Rector of SPbU at the State Duma: public property of universities should be open to everyone

Rector of St Petersburg University noted that entry of the Russian Federation into the Bologna process was aimed at integration of the Russian higher education into the global educational space. However, he emphasized that creation of unified high quality educational space in Russia is and was one of the important goals today.

Unity, above all, is an equality of opportunities for students regardless of the chosen university, its size, location or specialisation.

Rector of St Petersburg University Nikolay Kropachev

‘Now we may see inequality of resources, including inequality of human resources, infrastructure resources, information resources, etc. Hence, this results in diametrically opposed levels of graduates’ training and their learning outcomes, in formal compliance with statutory requirements on one side, and graduates’ and employers’ dissatisfaction with these results on the other side’, said Nikolay Kropachev.

The Rector of SPbU believes that open access to resources developed by universities at the expense of the budget for all academic staff and students of universities is the most important step toward creation of unified high quality educational system. He explained that resources of educational institutions are what developed or purchased by these organisations at the expense of the budget (research equipment, software, online courses, infrastructure, etc.), and they should be open to the students and staff of all state universities. Furthermore, public access should be provided in accordance with the federal law regulations, Nikolay Kropachev noted.

‘Public property should be available for everyone, and the access should be granted in compliance with the federal regulations. By now, St Petersburg University Research Park has equipment for an overall amount of more than 7 billion roubles, and it is open for all Russian civil service employees. This principle should be imposed all over the country. Let’s elaborate these federal regulations’, stressed Rector of SPbU.

In 2014 St Petersburg University provided open access to the Research Park facilities (the total cost of the equipment is over 7,5 billion rubles, and the total area is over 30 thousand kilometres) for all civil service employees. Regulations on open access to Research Park were developed by St Petersburg University. They are available to the public.

The Rector also reminded about Vernadsky (Lomonosov Moscow State University) and Mendeleev (SPbU) research and educational cluster programmes, participants of which are granted with an access to resources of Russia’s largest universities. The Mendeleev programme involves partners and participants from about 20 regions of the country, including national research and federal universities. Every participant of the cluster programme has an opportunity to use research, educational, digital infrastructure, expert resources of SPbU to achieve sustainable development goals of any region.

Nikolay Kropachev also proposed to strengthen the role of employers and professional communities in learning control system. The Rector gave an example of judicial selection, in which it is not enough to have only a degree in law to become a judge.

Now we have a civil society that can monitor the quality of education. Journalists, dentists, psychologists and other professional communities should be allowed to assessment of graduates’ work readiness.

Rector of SPbU Nikolay Kropachev

Rector of St Petersburg University noted that it is necessary to revise one of the basic concepts, right to education concept, for further development of Russian educational system. Among other things, it should be taken into account that the right to education is not only the right to access education but also the right to receive an education of good quality. In this regard, it is critically important to shift away from understanding education as a service. The right to education should not be associated with «carrying-out of work (provision of services)» formula, the Rector said. Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin pointed out that this initiative of Rector of SPbU was supported by members of the Federal Assembly.

During the State Duma’s parliamentary sessions Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Victor Sadovnichy, Rector of Lomonosov Moscow State University, heads of Russian leading universities, leaders of political factions also have made their suggestions.