that all former rectors will have to enter the leadership of the flagship university, retaining their previous salaries. Plus, there will be all sorts of departments, departments and other administrative apparatus and service personnel. And the costs turned out to be no less, and perhaps even more. ”

As a result, the suspension of the merger of universities caused even more questions among experts, since the next steps of the new minister remain unclear. “Suppose we decide not to merge universities and leave the system as it is. At the same time, the number of students, as already mentioned, will still decrease by another million by 2024 due to demographic reasons,” Klyachko argues. - The question is - will we expect that non-state universities will close on their own, and will we support state ones? The question is - will we have enough resources to keep them afloat? Or will we make a larger university, select stronger students there and improve the quality of education? It's another matter that all the same, in some universities weak guys will study, such universities will always exist. The question is how are we going to work with them?

Both experts emphasized that the suspension of the mergers would give Vasilyeva time to "seriously weigh and think everything over." “I think that, like any rational person, faced with the problem mentioned above and, in addition, with the dissatisfaction of the rector and teaching staff, the minister understands this situation and thinks what to do next,” Klyachko concluded.

Satisfied with the merger

The universities surveyed by Profile, which have gone through the merger procedure, are not currently complaining about the state of affairs at all. “Since 2012, two universities and 10 colleges have joined us. The association usually lasts up to one year. Sometimes it happens one and a half,” said Igor Remorenko, rector of the Moscow City Pedagogical University (MGPU), who, however, was Livanov’s deputy for a short time. Thanks to the associations, he said, there are more full groups and fewer groups with a small number of students. More students got access to a large university library, electronic services, lectures by strong teachers.

The reduction, Remorenko noted, affected both the teachers of the Moscow State Pedagogical University and those coming from other universities. “In general, 40% of teachers left, but more than 20% came in additionally,” he said. They were dissatisfied, the rector admitted. The university even had to go through the courts. But overall, the results were positive. “We have noticeably increased the average USE score of applicants who came to study with us. We are leaders among the country's pedagogical universities,” said Remorenko. In addition, according to him, the university managed to optimize budget funds.

The merger of the Moscow State Engineering University (MAMI) and the Moscow State University of Printing Arts (MGUP) named after Fedorov began quite recently - in March 2016. Then came the corresponding order of the Ministry of Education and Science. And by September 1, a new Moscow Polytechnic University was launched on their basis. Teachers and staff have kept their jobs, said Andrey Nikolaenko, rector of the new university. Optimization affected only some administrative and managerial units.

Students, he said, reacted to this in different ways, but the majority were positive. “After the merger, the number of areas and specialties of training has increased, new opportunities have opened up for the creative realization of students, sports, participation in youth policy and, of course, for additional education,” the rector listed. “In addition, students have expanded the opportunity to use the fund of student dormitories due to the infrastructure of the campus of the former University of Mechanical Engineering.”

The infrastructure of the new university will make it possible to participate in major scientific and educational projects at the highest level, the university hopes. “One of the examples of effective interaction between teams is the project to develop a terminological dictionary for the automotive industry within the framework of a grant from the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation - this is an indicative format for cooperation at the intersection of industries,” Nikolaenko noted. He considers it premature to evaluate the optimization of funds: “To answer this question, it is necessary to rely on real indicators based on the results of educational and financial cycles.”

This section presents the main news and documents on the reorganization of the University of Mechanical Engineering

In accordance with by order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated March 21, 2016 No. 261 the reorganization of the federal state budgetary educational institution of higher education "Moscow State Engineering University (MAMI)" and the federal state budgetary educational institution of higher professional education "Moscow State University of Printing named after Ivan Fedorov" in the form of a merger with the formation on their basis of the federal state budgetary educational institution of higher education Education "Moscow Polytechnic University".

Reorganization notices:
For students of the University of Mechanical Engineering
For employees of the University of Mechanical Engineering

Administrative structure

Management structure

Orders and directives:

Order No. 671-OD dated August 1, 2017 “On making changes to the composition of the university administration”

To ensure interaction with employees, students and partners of the reorganized MGIU, a feedback system has been organized on our website. open special section, where everyone can express their vision of the way for the further development of the united university and offer specific ideas. All information will be carefully reviewed.

On January 13, 2015, the rector of the University of Mechanical Engineering A.V. Nikolaenko met with employees and students of MGIU, dedicated to the reorganization of universities. During the meeting, A.V. Nikolaenko spoke about the merger procedure and the basic principles for the formation of a merged structure, and also answered numerous questions.

The Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Moscow State Engineering University (MAMI)" announces a competition for filling vacant positions of the teaching staff.

Applications and documents for participation in the competition are submitted to the personnel and records management department, located at the address: 107023, Moscow, st. Bolshaya Semenovskaya, 38, room. 301.302, tel.: 8 495 223-05-20.

The deadline for submission is 22.06.2015 inclusive until 17:00. Detailed information on the official website of the university http://www.mami.ru/index.php?id=2348

Orders and directives
Decree No. 940-OD dated December 24, 2015 “On the composition of the university administration”

Order No. 708-OD of 02.10.2015 "On the composition of the university administration"

Dear colleagues!

A significant part of the proposals concerned the fate of the Energy Department of the Moscow State Open University named after V.S. Chernomyrdin. A decision was made to merge it with the Energy Department of the Automotive Institute. Many students, teachers, graduates expressed concern about the possible loss of accumulated experience and a decrease in the quality of training of specialists, failure to fulfill obligations to students in the areas chosen at Moscow State Educational Institution. V.S. Chernomyrdin "energy" areas of training.

On behalf of the leadership of the University of Mechanical Engineering and the working group, I want to assure all interested parties that the Energy Department of the Automotive Institute of the United University of Mechanical Engineering and the departments that make up it, using the base of the merged universities, will allow to concentrate human, organizational and material and technical resources to improve the quality of training of highly qualified personnel for the energy industry.

Orders and directives
Order No. 146-OD dated 04/09/2014 “On the completion of the reorganization of the Moscow State Educational Institution named after V.S. Chernomyrdin"

Liquidation of the branch in Likino-Dulyovo
In accordance with the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation of September 02, 2011 No. 2256 and the order of the rector of May 31, 2012 No. 209-OD, the branch of MSTU "MAMI" in Likino-Dulev is subject to liquidation before August 31, 2012 of the year.

Affiliation of the Federal Museum of Vocational Education
In accordance with the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia dated February 28, 2012 No. 152, the Moscow State Engineering University (MAMI) and the Federal Museum of Vocational Education are being reorganized in the form of joining the museum to the university as a separate structural unit (branch).

Affiliation of the Tuchkov Motor Transport College
By order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia No. 2256 dated September 2, 2011, the Tuchkov Motor Transport College (Tuchkovo, Moscow Region) was attached to MSTU "MAMI" as a branch.

— I worked until the summer of 2013 at St. Petersburg State University of Economics. The university is not a stellar one, but nevertheless ... In the fall of 2012, it became known about the merger of universities. It is difficult to say at what level and how the decision was made in our particular case, but all this disgrace took place against the background of such events as the recognition of the university as ineffective and the contract killing of the rector, who, it seems to me, would have opposed the form and those conditions in which it happened. They decided to join us with Finek and Inzhekon as part of the new St. Petersburg State Economic University - St. Petersburg State University of Economics. Like many of my colleagues, this affected me most directly: mass layoffs began. Considering the fact that the policy of the administration in recent years was not to conduct by competition, but to keep the maximum number of people "on a leash" of a fixed-term contract, it was just a "beating of babies" - we were not renewed contracts, technically it was not even a dismissal . At the same time, we were constantly promised that we would all be able to get into new, united departments if we showed miracles of zeal and talent. They talked about the fact that the new university will only have specialties that are in demand, a high passing score, high tuition fees and, as a result, high salaries. Naturally, none of those fired were invited to work. As a result of the “squabbling” over rates and positions, the youngest and most promising employees (I'm not talking about myself) either left the university altogether, or stayed on a miserable share of the rate, trying to find a new job in their specialty. But in the context of the massive unification of universities, this is now practically impossible. "Horror stories" about crowds of hungry dismissed humanitarians are rapidly becoming a reality. When I learned about the unification of universities, I laughed. This is so similar to the standard activity of our state - to try to solve the complex and neglected problems of modern higher education in Russia with the help of a set of several simple mechanical measures, for example, by merging universities, reducing costs. And it’s not that I don’t believe that there are too many universities, that obscure specialties have “spawned”, that there is an overabundance of poorly educated graduates with not very quoted diplomas in the country. This is all true. The bad thing is that instead of trying to build a normal system for selecting applicants, introducing an adequate funding system, decent wages and an interesting educational process, a simple and not very useful move has been chosen again: to merge universities, to introduce such an incomprehensible and impracticable system of performance indicators that teachers are sometimes busy instead of working endless filling of accounting papers.

So my expectations from the merging process were fully justified. My colleagues, who at their own peril and risk stayed to work, say that the salary was really increased, exactly as much as the funds were released, apparently, after the dismissal of us sick people. And a new wave of layoffs is coming. Ordinary teachers with trepidation expect layoffs. Both GUSE and Inzhekon are practically destroyed, only students remain (they pay money), specialties, departments and teachers disappear. In fact, only Finek remained, having completely "digested" the universities that had joined.

So my opinion is: The students weren't hurt by the merger, except that the youngest and most promising teachers disappeared from their schedules, but the new curricula had already reduced traditional classical subjects like history or philosophy to a minimum. Teachers suffered - no doubt. It is not very clear what can induce promising young people to fight for the remaining places with dubious prospects (both regarding recruitment, and regarding earnings, and regarding the prospects for scientific development). There is only one benefit for the state: it was necessary to portray the stormy activity for the reorganization of education. It depicted.

I can’t talk about other universities, I don’t know the details. But I heard that St. Petersburg State University of Economics plans to sell off the areas that it got after the merger with Engineering Economy and St. Petersburg State University of Economics. Maybe they're lying.

After the publication of the results of monitoring the activities of higher educational institutions by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, talks do not stop about what will happen to students and universities, in whose activities they found signs of inefficient work.

Working groups were created that determined the final decisions on what activities should be carried out in order to improve the position of each university. These events did not help all educational institutions, as a result, the universities that need to be reorganized or liquidated were determined. However, this must be done in such a way that students do not suffer. In this regard, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation has developed a special document in which all the nuances are taken into account. This draft order is posted on the official website of the department.

Thus, a reorganized or liquidated university, from the moment the founder issues a document on termination of activity, must notify students about the start and procedure for transferring students within 30 days, and also name the host university

According to the document, the translation is provided by the founder of the reorganized educational institution with the written consent of the students. The draft order notes that the forms and conditions of education at the new university should be preserved.

In case of termination of the activity of the university, as well as cancellation of the license, deprivation of state accreditation, expiration of the certificate of state accreditation, the founder independently selects possible host educational institutions and sends requests to them to obtain their consent or refusal to accept students, the document says. The management of the host university must inform about its decision in writing within 10 days. The founder must, before issuing a document on reorganization or liquidation, determine the circle of host universities and bring this information to the educational institution, or reflect this information in the act.

In addition, the ministry notes that from the moment the founder issues the act of termination of activity, the university must, within ten days, post on its website information about the start and procedure for transferring students, indicating the host university and its location.

When transferring, the university sends to the host university a list of students, copies of curricula, academic certificates, personal files, written consents of students, contracts for the provision of paid educational services (if any). The host party issues an enrollment order on the basis of a written consent and an expulsion order of the reorganized university.

“In the event of a student’s refusal to transfer to the proposed host educational institution (which the student indicates in a written application for transfer refusal), an educational institution is not responsible for its transfer. The head of the university or a person authorized by him issues an order to expel the student due to the impossibility of the educational institution to carry out activities in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation of the Russian Federation. The order must indicate that the student refused to be transferred to the host educational institution, ”the document says.

A few months ago, a scandal broke out in one of the Russian cities related to the inspection of higher educational institutions by the Ministry of Education. The unification of universities in Samara shocked many students, teachers and parents, because they believed that all three institutions were 100% justified.

How did it all start?

In February 2015, the authorities announced their intention to merge the three institutions of higher education into one. They were not at all embarrassed by the fact that we are talking about the three oldest institutions in the region, each of which has its own history, scientific school and tradition.

The union of the three is considered by the authorities to help all institutions get rid of the financial problems that have arisen and reach a self-sustaining level. The leadership of all opposed the unification and formed a response letter to the authorities of the region, not forgetting to send a copy to the President of the Russian Federation - V.V. Putin.

Who will be united?

The merger of universities in Samara, the list of which includes SSAU (aerospace (state) and Samara State Technical University (technical), can jeopardize education throughout the region, the heads of universities believe. The governor of the region explained that SSAU is currently one of the 15 leading universities country, therefore, is eligible to apply for additional funding.

But the remaining two educational institutions receive less money, and if the merger is carried out, then SSAU will be able to improve performance and receive more funding, part of which will be spent on maintaining the existence of other universities. The governor also fears that SamSU will not be able to maintain its position as one of the higher schools in Russia due to the reform that was announced by the Ministry of Education and Science in the summer of 2014. According to it, postgraduate and master's programs will remain only in the strongest universities in the country, and SamSU does not belong to them due to its low rates.

First reaction

Teachers, students and parents are outraged by the current situation. Heads of universities fully support them. Each university has its own foundations, habits and traditions, the staff of admissions committees say. According to them, even the contingent that enters the three universities is fundamentally different from each other.

According to media publications, the initiator of the event called "Unification of three universities of Samara" is Merkushin, the governor of the Samara region. There is a hypothesis that this is only a temporary measure, and as soon as the situation in the country returns to normal, universities will disperse again, but no one believes this and does not plan to agree to a merger.

Development of the situation

In April 2015, it became known that SamSTU would continue to function as a separate university. But SSAU and SamSU will still be merged, and on the basis of the first institution, the second will simply be abolished. Such an association of universities in Samara, reviews of which were already unflattering, only whipped up the discontent of citizens.

Representatives of SamSTU are not supporters of such an association, as they have repeatedly stated in the media. To resolve this issue, a special working group was created, which, after a short consideration of the situation, approved the proposed scheme for optimizing universities.

Minister of education

The governor of the region met with the Minister of Education and discussed this issue. The merger of universities in Samara, according to the minister, is possible, but without the participation of Samara State Technical University. Nevertheless, it is planned that SamSTU will later become part of the two merged universities, but it is not known when this will happen.

The management of educational institutions does not comment on this situation, however, in the spring of 2015, the academic councils of SamSU and SSAU supported the initiative to unite universities. Thus, the only university that officially disagrees with the merger is the Samara State Technical University, all the remaining ones will be merged one way or another.

Citizens' opinions

Merging universities in Samara (the opinions of citizens and authorities are very contradictory) is a problem that has many fundamental nuances. Representatives of the Union of Employers note that due to the merger, it will be possible to achieve when the departments and universities will interact with each other most closely, and this will be much more beneficial. In their opinion, with the help of such a measure, it will also be possible to establish interaction between universities, business and schools.

Some deputies point out that the combination of even two universities is wrong, not to mention three. They believe that a split within one university will exist for many decades, and it is unlikely that a united educational institution will develop. SSAU, in their opinion, should not be considered as a university at all, since it received this status only because of its prestige, but in fact remains the same institution as before.

The reaction of teachers

Some officials suggest that the incident has its own reasons, and, commenting on the merger of three Samara universities (with what this is connected, in particular), they say that we can talk about an order from other regions. In June, the governor visited SamSU, where he spoke for a very long time about the benefits of the association.

As a result, a noisy scandal erupted due to the fact that one of the university professors did not applaud the governor after the end of his speech, but directly stated that he had been working here for 45 years and did not expect anything good from the prospect of a merger. According to politician Mikhail Matveev, this is the only person who is openly fighting against the merger of the two universities, all the rest have long resigned themselves to the inevitability.

Rally

The unification of universities in Samara even led to a rally that took place in early July. Samara Duma deputy Mikhail Matveev, who is actively fighting against the unification of universities, noted that more than 500 citizens attended the rally, which lasted more than two hours. The press service of the regional Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs notes that no more than 150 people took part in the rally.

The protesters demanded that the authorities cancel the joining of SamSU to SSAU and asked to stop this optimization process until it was too late. Political slogans also sounded from the crowd, in particular, there were those who demanded the resignation of the governor of the region, calling him incompetent in matters of education and administration.

Actions of activists

Teachers and students, even after explaining all the benefits, do not agree to the unification of universities in Samara. It was they who came up with the idea to collect signatures for the country's leadership with a request to keep all three establishments as independent units. The creators of the petition noted in it that each university has its own unique history. The petition has collected over 20,000 signatures.

At the end of June, Dmitry Livanov, who holds the post of Minister of Science and Education, signed an order to merge SamSU and SSAU on the basis of the latter. Whether the petition will affect this decision is still unknown, but students and teachers are ready to go all the way and ensure that universities remain in their places.

Benefits of association

According to the leadership of the region, the fact that due to the merger it will be possible to achieve higher performance and increase funding should be considered as an obvious plus. Among other things, the prestige of SSAU diplomas is highly valued all over the world, so the students of the united university will have much more opportunities to find work not only in Russia, but also abroad.

Also, as obvious advantages, the opportunity to save money using the same infrastructure stands out. According to the authorities, if two universities are located in the same premises, this will help to significantly save costs on electricity and building maintenance. The released funds can be spent on current needs.

Cons of merging

But the minuses are more often talked about by university employees and students than by the government. In their opinion, the merger will inevitably entail a reduction in the teaching staff. As a result, for small salaries, the remaining teachers will have to bear a double burden, and the quality of the education provided in this case will be very low.

A similar situation is also feared by students, especially those who receive education on a budgetary basis. After the unification of universities, some of the budget places will be reduced, which means that it will be possible to get an education only on a paid basis, which not everyone can afford.