The Bologna Process for Russian Higher Education

Abstract

This article analyzes the validity of persistent claims in Russia about the consequences of ratifying the Bologna Declaration that turned out to be myths, and presents the actual situation in this field and ways of reforming the domestic system of higher education under the parameters of the Bologna Process.

Keywords:

• Bologna Declaration
• Bologna Process
• higher education reform

Notes

1. In Russia, this consists of thirty-six academic hours (twenty-seven astronomical hours) drawn from lectures, seminars, homework, and so on.

2. Even longer in certain cases, like medicine (six years plus residency/internship).

3. The colorful videos of illiterate graduates who do not know that Erich Maria Remarque was a man, that Lermontov fought a duel with Martynov, that the Volga flows into the Caspian Sea, and so forth prove nothing at all. Their function is to create a necessary emotional background. We could draw the opposite conclusions with the same success watching “Umniki i umnitsy” (Clever Boys and Girls). The reason these conclusions are incorrect is that the samples are unrepresentative (8).

4. This issue is just as debatable, but a fact remains a fact: Moscow State University has the best result at 108th place.

5. Similarly, as Belarusian and Ukrainian belong to the Slavic group, Russian students learn them more easily than English or French students. This is especially evident in border regions.

6. According to Paragraph 3, Article 69, of law no. 273-FZ “On Education in the Russian Federation” of December 29, 2012, “master’s programs are open to persons with higher education of any level.”

7. For example, this author finds it difficult to enter a master’s program at Novosibirsk State University in the fields of “Mechanics and Mathematical Modeling” or “Physics.”

8. Quoted from the Lisbon Convention of April 11, 1997.

9. Among these, the author would include disciplines taught in one of the capital’s leading universities: “Foundations of the Social State,” “The Human Model in Economic Science,” and several others. Similar information is often contained in different disciplines, as well; for example, “Strategic Financial Management,” “Financial Management,” and so on. We should not allow courses to overlap and artificially “inflate” the program.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Iu.S. Ezrokh

Iu.S. Ezrokh is a candidate of economic science at the Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management.