As an American living in Russia, there was one question that frustrated me more than any other: “Кто вы по образованию?” // “What do you do?” It’s a seemingly harmless inquiry, and a normal thing to ask of someone you have just met, but the question directly translated means something more along the lines of “What were you TRAINED to do?” (literally, “Who are you, by education?”). As a 20-something graduate of a private liberal-arts college in the United States, it was nearly impossible to answer.
For the academic year of 2012-2013, I was awarded Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in the Department of American Studies at Irkutsk State Linguistic University. It seemed logical to label myself as a language teacher, but even with two years of teaching experience, I couldn't be taken seriously since I did not earn a degree in language pedagogy. Arguments against liberal arts aside, The Russian System of Higher Education has been lagging behind the West in that until 2010, all students entering University enrolled in what is called a “Specialist” degree program, for which they studied for five years and had little to no flexibility in their class schedules. If a student enrolls in a University for a Specialist degree in Accounting, for instance, chances are that every class they take will be fixed, and directly related to the profession of accounting. The specialist degree was what gave you the license to work in that field: Therefore, whoever you were "by education" was, theoretically, the only professional thing you could really do --- and thus became a huge part of one's identity.
This structure was preserved from the Soviet Union, and was meant to produce a specific number of professionals to fulfill the social need in each field. When the Soviet Union collapsed, however, universities across Russia doubled their enrollment as they began accepting paying students. Suddenly everyone wanted to become a “Specialist” while the demand for professionals couldn’t keep up. Many people I met in Russia were trained as psychologists, sociologists, or even medical doctors, and have ended up in service positions, or simply unemployed --- but they all still identified themselves according to their Specialist degree.
In a recent article posted by Times Higher Education, the Russian shift to the more universal 4-year B.A. + 2-year M.A. structure is praised as a step in the right direction, although admittedly latecoming. Similar reforms have succeeded in China, which instituted its changes in the early '90s. Russia hopes to follow by their example and attract a greater foreign student body, essentially turning Higher Education into a business that can pull revenue into Russian HEIs for improving their programs and thus increasing their international rankings, which is their overarching goal:
"Only in 2012 did the Russian government pledge to resolve this issue, pledging to ensure that five Russian universities are ranked in the top 100 in the world by 2020." - Times Higher Education
The goal is ambitious, but not unattainable. Time will tell whether through the streamlining of higher education and reorganization of professional programs offered in Russian universities can attract foreign investment to what could now be considered a Market of Higher Education.
For the academic year of 2012-2013, I was awarded Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in the Department of American Studies at Irkutsk State Linguistic University. It seemed logical to label myself as a language teacher, but even with two years of teaching experience, I couldn't be taken seriously since I did not earn a degree in language pedagogy. Arguments against liberal arts aside, The Russian System of Higher Education has been lagging behind the West in that until 2010, all students entering University enrolled in what is called a “Specialist” degree program, for which they studied for five years and had little to no flexibility in their class schedules. If a student enrolls in a University for a Specialist degree in Accounting, for instance, chances are that every class they take will be fixed, and directly related to the profession of accounting. The specialist degree was what gave you the license to work in that field: Therefore, whoever you were "by education" was, theoretically, the only professional thing you could really do --- and thus became a huge part of one's identity.
This structure was preserved from the Soviet Union, and was meant to produce a specific number of professionals to fulfill the social need in each field. When the Soviet Union collapsed, however, universities across Russia doubled their enrollment as they began accepting paying students. Suddenly everyone wanted to become a “Specialist” while the demand for professionals couldn’t keep up. Many people I met in Russia were trained as psychologists, sociologists, or even medical doctors, and have ended up in service positions, or simply unemployed --- but they all still identified themselves according to their Specialist degree.
In a recent article posted by Times Higher Education, the Russian shift to the more universal 4-year B.A. + 2-year M.A. structure is praised as a step in the right direction, although admittedly latecoming. Similar reforms have succeeded in China, which instituted its changes in the early '90s. Russia hopes to follow by their example and attract a greater foreign student body, essentially turning Higher Education into a business that can pull revenue into Russian HEIs for improving their programs and thus increasing their international rankings, which is their overarching goal:
"Only in 2012 did the Russian government pledge to resolve this issue, pledging to ensure that five Russian universities are ranked in the top 100 in the world by 2020." - Times Higher Education
The goal is ambitious, but not unattainable. Time will tell whether through the streamlining of higher education and reorganization of professional programs offered in Russian universities can attract foreign investment to what could now be considered a Market of Higher Education.
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