Graduate school is facing a new reform. What awaits Russian graduate school? Selection of future graduate students

2018 2 interviews were published with the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Sergeev, about the imminent reform of graduate school and the introduction of mandatory defense for graduate students. Then we did not comment on the words of the head of the RAS until all the details were clarified. Now, thanks to our sources, we have the opportunity to find out the details and analyze them.

1. Dates for the start and implementation of the reform

In 2017 We have already written about the draft Federal Law “On Scientific, Scientific, Technical and Innovative Activities in the Russian Federation,” which provides for mandatory defense upon completion of graduate school. This project The Federal Law was supposed to be adopted in 2018, but was postponed to 2019. It is the adoption of this Federal Law that will mark the beginning of the reform of graduate school. The head of the Russian Academy of Sciences speaks about it in particular in his interviews. Our sources confirm that defense for graduate students will become mandatory until November-December 2019 at the latest. If the draft Federal Law is adopted before the end of March, then already in September 2019. After this, within 1-2 years you should expect updates to GOSTs relating to graduate schools.

2. Consequences of the introduction of mandatory defense for graduate students.

It is already clear that the introduction of a mandatory defense will only bring a relatively guaranteed defense to some graduate students. It is worth paying attention to the fact that in his interview the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences speaks specifically about the percentage of graduate students who defended their defenses, and not about the increase in the number of defenses. According to him, the main goal of the reform is to increase the percentage of those who defended themselves by at least 1.25 times, and those who submitted for defense by at least two times by the end of 2024. Which is quite understandable by the fact that an increase in the number of defenses themselves is impossible, primarily due to the expected reduction in the number of graduate students against the backdrop of a reduction in the number of postgraduate courses (the presence of a postgraduate course at a university will be conditioned by the presence of a dissertation council, similar to doctoral studies). Also, do not forget about the policy of the Ministry of Education and Science to reduce the number of dissertations. councils up to 1200-1300 at the end of 2019 (as part of optimizing the network of dissertation councils and the transition of a certain number of universities to their own degrees), and tightening the responsibility of the remaining ones (New regulations on the council for the defense of dissertations). Therefore, if now out of 90 thousand graduate students only 12% defend their defense, then after the reform the number of graduate students will decrease significantly, but the percentage of those defending their defense will actually be higher. In this regard, we should also expect a deterioration in the situation of job seekers. First of all, because the percentage of defenses among graduate students can actually be increased only by reducing the percentage of defenses among applicants (which is still extremely low). The ability of councils to allow “outsiders” to participate in the defense will also be noticeably reduced. It is important to understand that dissertation councils are now placed in conditions under which they cannot significantly increase the number of defenses without being suspected of putting defenses on stream. Suspicions that the council has become a “dissertation factory”, as practice shows, leads to its fairly rapid closure. There are exceptions, but they relate mainly to dissertation councils southern regions Russia, whose activities are still viewed rather loyally. This does not guarantee that those who are there will be protected from scandals and reputational costs. When discussing the consequences of introducing mandatory protection for graduate students and applicants, one cannot fail to mention that this will significantly affect the increase in costs. It is obvious that universities will raise the official tuition/attachment fees due to the fact that the number of graduate schools and councils will be noticeably reduced. As for free places in graduate schools, we should expect their reduction. If, of course, they will be available at all to the average graduate student (why - see paragraph 4) With the growth of official ones, unofficial costs will also increase. In conditions significantly limited opportunity defend, as well as increasing the risks for dissertation councils, the applicant will be forced to either pay for assistance in working on the dissertation and defense, or work out the very opportunity to defend. We have been observing this practice for a long time, but in the new conditions it is likely to become even more widespread. All the consequences considered will undoubtedly contribute to growing interest in universities’ own degrees. Which in turn will increase the cost of obtaining university degrees. Especially from among the top five or ten, who are already able to compete to some extent with ordinary degrees. At the same time, you need to understand that the status of your own degrees will still be somewhat lower. The difficulty of obtaining conventional degrees significantly increases their status. To overcome similar situation a complete waiver of government degrees is required. However, this will definitely not happen in the next 5-6 years. The policy of the Ministry of Education and Science over the past 6 years is clearly aimed at reducing the number of citizens with degrees from the state, but not at completely abandoning degrees.

Important to note: The introduction of mandatory defense will apply only to graduate students who enter graduate school after the entry into force of the new Federal Law. As for graduate students who entered graduate schools before the entry into force of the new Federal Law and applicants, then if theywill not have time to defend their defense before 2020-2021, they will also begin to feel the effect of the postgraduate reform because By this time, GOST will be changed and not only the new Federal Law will influence the activities of graduate schools and dissertation councils.

3. Increasing the duration of postgraduate studies to 5-6 years and reducing the educational load on postgraduate students

According to our sources, we can indeed expect an increase in the duration of postgraduate studies. This will happen as soon as the new GOST, which the head of the RAS speaks about, comes into force. Those. in 2020-2021 First of all, this will concern technical and natural science specialties. For these specialties, the period will most likely be increased to 6 years. The possibility of establishing a minimum five-year training period for other specialties is also currently being considered. The exact list of specialties will become known in 2020. At the same time, it is planned to reduce educational load for graduate students to “increase time for doing science.” However, in fact, this will simply lead to the “spreading out” of the graduate program for an additional 1-2 years. Positive effect Only graduate students who do not want to join the army will benefit from these innovations. For other categories of potential graduate students, this will make graduate school much less attractive and they will look for other ways to obtain scientific degree. First of all, this is a job search. Which, in turn, will become an additional factor in increasing the official cost of applying to universities, as well as unofficial defense costs.

4. The introduction of grants for postgraduate studies and salaries for postgraduate students as an actual refusal of free postgraduate places

According to our data, the introduction of grants for postgraduate studies is practically resolved. In 2020-2021 they will be entered. The purpose of their introduction is to provide the opportunity for free education in graduate schools only to persons developing important for the state and organizations scientific topics. Moreover, capable of bringing training to its logical conclusion. Those. before defending a dissertation. In this review, we will not write about possible abuses in the provision of grants; we will only note that this in itself can become an insurmountable barrier to free education for the majority. In fact, it is proposed (and this is what Sergeev is talking about) that a potential graduate student will have to find a supervisor, decide on a topic and graduate school (and also agree there). Then, together with the manager, submit an application for a grant, receive it, and only after that he will be able to receive the opportunity for free training. If the graduate student ultimately does not defend his defense, he will not fulfill the conditions of the grant. In this case it will rise with high probability question about refund. In other words, getting the opportunity to study in graduate school for free will become either practically impossible for the average person or risky.

Also sooner negative result could bring the introduction of salaries for graduate students. It is not without reason that the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences says that it may make sense to provide the opportunity to open postgraduate schools (with free seats) only to universities that can provide salaries for graduate students at least in the first years of study. How many such universities are there? Most likely very little. This measure is currently being discussed and many recognize it as highly controversial. Most likely it will not be introduced in the coming years. However, even if everything is limited to grants, there will actually be no free places in graduate schools. Postgraduate studies will become almost entirely free of charge.

5. Conclusion.

In conclusion, I would like to note the following: Unfortunately, the reform of graduate school, which will begin this year, will mainly only bring additional difficulties to graduate students and applicants.. As the reform progresses, by 2020-2021. Postgraduate studies will become virtually completely free for applicants. And the cost and duration of training in them will increase. Unofficial costs for graduate students and job seekers will also increase. Once again we would like to emphasize that the main goal of the reform is not to increase the number of protections, but to increase its percentage. The number of graduate students and applicants will only decrease. Therefore, if your goal is to obtain a PhD degree, you should already negotiate with a specific dissertation council and, if possible, speed up the defense. If you have the necessary connections, then you should use them. After the development of new GOSTs and as the deadline for the defense of graduate students from reformed graduate schools approaches, it will become increasingly problematic to defend. Both for graduate students who completed their postgraduate studies according to the old rules, and for applicants. If you are determined to enroll in graduate school, then it makes sense to enroll only after the new Federal Law comes into force. At the same time, you must be prepared to spend at least 5 years on this and incur significant expenses throughout this period. If you have scientific supervisor who can help you get a grant for free training, then in this case you must be absolutely sure that you have necessary forces and time to bring everything to its logical conclusion.

The Ministry of Education and Science has prepared a reform plan for one of the most traditional forms training in the post-Soviet space – postgraduate studies. No wonder - in present moment Only a third of graduate students defend their candidate dissertations, while others use their status for completely different purposes. How exactly is it proposed to reform graduate school and what is the expected result?

The day before, the Ministry of Education and Science was considering options for reforming graduate school. According to the authors of the reform, innovations will help level out a number of negative aspects problems that Russians applying for an academic degree are forced to face.

Today, a university graduate with a master's or bachelor's degree can enroll in graduate school, having previously passed the candidate's minimum. During three years of study, he is required to write a scientific paper in his specialty, publish at least two scientific articles in specialized journals, collect documents for admission to defense, conduct at least 50 hours of teaching work. Each of the points carries difficulties and risks, which is why only 30% of those admitted to graduate school are ready to defend their dissertation.

“I don’t know a single graduate student who was able to write a scientific paper in three years, despite the graduate plan. After three years, the applicant received a certificate from the institute, which extended the period of study, the candidate told the newspaper VZGLYAD historical sciences Alexander Chausov. – In addition, it was impossible to immediately defend a scientific work; there was a waiting list of applicants on dissertation councils. But even after the defense we had to wait a long time official documents certifying an academic degree."

As a result, graduate school often becomes a screen behind which young people hide from military service. And even those who sincerely wanted to connect their lives with science, encountering obstacles over and over again, give up the idea of ​​getting a scientific degree.

Representatives of the scientific community explain this by saying that the result often does not justify the effort expended:

“A university teacher (PhD) earns less than a middle manager, especially in the regions. Therefore, often being in graduate school has nothing to do with motivation to defend a dissertation. The pedagogical component in graduate school, of course, also seems to me an unnecessary element, all this need to be distracted from your research by assignments and tests,” says Dr. philological sciences, Head of the Department of Journalism of Novgorod state university named after Yaroslav the Wise Tatyana Kaminskaya.

In her opinion, the three-stage education system (bachelor’s, master’s and postgraduate studies) did not justify itself, since all three stages have little connection with each other:

“I had several graduate students who, having written one chapter and one article for the VAK magazine (Higher certification commission– approx. VIEW), at this stage they left the race, realizing that these efforts of one year were only a quarter of what was required. And no one guarantees them advancement at the university or employment at all.

As a result, at our university middle age 40 years is very good indicator, and for many departments unattainable. Those who remain are either science fanatics, or those who managed to defend themselves back in Soviet times or the 90s, when there was no such formalism and red tape.”

The "Golden Age" of Soviet graduate school

Postgraduate studies as a form of training highly qualified specialists arose in the RSFSR in 1925, and in the 1930s it spread to universities and research institutes of the USSR, when the country was building new system training of scientific and teaching staff. Graduate school accepted specialists with higher education who had worked in their specialty for at least two years. The age of applicants was at least 35 years, and the state gave two to three years to write and defend a scientific work. During this time, the graduate student received a decent stipend, comparable to salaries in large industry.

IN post-war period Soviet power proclaimed the training of scientific personnel a fundamental principle of the state. Until the 60s, resolutions were adopted to improve the training and certification of specialists, standards were raised dissertations, stimulating institutes and universities for the training of highly qualified personnel. All this contributed to the fact that since the 60s, postgraduate education in the USSR has been on the rise: in 1968, over 96 thousand people were studying in graduate school.

However, after the collapse Soviet Union the prestige of an academic degree fell sharply; it ceased to be a sign of elitism. Postgraduate students and doctors could work for an idea and with a ghostly prospect of salary, remaining in universities and research institutes, leaving for more profitable areas or going abroad. As a result

period from 1995 to 2012 in the scientific community it is called the “graduate bubble” - and is considered an outright failure in the university postgraduate system.

The high requirements for a candidate for an academic degree remained virtually at the same level. However, time, sufficient financial support from the state, individual assistance from the scientific community is often not enough.

Since yet great difficulties graduate students collide with former Soviet republics, since there is often a lack of their own scientific base, the percentage of those who defended their dissertation is even lower there. For example, in Belarus in 2014, out of 1,148 graduate students, only 67 successfully defended their defense.

Experts from the Ministry of Education and Science have been talking about the need for reforms in this area for a long time: the head of the department, Olga Vasilyeva, that the Ministry of Education and Science proposes to return the mandatory defense of dissertations for graduate students, is discussing the possibility of increasing the duration of graduate school from three to five years and dividing it into two stages.

“There are several different scenarios. The scientific community and the university and professional community must choose the most adequate and most modern model postgraduate studies. It can be two-level or two-stage,” says Deputy Head of the Ministry of Education and Science Grigory Trubnikov.

He explained that when such a scenario is implemented, the first stage, which will last two to three years, involves three traditional exams: specialty, foreign language and perhaps philosophy as well qualifying exam based on the results of training. “And this graduate school is entirely financed from the budget, that is, it budget places", noted Trubnikov.

The second stage, he said, will also last two or three years and will be a specialization in a specific field of science in which graduate students are going to defend their PhD work. In this case, a graduate student can receive a scholarship both from budget funds and through the grant system.

“I completely agree with Trubnikov. State postgraduate studies must necessarily end with a candidate's dissertation.

Now the percentage of protection is extremely small. The state spends huge amounts of money on training highly qualified personnel, but the protection of a graduate student depends only on strong-willed qualities his supervisor, the diligence and intelligence of the graduate student himself,”

– the vice-rector for scientific work Far Eastern federal university, Doctor of Biology, Professor Kirill Golokhvast.

According to the deputy minister, the reform assumes that upon completion of the first level of postgraduate study, a young scientist will be required to defend qualifying work, which will be a kind of analogue of a PhD degree in foreign universities(PhD is an analogue Russian candidate Sciences, an academic degree awarded by universities in most countries - approx. SIGHT).

Trubnikov proposes to discuss the mutual recognition of a qualifying diploma, which would be similar to a foreign PhD diploma. Professor Kirill Golokhvast emphasized that a Russian candidate of science degree is automatically recognized throughout the world by the scientific community.

The crisis post-perestroika period in the Russian scientific community is being overcome step by step, but it is far from a second “golden age,” experts say. However, the state is no longer ready to let the system take its course postgraduate education and along with rights gives graduate students more responsibilities. Leaving high standards quality dissertation research, The Ministry of Education and Science may, as part of the reform, remove bureaucratic and teaching responsibilities from graduate students. Increased scholarships and grants will allow graduate students to think less about their personal budget. In this way, time will be freed up for writing a scientific paper, and a young scientist, if he really intends to do science and not procrastinate, will no longer have objective reasons do not defend your dissertation.

In particular, training will be extended and time for scientific work will increase. It’s not easy to be a graduate student in Russia: you have to spend time on part-time work and not on science. There are those who even go to study abroad. Will reform help?

Chapter Russian Academy Sciences Alexander Sergeev announced the reform of graduate school. He proposes to extend the studies there to 5-6 years, while reducing the number of lectures and increasing the number of hours for scientific work. Defense of a candidate's dissertation will also become mandatory; now it is optional. Plus, in the first years of graduate school, it would be possible to introduce special measures of financial support for graduate students, the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences believes.

“Humanities” students now study in graduate school for three years, “naturalists” for four. Many nonresidents go to graduate school for the sake of the hostel. Some young people are trying to evade the army - those who have defended their Ph.D. are not conscripted. There are also those who dream of a career as a teacher or scientist - you can’t defend yourself without graduate school candidate's thesis. But it is impossible to live on a graduate student’s stipend—the national average is no more than 10 thousand rubles.

Irina Abankina Director of the Institute for Educational Development, State University Higher School of Economics“Very many universities, if they accept students, do not limit themselves only to scholarships, but also to enrollment as part-time internal research assistants, and indeed pay remuneration for work in scientific research and scientific projects.”

The previous reform took place two years ago. Postgraduate studies were turned into a continuation of the bachelor's - master's degree system. The number of subjects has increased, because of this, the time to write a candidate’s dissertation has become much less, and it may become mandatory, complains MSU graduate student Maxim. At the same time, you have to earn extra money. He has a job at a museum with a salary of 20 thousand, plus he leads private excursions around Moscow, but this is only during the warm season. Many of his friends make a living by tutoring. About support scientific projects There’s no need to talk, says Maxim:

Maxim graduate student of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University“There is a grant system, but it is extremely difficult to get a grant, and it is a huge responsibility in terms of reporting. After all, already established scientists apply for grants, but this is not so easy for graduate students, only if the supervisor is involved in this. There are more different ones additional items in addition to the main ones, for which minimum candidate exams are taken. You feel a little like a resident of Kafka’s world, who walks somewhere towards the castle for a long time, but along the way something distracts him all the time. If they cut that down, that would be great.”

Reducing the number of lectures can harm both students and teachers, believes Ilya Utekhin, professor at the Faculty of Anthropology at the European University, which now exists as research center in St. Petersburg:

Ilya Utekhin Professor, Faculty of Anthropology, European University“If we allow initiatives, when the scientific community itself organizes something new and allows graduate school to be truly educational, then we will really overcome the lag in the field of science and in the field of higher and most higher education, which is clearly evident now when comparing Russia and developed countries.”

Business FM spoke with those who went to graduate school abroad. Diana Grishina, a graduate of the physics department of Moscow State University in 2013, dreamed of connecting her life with Russian science. But with the prospect of receiving approximately six thousand rubles a month in graduate school, Diana understood that she would have to sacrifice science. She started looking online for offers abroad. Her work in the field of creating three-dimensional photonic crystals from silicon interested Dutch scientists. In many European countries A graduate student can live peacefully without a part-time job, continues Diana Grishina:

Diana Grishina postgraduate student, graduate of the physics department of Moscow State University“You are hired as a “young scientist”, you have a contract for four years with a fixed salary, there are no lectures, you only teach students yourself sometimes, but at the end you are expected to write a dissertation. When graduate students are recruited, the group already has funding that it won as a grant, that is, it cannot be that the money has run out, there is nothing more for you to do. There are no wars, which I saw a lot in our faculty. Sometimes it seemed to me that there are a lot of scientists in Russia who are mainly busy not with science, but with finding money for science. It is necessary to submit applications much in advance, even for some small things. I remember in the physics department I kept samples in yogurt boxes because we couldn’t buy sample boxes.”

As for increasing the training period, there are both disadvantages and advantages. Among the shortcomings is the status “ eternal student" The advantage is that everyone will probably have time to complete their PhD. Now some students do not complete the three or four years.

Soon, postgraduate studies may leave the education system and return to their usual field of science, and defending a dissertation at the end of the postgraduate period will again become mandatory. This was announced at a joint meeting of the Council this week. Russian Union Rectors (RSR) and the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN) were stated by the head of the Ministry of Education and Science Olga Vasilyeva.

Today, almost everyone knows that the situation with domestic graduate school is more than unfavorable. Only every fourth or even fifth graduate student defends their dissertation on time, while about half do not defend it at all.

However, according to the new law, this is not necessary: ​​graduate school has become a stage of education, and a graduate student is not a scientific researcher, as before, but a student. And the latter’s job, as Lenin wrote, is “to study, study and study.” And so they poured into graduate school training courses, tests, exams, lectures, seminars... Where can I write dissertations - today's graduate students simply do not have time for this. And then there are the meager scholarships that force the vast majority of graduate students to get a job. There is no other way, because many graduate students already have families...

The impasse in which the system of training domestic highly qualified personnel finds itself requires its immediate reform, the acting director has no doubt. President of the RAS Valery Kozlov: “We need to make a serious decision!” - he said to the approving roar of rectors and academicians.

The Ministry of Education and Science, as it turns out, is ready for postgraduate education reform. “Already this year, we propose, firstly, to cancel accreditation for postgraduate programs (it was the need for accreditation that caused a sharp, several-fold reduction in enrollment in postgraduate programs academic institutions, not familiar, unlike universities, with this practice - ROSVUZ). Secondly, return priority to conducting scientific research in graduate school. Thirdly, return the obligation to defend dissertations,” said Minister of Education and Science Olga Vasilyeva. “In addition, we propose to extend the period of scientific research to 5 years. And after 2018, try to carry out general reform, for the preparation of which a working group has already been created.”

Rectors of universities and members of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, having heard the minister’s statement, breathed a sigh of relief: “Graduate studies must return to their previous state,” Kozlov expressed the general opinion.

However, the graduate students themselves were happy about the upcoming changes. Moreover, the return of mandatory protection does not frighten them at all, the co-chairman of ROSVUZ assured public association"AAA" or Autonomous Association of Postgraduate Students Denis Fomin:

“The overwhelming majority of us who went to graduate school to do scientific work, and not hide from the army! But there is practically no science in graduate school now: it’s all classes and exams. Yes, we went through all this while still in graduate school! But now I want not theory, but practical scientific work, I want to learn the practical skills of a researcher. Unfortunately, there is none of this, and many of us, even those who fell into best universities, terribly disappointed. Well, why was it necessary to destroy the good things we had? The old system must be returned. And if the period allotted for research actually increases to 5 years, it will be very good. It’s easier for postgraduate students in the humanities: if you push them, they can complete the preparation of dissertations in 3-4 years. And for techies, the experimental base is always slow. This process is very long: it is precisely because of the experiments that many of us do not have time to defend ourselves on time,” he explained to ROSVUZ.

​Behind the major and formidable events of politics and economics, the upcoming reform of Russian graduate school is somewhat in the shadows. Not so many people occupy this relatively small part educational sphere- yes, maybe it doesn’t change that much. But there are some nuances here.

Graduate school, in fact, has always been “between education and science.” Between them, it will remain - the only question is “which leg” the emphasis will be stronger. "Reference point" in in this case will be the latest edition federal law on education, which came into force in 2013 and designated graduate school as the third stage of higher education.

This entailed a number of measures - first of all, to ensure adequate volume teaching hours and classes. And, I remember, the leadership of many scientific institutes, where there were graduate students and where they were considered primarily as young scientists, it turned out to be both puzzled and worried about what to do now.

And now, it seems, there will be a “tilt in the other direction” with the center of gravity still shifting “to the scientific foot.” This statement was made by the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeev. The statement was very brief - but the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences not only “put forward an initiative”, but promised to resolve the issue in the near future, since everything has already been agreed upon with the new Minister of Science and Higher Education Mikhail Kotyukov.

There are, in fact, four changes: firstly, all graduate students will be required to write a scientific paper (with which the situation is currently far from favorable). Secondly, the volume of training hours for them will be reduced - it has not yet been said how much. “Reduce the volume of pedagogy, not add a huge number of hours of lectures,” Academician Sergeev set the task.

Thirdly, the period of postgraduate study can be extended to five or six years - not for everyone, but for those who really need it to complete their scientific work. And finally, fourthly, graduate students, it seems, will be helped financially. The President of the Russian Academy of Sciences formulated it this way: “For example, it will be possible to give graduate students only to places where the leaders and institutes prove that they can provide normal salaries from the very beginning.”

The latter may have caused excitement among the educated public. Over the post-Soviet years, Russians have already become accustomed to the fact that not only can a postgraduate scholarship not be considered money at all, but they also cannot live on a scientific salary. Now this is not quite the case - but, too, depending on where. The story of the scientists' survival is complex and dramatic.

In Soviet times, a single, purposeful young scientist who did not claim any excesses could live on a postgraduate scholarship (and it was called a scholarship). Some of us, who grew up in intellectual families, remember edifying parental stories about how they had one graduate student at the research institute - a wonderful big-headed guy from poor family, from the outback. And his trousers were torn - and in order not to show them again, he sat constantly in the laboratory and in the library - and in the end he defended himself so brilliantly that he was immediately awarded a doctorate instead of a candidate.

Sometimes this happened. Another thing is that not all graduate students were so fanatically devoted to science - postgraduate age, “in its essence,” contributed to the accelerated creation of families, and those 70 Brezhnev rubles no longer solved the problem. And after 1991, all these edifications came to an end - the young scientist could not survive in any, even the most torn trousers.

However, seriously, one would expect that rectors and university professors would react negatively or, at least, warily to changes in graduate school - after all, this means a slight reduction in their “sphere of influence”, a gain for the “competing organization.” While the university community is in no hurry to speak out, some voices are already indicating that the situation is more complicated.

In a conversation with a Rosbalt correspondent, Professor of the Higher School of Economics, Academician of the Russian Academy of Education Viktor Bolotov, who has worked as Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation and head of Rosobrnadzor, and Vice-Rector of the Russian Academy, spoke in support of the “scientific shift in graduate school” national economy and public service Andrey Margolin.

“When the law on education was adopted - when, in fact, graduate school became the third level - there were a lot of disputes even then. Why do this? - said Bolotov. - IN Russian tradition level of education always gives the right to some professional activity. Question: What professional activity does completion of postgraduate study entitle you to?

Supporters latest version the law tried to answer this: they say, it gives the right to teach in higher school. “What, you can’t teach in higher education without completing graduate school? - asked Victor Bolotov. - Half of the current teachers have not completed it, and they teach excellently, especially the practical ones. The decision was made then, but the answer to this question was never given. What benefit graduate students received from the fact that graduate school was turned into the third level of higher education is still unclear.”

Therefore, according to Bolotov, “reversing this decision will not harm anything.” “True, this must be done through the law,” the agency’s interlocutor emphasized. “We need to change the law on education.”

Viktor Bolotov approved the reduction of training sessions, “schoolwork” - “because in graduate school it is necessary scientific literature read, write articles, learn to research.” It is also correct to differentiate the terms of graduate school, because, as I reminded experienced teacher, "V different industries knowledge required different quantities time to write a completed scientific text and, even if defending on articles, to create a result.” Especially in experimental sciences - physics, chemistry, where experiments last for several years, and they also need to be formalized.

The idea that not all institutions can obtain the right to postgraduate studies, but only those that can pay extra to graduate students - naturally, not just like that, but for the fact that they participate in the implementation of projects and teaching disciplines related to their scientific activities, also seems correct to the interlocutor.

“HSE research has shown that more than half of graduate students work part-time. This was also in Soviet era. And if part-time work is not related to their scientific activities, then this interferes with scientific work, defense, etc.,” said Viktor Bolotov. “When the former minister Dmitry Livanov was the rector of MISiS, he strictly set the condition that if a professor could not find a job for a graduate student related to his activities and pay decent money for living, then he would not give such a professor graduate students.”

Vice-Rector RANEPA Andrei Margolin also emphasized that “at the epicenter, of course, there should be scientific research, and not these training sessions themselves in large quantities.”

“I, frankly, support this point of view, because I do not think that graduate school as a third form of higher education was the right decision,” Margolin said. - Graduate school is about research, not about educational process. Therefore, it is still much better that graduate students have a lot of time to prepare their dissertation.”

In terms of academic activities, according to the vice-rector, graduate students most likely need some additional courses. “For example, writing articles in rating magazines is a special technology,” noted Andrei Margolin. - Working with various databases. Maybe according to the methodology of scientific research as such.”

To answer the natural question in this case - why then, not so long ago, was such a wording of the law adopted? - the answers also sounded natural for our country. “There is a principle of uncontrollability of the past,” Margolin noted. “This means that at the time the law was adjusted, a consensus emerged - supporters of graduate school as the third stage of higher education were in the majority.” Victor

Bolotov in this regard quoted famous phrase State Duma deputy Oleg Smolin: “The majority voted without regaining consciousness.”

Leonid Smirnov