In mid-2016, there were active talks about the adoption of a law that would abolish the possibility of receiving distance education in certain specialties:
Economist;
Manager for Public Administration.
Restrictions were planned to be introduced from September 1. The main initiator of the innovation is the head of Rosobrnadzor Sergey Kravtsov.
Before the law on the abolition of correspondence education was first discussed, other representatives of the educational system announced the negative effect of such a form of education.
Official and unofficial reasons for the abolition of correspondence education
It is not yet known whether there will be restrictions on obtaining the first higher education, whether correspondence education will be canceled in full, or whether this initiative will spread to specific specialties.
The main reasons for the introduction of the law:
Improving the quality of education. The actual effectiveness of this method of obtaining knowledge is minimal. Most get it "for the crust." They don't realize that employers are following this trend. Now it is difficult to get a job even for full-time employees without work experience;
According to Kravtsov, a number of universities have turned into stores selling diplomas. In fact, they are not able to provide quality education. The destruction of such establishments will reduce the problems for students;
Redirecting flows of students to the specialties needed by the country. Now engineers and representatives of other technical specialties are needed;
Budget optimization. Useless part-time students on budget education spend taxpayers' money. Universities make good profits without providing quality education.
The correspondence system of education is a relic of the 20s of the XX century. It has not shown high results for all the years of its existence.
Results of 2016. Law conditions. What specialties are covered
Correspondence education canceled or not? At the moment, the law has not entered into force. Students can study at the correspondence department in all offered specialties.
However, it is obvious that representatives of Rosobrnadzor and the leadership of universities will develop effective steps to provide an alternative and move away from this method of education. The opportunity to get a second diploma will remain for established, employed adults. Unlike most part-time students, for whom higher education will be the first, they strive to gain knowledge for advanced training, making significant efforts.
Pros and cons of the adopted law
If the law comes into force, we can talk about moving towards improving the quality of education, minimizing corruption and improving the work of universities, which are rapidly enriching themselves through correspondence courses. But this normative act will affect the interests of those who, for certain reasons, cannot continue full-time education (for example, young mothers). We will soon find out if the new law will come into force.
From the interview of the head of Rosobrnadzor Sergey Kravtsov to the program "Vesti Nedeli" on June 19, we were surprised to learn that from September 1, 2016, correspondence courses in legal, economic areas, as well as the direction of "state and municipal management" are cancelled.
In addition to the fact that this, to put it mildly, contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation, we are also talking about the fact that a large number of citizens who want to get higher education on the job may say goodbye to their intentions.
Secondary vocational education, of course, helps young people in their initial employment, but without part-time education, young people will not be able to continue their career growth for a simple reason - it is not technically possible to combine work and full-time education. And the improvement of personnel qualification, of course, makes it much more competitive in comparison with foreign specialists.
Part-time education, for example, is ideal for those students who cannot attend daytime or evening classes due to the nature of the profession and irregular work schedules - military personnel, professional athletes, police officers and other professionals who have a traveling nature of work. At the same time, for most of them, having a higher education, or even two, is a mandatory requirement for promotion.
The declared measure is guaranteed to worsen the situation on the labor market and, quite likely, lead to unnecessary social tension in society. Indeed, in many settlements on the territory of Russia there are simply no competence centers that can satisfy the needs of young people in education.
Not everyone is mentally and financially ready to move to a regional center, and entering a correspondence department at a university is the only opportunity for residents of such settlements to receive a quality higher education. And the narrowing of the choice of specialties of correspondence courses will contribute to a decrease in the general level of education of citizens, which in Russia still largely depends on the transport accessibility of educational centers.
It should also be noted that distance learning programs have a large number of students with disabilities who are forced to study at home or in special medical institutions. In the future, the restrictions will create a serious problem associated with a drop in the level of social responsibility of Russian universities, including in the eyes of the world community.
Correspondence and online education is now gaining popularity all over the world: new systems of distance learning for students are being created, leading foreign universities are transferring the most popular educational programs to the online format. The absence of similar offers on the international market from Russian universities will lead to an increase in the number of Russian students who prefer to study abroad. And this will mean an aggravation of the situation with the notorious "brain drain".
The decision proposed by Rosobrnadzor will also significantly complicate the process of Eurasian integration, within which special attention is paid to the opportunity for residents of the EAEU countries to receive education at Russian universities. The absence of a correspondence form in Russian universities will mean closing access to high-quality higher education for those citizens of the CIS who do not want or cannot leave their country for one reason or another.
Instead of closing part-time courses, it would be advisable to encourage Russian universities to improve the quality of part-time education and at the same time monitor the improvement in the quality of teaching. It is characteristic that foreign universities have already accumulated significant experience in this area, and we can use it by simply adapting it to the specifics and requirements of the Russian education system.
Correspondence education is one of the most important components of the global strategy of accessible education "Education for All", and the exclusion of distance learning in a number of areas will become a serious threat to the Russian export of knowledge and high technologies in general in the context of globalization and the promotion of the concept of affordable quality education for everyone, will lead to a reduction in the volume of exports of Russian educational services and a decline in the promotion of the Russian language and culture abroad.
Moreover, the vacated niche in the market of educational services in Russia is guaranteed to be occupied by universities in the USA and Great Britain, which today are actively developing distance learning technologies and offering Russian-language programs to Russian students via the Internet.
In general, today there is not a single draft of a by-law that could justify a ban of this kind. In addition, members of the Association of Lawyers of Russia, the All-Russian Student Society and a number of deputies from the State Duma Committee on Education oppose the ban.
I would like to believe that Rosobrnadzor officials have good intentions - to improve the quality of education, etc., however, instead of being engaged in real control over the quality of education, it is simply proposed to implement a set of banal prohibitive measures. This is sad.
Commentary by the Head of the Department of Criminal Law and Criminalistics prof. G.A. Esakov to the leading publication
The admission campaign in Russian universities is coming to an end. The main intrigue this year was the fate of distance learning programs in a number of specialties, in particular, legal and economic. At least after a number of statements by representatives of relevant departments, the media wrote about the ban on distance learning for lawyers and economists from September 1 of this year, almost like a fait accompli. However, the Ministry of Education and Science does not plan to change anything in the near future.
"In order to abandon this form of education, it is necessary to change the state standard," - explained Vice-Rector of the RANEPA Maxim Nazarov. - "New federal educational standards are planned only from 2017, so at least until September 1 next year, the correspondence form will exist. Perhaps some special law will be issued earlier that will abolish this, but so far this is impossible: just by order of the minister to cancel distance learning is not allowed."
According to the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education Oleg Smolin, he, being categorically disagreeing with this initiative, sent to the head of the Ministry of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov a request in which he tried to explain that this decision was wrong and "would lead to colossal harmful consequences."
"I got a five page answer," says the parliamentarian. - "Four and a half pages are quotations from laws that I know. Half of the page contains things that I, in general, also know, but they are important. The answer says that such changes can only be introduced on the basis of changes in state educational standards for higher education. And now the ministry has no proposals on this matter. That is, the issue has been postponed for at least a year, which is not bad. Although earlier this was talked about as a probable fact from September 1 this year." In fact, it was postponed until next year, and for the coming year, as you know, “either the vizier, or Hodge, or the donkey ...”
While no specific decisions have been made in the government, the initiative continues to cause heated discussions. A number of experts and heads of universities are convinced that in such important specialties as jurisprudence, people should be trained with the maximum teaching load.
"We do not have distance education: we are sure that high-quality education can only be carried out in person in the classroom," said the Vice-Rector of the New Economic School Zarema Kasabieva. - "The basis of our master's education is the personal contact of the professor with the student. If the decision to abolish correspondence education in a number of specialties is taken, over time this may affect the situation in the country as a whole. It seems strange when lawyers study only by correspondence, from textbooks. Not in American universities, this hard, very intense training in classrooms is in vain, with full involvement. But here you can only come to take exams, and sometimes, unfortunately, for money. I don’t want to offend anyone: in Soviet times there was an excellent correspondence law university, but in fact, there was daytime and evening training."
However, the Vice-Rector of the Moscow State Pedagogical University Igor Remorenko believes that modern methods and technologies allow working students to master academic disciplines in full. There should not be any difficulties for people who study and work due to distance technologies and e-learning, he believes.
Vice-Rector of the RANEPA Maxim Nazarov I agree that lawyers should be taught more thoroughly. At the same time, in his opinion, the closure of distance learning in other specialties would be redundant.
"People with a secondary vocational education who work in municipalities often go to state and municipal administration - they need a specialized education. In my opinion, it is not worth closing the correspondence form for this specialty," says Nazarov.
"People who already work in the field of management, small business, have a lot of experience, as a rule, during distance learning they show a higher level of knowledge than those who receive their first education at the hospital," MP Oleg Smolin agrees. - "I am now in Omsk helping to get a free education at a private university for the head of a local organization of disabled people. A very intelligent woman. She will not be a professional lawyer, but she badly needs a legal education in order to work at the head of a public organization. We have a paradoxical situation: with one On the other hand, our government is trying to turn us all into lawyers - Russian laws are such that it is impossible for a normal person to read them. On the other hand, it also suggests that we give legal education only to those who study full-time."
According to experts, up to 70% law students receive education in absentia in various kinds of regional universities. Formally, their status after receiving a diploma is no different from the status of graduates of the best universities. These people become investigators, judges, prosecutors. And this inspires fear for many.
"Limit the recruitment rules for the professions of judges, prosecutors, etc. to certain universities, if you think that education in other universities is of poor quality," Oleg Smolin objects to this. - "On this basis, you cannot violate the rights of other people, especially since you are forcibly forcing them to become lawyers."
Head of the Department of Criminal Law, National Research University Higher School of Economics Gennady Esakov believes that Smolin's proposal will not solve the problem: if you define a list of universities whose graduates are eligible to hold certain positions, it will expand indefinitely, he said.
Gennady Esakov noted that correspondence legal education is a relic of the Soviet era, when, after the defeat of the tsarist law school, the Bolsheviks were faced with the need to train personnel. As they were promoted, employees with the right social background and primary education entered correspondence universities and had a diploma by the time they took a higher position.
However, now this is an anachronism, Gennady Esakov believes, and offers two options for solving the problem: either really eliminate distance learning for lawyers as such, or leave it, but introduce a system of qualification exams for judges, prosecutors and lawyers.
Material taken from the site
Distance learning has been one of the most affordable (in terms of cost) ways to get higher education.
« Universities want to abandon part-time education”- such a statement was made by the First Deputy Minister of Education of the Chelyabinsk Region Elena Kouzova at a press conference in the editorial office of AiF-Chelyabinsk. The elimination of distance learning will affect the vast majority of universities throughout the country. In its place will come full-time form. Students will attend couples in the evenings all year round, with tuition nearly doubling.
It will not be so easy to get a second higher education or “finish your studies” while being employed. Six weeks a year and two exam sessions will be a thing of the past along with the most affordable education.
“In our university, admission to distance learning ends on September 5, 2018,- says Anatoly Yakushev, director of the Chelyabinsk branch of the Financial University. - From 2019, part-time education will replace part-time education. It will be held in the evenings three times a week for the entire academic year. P o two couples from 18.20 to 21.30 and on Saturdays. Learning will be more difficult. Imagine running to class after work, hungry and tired because you don't want to be late. This time. The second is the price. In 2018, distance learning at the university costs around 45 thousand rubles, a "point" - 110 thousand. So take the average amount, part-time will cost about 80-90 thousand rubles. "Evening" education brings us back to the Soviet past, when absenteeism was almost zero. At the school, there is still a certain Russian sloppiness in relation to study».
« Changes are related to the quality of student training, - explains the first deputy minister of education of the Chelyabinsk region Elena Kouzova. - "Zaochka" assumes complete independence and responsibility of the student himself, on part-time form, responsibility for the level of knowledge, including the responsibility of teachers.
We will be able to say about the features of the reform only by the beginning of the next academic year, when we will be familiar with all the orders of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation».
Another question arises: are all universities ready to increase the burden not only on students, but also on teachers.
« There will be no questions about the lack of faculty- continues Elena Kouzova. - Universities have no problems with personnel now. As for the other mode of work - outside the regular time, colleagues have the opportunity to earn extra money absolutely legally, officially and within the framework of the subject that they know well».
Talks about the abolition of distance learning began in 2016. Then the head of the federal Rosobrnadzor, Sergei Kravtsov, announced that from September 1, 2018, part-time education in legal, economic areas, as well as the direction of "state and municipal management" is cancelled.
SUSU confirmed that at the moment there is no part-time education, for example, in such areas as architecture and English, jurisprudence by correspondence is possible only for those who receive a second higher education. But Moscow State University has not been accepting students for a long time, but this is an independent decision of the university management.
