Inequality in the CIS countries: regional aspect
Regional differentiation in the CIS: methodological approaches
In post Soviet period In the CIS countries, social problems have worsened, regional differences within these countries have intensified, however, as an analysis of the available literature shows, modern socio-economic differentiation in the CIS countries at the regional level has not been sufficiently studied.
Over the years, territorial development has been assessed primarily by economic indicators such as GDP, GDP per capita, industrial production indices, etc. However, the development of countries and regions includes another, no less important, and often more significant area - social. Moreover, these two spheres of life are closely related to each other, influence each other and are defined by interpenetrating concepts. At the same time, assessing the level of social development of countries and regions is complicated by many reasons, the main of which are: a huge number of indicators reflecting the level of social development, different dimensions of these characteristics, the lack unified system data collection and subjectivity in the selection of key indicators.
The most adequate picture of the social development of a region can be obtained by using as many indicators as possible, both statistical and obtained through sociological surveys. However, firstly, some indicators are closely interrelated with each other, which leads to the fact that some indicators are already indirectly taken into account in other, more comprehensive characteristics. For example, data on infant mortality are taken into account when calculating life expectancy. Secondly, when analyzing regional differentiation of social development using many indicators, it turns out that the main part of the characteristics “overlap” each other, which leads to the formation of a very large and dense middle group, and identifying patterns and causes of the current social situation is not possible.
Therefore, the Human Development Index (HDI) (or as it is also called the Human Development Index (HDI)), developed in the early 90s by the UN Development Program, was chosen as the main indicator for a comparative analysis of the level of social development. The index is calculated as the arithmetic mean between three components: indices of longevity, level of education (composed of the literacy level with a weight of 1/3 and the proportion of children aged 7-24 years studying in educational institutions of all levels, with a weight of 2/3) and per capita GDP (PPP in US dollars).
To analyze the uneven social development of the regions of the CIS countries, the largest states in terms of population, with a fractional grid of administrative-territorial divisions, were selected: Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. UNDP offices in these countries annually publish reports on human development in a regional context, which allows the study to use only official statistical data from 1996 to 2000. However, in Ukraine, in the late 90s, a new methodology for calculating the index began to be used, which led to the impossibility of adequately comparing the regions of this country with the rest over the entire period of time.
Features of economic and social transformations in the CIS countries in the 1990s
Based on the depth of the economic crisis and the pace of subsequent economic recovery, the CIS countries can be divided into several types. At the same time, the determining typological factor in the transition period was the availability of exportable natural resources and the sectoral structure of the economy that developed back in the Soviet period.
Russia and Kazakhstan had a significant decline in GDP and then relatively high rates of recovery to the pre-crisis level. These countries are better off than others natural resources, and during the transition period their economy developed due to export extractive industries, such as the fuel and energy complex and metallurgy. Maintaining the role of the state in the economies of Uzbekistan and Belarus has become main reason less economic downturn.
Moldova, Georgia and Armenia, as well as Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, felt the economic crisis most strongly, and their recovery rates are minimal or average. The share of agriculture in the structure of their economy has increased due to a strong decline in industry due to the cessation of supplies of raw materials and insignificant own mineral resources.
Azerbaijan and Ukraine occupy an intermediate position, but the reasons for this are different. Azerbaijan experienced a severe economic crisis, which was overcome in the mid-1990s. due to the commissioning of new oil fields, which led to GDP growth and increased monospecialization of the republic while maintaining a serious lag in per capita GDP indicators. Among the reasons for Ukraine's most protracted economic recession among all CIS countries are the predominance of uncompetitive heavy industry and the energy crisis. And only thanks to an increase in energy supplies, improved conditions on the global ferrous metals market, as well as structural changes in mechanical engineering and Food Industry in the late 1990s. has begun fast growth economy. The peculiarities of statistical accounting in Turkmenistan do not allow assessing the dynamics of development of this country.
In foreign economic activity Commonwealth countries in transition highest value also acquired a supply of natural resources, which made it possible to increase export volumes and provide the necessary budget revenues. Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan and, to some extent, Ukraine have such resources. Belarus occupies a special position, having a negative balance of foreign trade with its maximum focus on Russia, which ensured high growth dynamics, per capita volumes of foreign trade and the share of export-import transactions in GDP. The southern CIS countries with a predominance of the agricultural sector were in the most difficult situation, in them the import of goods significantly exceeds the export from the country, but at the same time the per capita volumes of foreign trade remain minimal.
The trends of the transition period were different. In the countries of Central Asia, degradation processes prevailed in the economy and social sphere against the backdrop of slow demographic modernization. The group of previously “middle” republics (Moldova, Transcaucasia and Kazakhstan) has become more heterogeneous in economic situation and demographic dynamics with the accelerated development of Kazakhstan. The most developed Slavic countries of the CIS, with general demographic degradation, began to differ more significantly in the level and factors of economic development.
In the CIS countries, changes occurred in the structure of the economy caused by the economic crisis of the early 1990s. The first and common to all is the structural shift towards extractive industries due to a stronger decline in the manufacturing industry, i.e. primitivization of the economy of the Commonwealth states. In the countries richest in fuel and energy resources (Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan), the share of fuel and energy sectors has grown the most. It was this sector of the economy that during the crisis period most quickly adapted to new conditions; the production and export of oil and gas provide the main income to the budgets of these countries. A similar situation is developing regionally; oil and other resource-producing regions have become the most successful and rich. Thus, in Kazakhstan, four regions with specialization in the oil industry or metallurgy account for about 60% of the country’s total exports; their per capita GRP is 2-4 times higher than the average. In the countries least rich in natural resources (Armenia, Georgia, as well as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), the economy has agrarianized, and the share of the primary sector has increased due to the industrial crisis.
Changes in the employment structure of the population differed from transformations in the sectoral structure of the economy. All CIS countries, with the exception of Turkmenistan, are characterized by a reduction in the share of people employed in industry and construction. Changes in employment in the primary sector do not correlate with the dynamics of the share of these industries in the structure of gross value added (GVA). Thus, if a reduction in employment is observed only in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, then a decrease in the contribution of these industries to GVA is typical for most countries (except for Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan). At the same time, in the most agricultural countries (Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), the share of people employed in agriculture increased by 1.5-2 times in the 1990s and exceeded half of all people employed in the economy. A similar situation has developed in the service sector. The growth in the share of services in GVA, noted for all countries without exception, does not coincide with the growth in the number of employed, which is characteristic only for the most industrialized Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, as well as for Uzbekistan.
The level of healthcare development is weakly related to population health indicators and life expectancy. The three states of Transcaucasia and Uzbekistan were distinguished by the highest life expectancy and, most importantly, its growth in the 1990s. At the same time, it was in them that the provision of the population with both medical personnel and clinics and hospitals significantly decreased. And, conversely, in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, where security indicators medical services are the highest among the CIS countries and over 10 years they have increased due to population decline, life expectancy has decreased by 3 years. This is due to an increase in mortality from external causes, especially among the working-age male population, which explains the huge difference in life expectancy between men and women. A more logical and understandable picture emerged in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova, where the characteristics of population health and health care development simultaneously deteriorated.
In most CIS countries, reforms in the education sector have begun, the share of paid forms of education has significantly increased, and the prestige of education has increased. There is a correlation between levels of education and economic development. Thus, in the most economically developed countries of the Commonwealth (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine), despite all the difficulties of the transition period, the number of students in universities has increased. And in weaker countries - Armenia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, this indicator has decreased, as the need to survive by starting work earlier comes to the fore. However, in international comparisons, where literacy rates matter most, the Commonwealth education index has remained virtually unchanged over the 1990s and has a high performance.
Based on demographic indicators, the CIS countries are clearly divided into three groups. Slavic states(Russia, Ukraine, Belarus), as well as Moldova, are distinguished by a completed demographic transition, a higher proportion of the elderly population and a decrease in the proportion of children in age structure population, as well as low life expectancy, especially among the male population. The countries of Central Asia have maintained the maximum natural increase, a higher proportion of children (over 35%), the lowest proportion of the elderly population (4-6%) and average life expectancy rates with a smaller difference between men and women, and the minimum level of urbanization for the CIS countries. In the countries of Transcaucasia and Kazakhstan, natural growth in the 1990s. has decreased significantly, although it remains positive, the transition to simple reproduction of the population has already occurred in Georgia. At the same time, all the countries of Transcaucasia are distinguished by the highest life expectancy rates among the Commonwealth states, apparently due to favorable climatic conditions.
Regional differentiation of socio-economic development
An analysis of changes in regional differentiation of socio-economic status for the period 1996-2002 showed that the polarization of the HDI and its individual components as a whole is very different from each other (see Table 1).
Table 1. Differences between the most and least developed regions by HDI components (in percentage points)
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life expectancy index |
education index |
income index |
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The maximum spread between the highest and lowest indicators is observed for income index , between 1996 and 2002 the differences between the richest and poorest regions widened even further. At the same time, for the regions of Russia during the period of crisis stagnation (1996-99), a smoothing of differences was observed, and after 1999, with the beginning of active economic growth, the difference began to increase, because Incomes in more developed regions grew faster.
The polarization value has remained virtually unchanged longevity index , it has several times less dispersion of indicators across regions than the income index.
Availability of education in the mid-1990s was characterized by an almost complete absence of polarization, but in last years There has been a tendency for regional differences to increase.
In general, the CIS countries tend to increase the difference between human development indices in the most and least developed regions.
The leading regions and the outsider regions in individual private indices generally do not coincide, and their geography has hardly changed in the second half of the 90s. According to the longevity index The regions of Uzbekistan and the republics of the North Caucasus have the highest indicators; the lowest life expectancy is typical for the most problematic territories in economic, climatic or environmental terms. In Russia, these are underdeveloped regions with an unfavorable climate - the Republic of Tyva and the northern autonomous districts, and in Kazakhstan - the Karaganda region, where the share of employees in industries with hazardous working conditions is high.
Although all regions of the countries studied show quite high the level of education , but still a group of capital and largest cities stands out (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Almaty, Kyiv, Kharkov, Tashkent). They are followed by a relatively large margin by industrialized territories, then by mining regions. The lowest rates of access to education are typical for agricultural regions, where the system of universities is not developed, and vocational education is only of local importance. In the metropolitan regions, the formally low education index is explained by the lack of their own city centers (Moscow, Leningrad, Almaty regions).
The most significant regional differentiation is in income level . During the transition period, the economic advantages of the capitals of the states under consideration, as well as the territories richest in export (primarily fuel) resources (Atyrau, Mangistau regions of Kazakhstan, Tyumen region), increased. Next in the ranking are the industrially developed centers of Kazakhstan and Russia, and the outsiders in economic development are the agricultural regions of all countries. Considering intercountry regional differentiation, it can be noted that almost all regions of Uzbekistan and the agricultural regions of Ukraine and Kazakhstan, as well as the republics of the North Caucasus, are the least economically developed.
In general, the ranking of regions by integral HDI have the same trends as the income index, since it is it that has the maximum impact. The highest indicators are primarily in the capitals, in which power, capital, scientific, educational and cultural potential are concentrated, and headquarters are located largest companies etc. High positions in terms of social development are occupied by regions richest in oil and gas. The next level includes regions with a developed processing industry - ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, some branches of mechanical engineering, and petrochemicals. Regions with the most low level economic development, as a rule, have the most pronounced agricultural specialization. Only in Russia is a group of depressed industrial regions more clearly identified . Thus, at the stage of the transition period of the second half of the 90s, the social development of the region is determined almost entirely by the economic component, which once again confirms the impossibility of considering the social and economic components of development separately.
Imbalances and imbalances between the social and economic components of the HDI
Global trends indicate synchronous development and equal influence of each component of the human development index (longevity, level of education and income) on the final HDI value, however, a different situation has been revealed in the CIS countries and their regions (see Table 2).
Table 2. Correlation coefficients between HDI and its components
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HDI correlation coefficient |
Life expectancy index |
Education level index |
Income Index |
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countries of the world |
CIS regions |
countries of the world |
CIS regions |
countries of the world |
CIS regions |
|
It is no good to forget about the republics of the former USSR: the territory of silence between Russian and “completely Western” education does not contribute to an objective view of either global higher education or specific Russian applicants. So what is the connection between universities in Moscow and Kyiv, Chisinau and Tbilisi - and what does it have to do with you personally?
Is the red flag broken?
Do we have a unified educational space today? Yes. It is united at least to the extent that a single cultural and historical space is preserved.
Once upon a time we all had a common poet number one - and today Moldova, as if nothing had happened, is holding a Pushkin festival, and the universities of Tallinn and Tartu are celebrating the birthday of the great Pushkinist of the 20th century, Yuri Lotman.
Once upon a time we had a common war number two - and now not only Kiev, but for some reason Moscow, Minsk, Chisinau and Yerevan are watching and listening via video link as the name “Great Patriotic War”, removed from the Ukrainian history books, returns from there under the former Minister of Education of Ukraine.
The USSR no longer exists, of course. However, an Azerbaijani school accidentally opens in Izhevsk, Russia. Transnistrian University (Moldova) named after Taras Shevchenko (Ukraine) holds its presentation in our State Duma (Russia, Moscow). MGIMO creates fraternities - Azerbaijani, Armenian, Belarusian, Georgian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Latvian, Moldavian, Tajik, Uzbek and Ukrainian. The Russian State University for the Humanities publishes a textbook of the Ukrainian language for the Ukrainian diasporas of Russia and the CIS. SFU, together with universities in Ukraine and Belarus, takes part in a certain MIGO program - according to it, a “techie” student can, at the same time as the main one, also receive a liberal arts education. About 100 students from neighboring countries (citizens of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine) study at the regional Cisco Networking Academy at Gomel State University (Belarus). The Moscow mayor's office sends manuals to Crimea (for school classrooms of the Russian language) and professors to conduct training for local teachers. About 200 Azerbaijanis are enrolling in Georgian universities. The French Sorbonne is launching a special course “Classics of CIS Literatures” - and here are several republics again nearby, on adjacent pages. Bloggers-teachers from Russia and Belarus share their teaching experience in an informal Internet environment. There are branches of Russian universities in the near abroad. Russian-national universities have been opened in Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The exchange of educational services between countries is supported by the work of comparing similar educational documents and academic degrees. In the field of education, multilateral international agreements are signed between the countries of the former USSR. Ministers of Education of the CIS countries meet and communicate...
So, does the USSR really no longer exist? Then where does this, as they would say in Odessa, “oil painting” come from?
To be honest, it is not always nostalgia for the former Union that is the source of joint projects or simply similar decisions. The reasons may vary. Then global trends will intervene - and then the Ukrainians will compare their independent testing with American tests, but it is painfully similar to our Unified State Examination. Then more local communities will raise their heads - and then the Kiev Slavic University will organize an Olympiad for schoolchildren from Slavic countries, in which Russians find themselves side by side with Ukrainians. The same can be said about the SCO network university, which unites Asian universities, among which there are also “once Soviet” ones.
But when in May 2010, Russian President Medvedev gives lectures to Kyiv students, and in September he becomes an honorary doctor of the Baku University, this is not perceived as a completely international action. We, consumers of this news, simply cannot help but remember the times of a united country.
The general educational space of the USSR has split, torn, cracked, but it is like a book that makes sense to carefully glue it and read it. After all, any kind of connections are possible between schools and universities in separate countries, it’s just that this is not always visible from Moscow and is not always controlled by it.
The educational space exists no matter how many people notice it. It has some general characteristics. One of the main ones is the language of interethnic communication in this space. Not English, like all over the world, but Russian.
Russian language
Many ex union republics about 20 years ago they started a movement away from the Russian language. How are things today?
The Baltic states take the toughest position. The director of the State Language Center of Latvia is categorically against talk about the possibility of allowing teaching in Russian in the country's state universities. It is possible to teach students only in the official languages of the EU, and the fact that Russian is actually the language of the UN is not a decree for Latvia. In neighboring Estonia, the number of students wishing to receive education in Russian continues to decline. Parents send their children to Estonian schools for the sake of their children’s future careers, and Russian schools are closed, although not all of them.
A similar situation occurred in Ukraine. (By the way, Russian language textbooks were published in both Latvia and Ukraine, to put it mildly, without best examples our speech. For what? Not otherwise than in order to belittle the cultural significance of the great and mighty.) However, after the recent change of power, residents of Ukraine have the right to take tests at universities, including in Russian. This will help the Russian-speaking youth of Ukraine not to confuse the terms, which are still very different in the languages of the fraternal Slavic peoples.
In Asian countries there has also been a movement towards the Russian language. In the summer, an interuniversity round table dedicated to teaching the Russian language was held at the National University of Uzbekistan in Tashkent. Perhaps the goals of this event are actually quite prosaic - to ultimately expand the access of local youth to Russian universities, but the round table diplomatically spoke about language as a means of humanization. At the same time, the Armenian parliament decided that it was time to reopen Russian schools: previously they were closed (with the exception of two throughout the country - for non-Armenians by nationality and non-citizens of Armenia). As a result, the population of Yerevan staged a protest, seeing this “expansion” as a threat Armenian language- and even demanded the resignation of the Armenian Minister of Education. Needless to say, returning the Russian language to its lost positions will not be easy.
Nevertheless, our language can even infringe on the language of a particular republic, without itself being its official state language. This is what happened in the Gagauz autonomy in Moldova: they study in Russian, which is to the detriment of the Gagauz language, one of the local languages.
Like in the mirror
Is it correct to consider a large competition for admission to a modern university to be a direct descendant of the Soviet era? Hardly. In general, the presence of common issues and trends in the educational systems of the countries of the former USSR can be explained in different ways - although Soviet habits may well be cited among other reasons. For example, Ukrainian applicants, not sensing capitalistically serious competition, delay submitting original documents to universities just like Russians. However, it would be necessary to start talking about this topic with the fact that in both countries there is a manner of delaying information about the rules for admission to the next year.
Both Russia and Georgia impose sanctions against tutors. In Russia, because “you can prepare for the Unified State Exam without tutors,” and in Georgia, tutors are of keen interest to tax authorities. Both of these reasons can be reduced to the idea of social justice, and it gained the greatest weight precisely during the Soviet era. Everything fits: tutoring itself flourished under tsarism! Although among poor students.
And on the contrary, there is a temptation to say: if only the Union with its strong education system had not collapsed, there would not have been so many “D” grades among newly minted students! Last academic year“gave” Moscow the infamous dictation with the amazing neologisms “potsient” and “cherez-chur”, and Kyiv - 64% of unsatisfactory grades for Polytechnic first-year students in physics and 53% in mathematics. And the Union really collapsed, but it’s too late to blame it.
Can't be called either anti-Soviet or pro-Soviet simple facts, similar to Russian realities: applicants to Lithuanian universities can indicate up to 12 universities in their application, to Ukrainian universities - up to 5, in Uzbekistan they are admitted based on points, and in Azerbaijan there are preferences for beneficiaries. The famous Azerbaijani beneficiary Safura Alizadeh took fifth place at Eurovision 2010 - but it is completely unclear how bourgeois Eurovision is.
In this context, much is not obvious at all. The school medal, the significance of which was canceled by both Russia and Ukraine upon admission, is something like a medal for the hard work of a worker - or is it a badge of honor for future white-collar workers? Who are the same Russia and Ukraine praising, raising today the status of bachelors, working people (socialism) - or mid-level professionals (capitalism)? Most likely, the common Soviet past of the two republics will have absolutely nothing to do with the answers to these questions. But the present in all its complexity - of course, yes. So let's look for some instructive differences.
Learning from the “younger”
Russia is traditionally “for the elders,” but this does not mean that it is automatically a teacher for the younger ones. She herself has something to learn, either from Belarus - a European outcast, or from Georgia - a recent ardent enemy; and not only from them. At the very least, this will give a chance to reflect on other people's experiences and not perceive your practice as the only possible one. In general, arrogance is at least unscientific.
Since September 1, in all schools of Georgia, on the initiative of its president, teachers from English-speaking countries have been working as English teachers. It is obvious that thanks to this, children will speak English earlier. Whereas Russia, until recently, limited the opportunity for foreign teachers to work in our universities - accordingly, the period when students could begin to speak the “language” of world science was postponed to the future.
In Belarus, non-state universities operated for less than 10 years, they were closed or pushed out of the country: for example, the European Humanities University, which previously taught students in Minsk, is now forced to do so in neighboring Vilnius. Stifling the initiative of enthusiastic teachers with their own vision of education is, of course, not good. However, Belarus, which behaves harshly, is not concerned today, like Russia, with the large-scale problem of closing “pseudo-universities”; applicants from Vitebsk and Mogilev can be afraid of anything - but not that “their university will be closed.”
While Russia is developing a college system - which is generally not in line with the idea of complete general secondary education - Tajikistan is gradually moving to 12-year secondary education, and in Lithuania the issue of introducing a 13-year secondary education system is being actively discussed. But we see that we should not perceive any trend as the only one that is precisely justified and the main one.
Not being the center of the world is sometimes useful. Given the well-known dislike for Moscow, most Russians expect Moscow universities to conquer world rankings, but in fact, universities in the “periphery” should not relax: they have every chance. After all, in the same Lithuania, it was not Vilnius university that got into the international Webometrix ranking, but Kaunas University of Technology.
And again Lithuania: this year for the first time they applied to universities over the Internet, there was a computer failure - this is exactly the case when we need to learn from other people’s mistakes in order to avoid our own: having gone wrong, the system did not remain idle, but sent out SMS messages to applicants - ki that they didn’t arrive anywhere. The Vice Minister of Education even apologized for this later.
And it’s especially interesting to watch Ukraine: its differences with Russia always give rise to reflection. Ukraine teaches you to choose not social studies, but history and mathematics at the final testing; she will make math tests multi-level; she organizes testing for night owls - at 11 am; she restored the benefit to graduates of preparatory departments; she plans to put the issue of increasing enrollment in the specialty or opening a new faculty at least to a vote of the regional councils; it provides a more humanitarian set of disciplines required for admission than ours; its applicants are massively interested in the specialty “Transport Technologies”. Ukraine also reminds us of tricks from the general Soviet past: it was then that the so-called “average score for the certificate” was in effect, and now in Russia this has been forgotten, but in the fraternal republic it is just relevant. As a result, the guys are forced to pick up “extra” items, and they report that sales of cool magazine forms have strangely increased: do you need spare ones? But it is possible that the level of knowledge of the average applicant will also increase.
The world didn't converge like a wedge
Having observed the educational migration of descendants Soviet people, you will see that it is no less entertaining than, raising your eyes to the sky, studying the rather complex topic of bird migration in zoology. Birds do not have to fly to warmer climes! Birds are different - synanthropes, sedentary, semi-sedentary, nomadic and migratory... In the same way, the idea that Russians are eager to study in Moscow or at universities in the UK, France, Germany or the USA, and willingly take their student places in Russia, Let's say, Ukrainians, rather superficially.
There is no doubt that, due to the demographic decline, our country will expand the admission of children from the CIS to state-funded places, and almost on the same basis as Russian graduates (almost - because sometimes your competitors from neighboring countries, in addition to the application, also need to write a motivation letter) . It is already becoming a trend that under these conditions, young Estonians, for example, often choose Moscow student cards and St. Petersburg student records. The route they “fly” is also known (each republic has its own): our northwestern neighbors act through the Tallinn Pushkin Institute as an intermediary of the Russian Embassy.
But Ukrainians, despite the fact that even the bilateral practice of mutual provision of budget places is being established, go not only to Russia, but also, like us, look at the UK and Canada. And, of course, it should be mentioned that Ukrainian students, just like ours, are selected to study in Europe as part of the Erasmus Mundus program.
In general, options are possible here too: Azerbaijanis, not wanting to exchange blooming, sunny Baku with pomegranate trees on its streets for the fogs of Albion, nevertheless receive a double diploma - Azerbaijani-British. This opportunity opens up for them as a result of an agreement between the Azerbaijan University of Languages and the University of Essex.
And Moldovans generally behave in the least standard way. They even go to China to get diplomas: this country invites Moldovans to study and gives scholarships. Everything is serious: first, during the year, the fellow passes preparatory Course on studying Chinese language, students are selected by competition.
The post-Soviet educational space exists. It comes into contact with the educational space of the whole world - and can no longer be a terra incognita for us.
It is generally accepted that the level of higher education in the CIS countries does not correspond to the level of education of the “Soviet years”. EditorialSNG. TODAY, does not implore the merits of Soviet higher education, but, nevertheless, I decided to figure out what level higher education was at that time and what is happening to CIS universities today.
USSR universities were divided into Institutes and Universities; their total number in the mid-80s of the last century, in fact the end of the union, was approximately 600. Institutes specialized in training technical specialists. Universities were responsible for training specialists in the humanities. Higher school was also a place for science; many inventions and scientific works were born precisely on the research base of Soviet universities. Among the global merits of Soviet higher education is the system of correspondence education, which was first introduced in the USSR. According to open resource data "Statistics of Russian education" in the USSR from the 70s to the 90s, more than 10% of the population of the Union received higher education.
Today, more than 2,500 thousand higher educational institutions operate in the CIS countries; the real figures, taking into account all branches of all universities of the Commonwealth, unfortunately cannot be calculated. Bigger is not always better. Let's try to figure out which CIS country has the most universities, where the most people with higher education are, and what rules the Higher School in the CIS lives by.
A real boom in higher education, in terms of the scale of the opening of new universities and branches of old ones in Russian Federation in the 90s and early 2000s it is amazing. Today the country is pursuing a policy of downsizing and consolidating universities. On the basis of leading universities in Russian regions, 10 Federal Universities were created, which included about 40 universities. Rosobrnadzor of the Russian Federation is waging a real fight against the dominance of educational institutions of dubious level. From the beginning of 2014 to March 2016, the number of accredited educational institutions in the country was reduced by almost half from 2448 to 1450. Perhaps due to the dominance of universities in the country mediocre According to the 2010 census, every fourth adult resident of Russia described themselves as having a higher education. If we talk about the level of education in Russia, it is quite high; confirmation of this thesis can be found in the ranking of universities in the CIS countries prepared by the rating agency RAEX (Expert RA) in 2014.
“A” - exceptionally high level of graduates’ training;
“B” - very high level of graduates’ training;
“C” - high level of graduates’ training;
“D” - acceptable level of graduates’ training;
“E” - sufficient level of training of graduates.
Russian universities took 95 places in the ranking. At the same time, only Moscow was awarded the highest rating “A” State University them. M. V. Lomonosov. The high level of Russian education is also valued by foreign students; according to data for 2016, 5% of the total number of students in Russia were foreigners, which is more than 240 thousand people.
The boom in the growth of universities and Ukraine. The country met its independence with 149 higher education institutions. At the end of 2015, there were 520 state-owned universities and 144 private ones in the country. Of this scattering of universities, only 33 were included in the “Expert RA” rating. The highest place in the ranking (2nd place in group “B”) was taken by the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev. There are no exact data on the number of Ukrainian residents with higher education; the last census in the country was conducted 16 years ago in 2001. However, given that the number of people annually entering universities in the country exceeds the number of people graduating from school, we can assume that this figure is comparable to the level of education in Russia, and maybe even exceeds it. Thus, according to the European social research, in 2010, the percentage of people in the group from 25 to 39 years old with higher education in Ukraine exceeded 40%.
Kiev National University named after T. Shevchenko / Photo source: univ.kiev.uaMore than 63 thousand foreign students have chosen higher education in Ukraine, a third of them are residents of commonwealth countries. Foreigners say that the main advantage when choosing Ukrainian universities is the opportunity to get an education in Russian at a more affordable price than in Russia.
Belarus with its 55 functioning universities at the end of 2016, it seems to be a country that has been spared the problem of the growth of universities with a low level of training. This statement can be considered true, given that in the 80-90s of the last century there were about 30 universities in the Belarusian SSR. Of the 55 universities, 45 are universities with state form property and 10 private universities. Universities in the country are strictly structured by classes and levels, for example, the country has two leading universities in national system education is the Belarusian State University, which took first place in group “B” of the Expert RA rating, and the Academy of Management under the President of the Republic of Belarus, which did not find its place in the ranking. Total number There are 10 universities in the Republic of Belarus in the above-mentioned ranking. The status of a leading university is a title secured by law; among specialized universities there is one leading one. Higher education for Belarusians who graduated from school during the years of independence has actually become an obligatory stage of life; almost every young person after school enters a university. According to this indicator, Belarus is among the world leaders - 91.5%, the country is second only to Finland, the USA and South Korea.
And in terms of the number of students per 10,000 inhabitants, Belarus is the leader among the CIS countries, there are 417 of them in the country, for example, in Russia there are only 394 students.
If in Belarus non-state universities are a rarity, then in Kazakhstan on the contrary, there are even more of them than state ones. Of the 127 universities in the country, 72 are private universities. Kazakhstan is one of the first CIS countries to bring its system into line with the Bologna process. Already in 1994, the State Standard of Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan was approved, which for the first time determined the introduction of a multi-level structure of higher education in the country, academic degrees of bachelors and masters. Today, more than half of school graduates in the country become applicants every year, and the state pays for the education of 30% of applicants. Many former schoolchildren choose to study abroad; according to UNESCO, 48,875 residents of Kazakhstan receive higher education outside their own country. According to statistics, at the beginning of the 2015-2016 academic year, the total number of students in Kazakhstan was 459,369 people. 10.4 thousand foreign students chose to study in Kazakhstan. Most of the students came from Uzbekistan, China, Russia, and Mongolia. Of the 127 universities in the country, 9 educational institutions are mentioned in the Expert RA rating. The highest place in the ranking was taken by the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, which was ranked 5th among universities in class “C” with a high level of graduate training.
Uzbekistan after gaining independence, it had 42 universities on its territory and, unlike many CIS countries, did not experience the rapid growth of new educational institutions. The situation with higher education in Uzbekistan developed according to a different scenario. Many large universities the country was disaggregated. Thus, 3 universities were opened on the basis of the Tashkent Polytechnic Institute, and two new educational institutions were established on the basis of the Tashkent Institute of National Economy. Through such management, today Uzbekistan trains specialists with higher education in 59 universities throughout the country. A peculiarity of education in Uzbekistan can be called the direction of preparation for which applicants choose.
Upon admission, if in the overwhelming percentage of cases in the countries already surveyed, schoolchildren enroll in legal or economic specialties, then 50% of graduates of Uzbek universities are teachers. Due to the rapid growth of the country's economy and the increase in the structure of Uzbekistan's GDP in the service sector and the decrease in the share of agriculture, the education system has developed not meeting the market demands for personnel graduating from the country's universities. Higher education is not widespread in the country. In the 2016/2017 academic years, the admission plan for bachelor's degrees, approved by a presidential decree, was 57,907 people, and for master's degrees - 5,000, a total of 62,907 people. At the same time, more than 500 thousand people graduated from school in the same year. The average competition in the country's universities was 12 people per place. The higher education system of Uzbekistan has also found its place in the “Expert RA” rating, two universities took their places in class “D” this - National University Uzbekistan named after M. Ulugbek and Samarkand Agricultural Institute.
Another strange thing in the ranking with two universities is Moldova. The International Independent University of Moldova and the Moldavian Academy of Economics, as well as universities in Uzbekistan, are located in class “D”. Higher education in Moldova lives in the European spirit, like the rest of the country, which has been moving towards European integration for a long time. The country is part of the Bologna process, after 4 years of study you will receive a licentiate diploma (not a bachelor's degree), and after graduating, you will become a master's degree for another two years. There are 29 universities in the country, 16 of which are state-owned.
Moldavian Economic Academy/photo source:ase.md
The number of students receiving education in the country, according to official statistics over the past 5 years, has decreased by 30 percent to 75 thousand people. Foreign students also choose to study according to European standards in Moldova every year; now there are more than 4 thousand of them. The majority of visiting students - 2300 - are educated at the State University of Medicine and Pharmacology. Moldova, as a country for higher education, is chosen mainly by applicants from Israel, Romania, Ukraine, Turkey and India.
There are problem areas in higher education as well. Kyrgyzstan. The country delayed the transition to a two-level education system and became a participant in the Bologna process only in September 2012. You can get higher education in the Republic of Kazakhstan at 54 universities in the country, which annually graduate about 240 thousand certified specialists, the lion's share (90%) of whom cannot find employment in their specialty after studying. Among the obvious problems of higher education in the Kyrgyz Republic, in addition to the dominance of universities, one can name a shortage of personnel, only 10% of teachers have an academic degree and low salaries of teachers. Of the 153 universities included in the ranking of CIS universities, prepared by Expert RA, only one university represents Kyrgyzstan - the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, located in the middle, class “D” of the rating.
Another strange one included in the list of the “Expert RA” rating with one university is Azerbaijan. Baku State University is a leader in class “D” rating. Education in Azerbaijan pays a lot of attention, especially financial. The country gives second place to education in the structure of its budget, losing first place to the army. Universities in Azerbaijan are 49 educational institutions that train specialists in the two-level Bologna system and are ready to accept foreign students. Education at universities in Azerbaijan is conducted in three languages: Azerbaijani, Russian and English.
Baku State University/photo source: kavkaznews.az
And for foreign students who have demonstrated academic success, a presidential scholarship of 800 US dollars is expected; by the way, the cost of a year of study at universities in this country varies from 700-1000 dollars.
In the next Armenia There are about 68 universities and branches, where students are offered education also within the framework of the Bologna system. Although the country's universities are not included in the rankings of the best universities in the CIS countries, educational institutions such as Yerevan State University, the American University of Armenia and the Russian-Armenian (Slavic) University cannot be mentioned. All three universities were shortlisted by Webometrics, a system of ranking world universities based on a combined metric that takes into account both the volume of web content (number of pages and files) and the visible impact of these publications in terms of the number of external citations. Foreign students also choose Armenia as a country for higher education; according to the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia, in 2016, 3,638 students from 35 countries studied in the country. Most of them came to study from Georgia (1545), Russia (1181) and Syria (489).
Tajikistan- a country in which 39 universities operate, which also became a participant in the Bologna process. Higher education in the Republic of Tajikistan suffers from a discrepancy with the demands of the labor market in the country. There is a shortage in Tajikistan teaching staff. Thus, according to data for the 2015–2016 academic year, education departments of the Republic of Tatarstan submitted 3,715 applications regarding the shortage of specialists. They are trying to solve the problem of shortage of personnel in the republic by training students abroad (mainly in Russia). Among the universities of the country, the same Webometrics notes the Tajik Technical University, Khujand State University named after Academician B. Gafurov and the Russian-Tajik (Slavic) University. The editors of the site, for their part, would note that branches of Russian universities operate in the country, namely, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Moscow Energy Institute and National Research Technological University "MISiS".
The country that covered our review was Turkmenistan, country with unique system education. The fact is that there are no private universities in this country and, accordingly, there was no artificial surplus in the higher education market. The level of development of the country has made it possible to increase the intellectual potential of the country at the expense of applicants. When leaving universities, former students do not have problems finding work. Universities of Turkmenistan allow their students to choose their future specialty from a wide range of areas of study. And it is constantly updated with new, modern and relevant professions that are in demand in the labor market.
A large number of students from Turkmenistan receive education abroad, about 55 thousand people, thereby increasing the overall level of training of specialists at the country’s enterprises to the world level.
To summarize our review, we can highlight common problems problems faced by Commonwealth countries after independence. The education system in the USSR, although it evokes nostalgic feelings among the majority of citizens of the CIS, nevertheless left behind a number of problems that required immediate solutions by the young states. Among them, it is not possible to single out the unpreparedness of universities for the needs of the changing labor market, the lack of coverage of demanded higher education among the broad masses of the population in the CIS countries and, as a consequence, the lack of qualified personnel to train university graduates. And probably the main problem- this is the path of higher education in the USSR, the integration of countries into the two-level Bologna education system is a real headache for all ministries of education in the CIS countries.
Education in the countries of the world differs in many factors: the pedagogical system, the form of the educational process, the means that people invest in learning. depends on general level development of the state. Different countries have their own educational systems.
When it comes to studying abroad, many different countries and universities come to mind. The level of quality of education depends on many things, from funding to the structure of education.
It is interesting to note how the students themselves made the choice. It was calculated how popular foreign countries are among foreigners. Germany and England occupy the leading positions, while Poland closes the ranking.
Charles University in Prague is the most prestigious higher education educational institution in the Czech Republic, the oldest university in Central Europe
Higher education in Europe for foreigners is much cheaper than in the USA and Canada. The cost of one semester at a European university starts from 726 euros. Universities in Denmark, Sweden, France and Germany are considered the most prestigious.
In almost every European country you can find at least one program where training is conducted in English. This option is suitable for those who do not want or do not have the opportunity to learn a new language.
You can enroll in a European university immediately after school and with a minimum set of documents. Usually they require you to provide a certificate (or diploma), a certificate confirming your language proficiency level and a motivation letter.
After graduating from university in Europe, all international students are allowed to stay in the country for some time to look for work and find employment.
In 2019, the most prestigious universities in Europe are:
- Oxford and Cambridge. These are two of the most popular English universities that young people from all over the world dream of enrolling in. Tuition fees at these universities range from 25,000 to 40,000 pounds.
Cambridge University is a UK university, one of the oldest (second after Oxford) and largest in the country
- Technical Institute in Zurich. Tuition fees for this moment is 580 francs, but starting in 2019 prices are expected to increase.
- Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. One of the most popular universities in Germany, which has programs in both German and English.
- University in Helsinki. This university was once free for everyone, but became fee-paying in 2017. The cost of one year at this university starts from 10,000 euros. This university offers programs in Finnish and English.
Technical University of Munich - Technische Universität München - one of the largest German universities and the most prestigious institution of higher education in the eastern part of Germany
When it comes to grants to study in Europe, the most popular option is participation in the Erasmus program. This program aims to exchange students from partner universities. The program covers all expenses for staying at a foreign university.
Higher education in the USA
In the United States of America, education is one of the most expensive in the world. One year at an American university will cost at least $35,000. Prospective students can apply for grants or scholarships, but some only cover part of the cost.
Americans themselves are not happy with the cost of education: students and university graduates complain that after graduation they have to pay off their debt for several more years.
Also, do not forget that in addition to paying for tuition, a student in the USA has other costs - for an apartment, food and health insurance, it costs from $8,000 to $12,000 per year.
The most prestigious universities in America are:
- Stanford. Tuition fees start at $15,000 per year and depend on the chosen program, as well as the degree of study - bachelor's, master's or doctorate.
- MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This technical university known all over the world not only high level education, but also a large number lectures in the public domain. But the cost of education is not so affordable - from $25,000 per year.
- Institute of Technology in California. The cost of one year of university education is about $50,000.
- Harvard. One of the most expensive options, studying for a foreigner will cost from $55,000 per year.
List of famous universities in the USA
Today, this problem is very acute in the territory. The transition from one system to another turned out to be painful for almost all areas of life: economic, political, medical, and, including educational. Some reforms were undertaken by the authorities of these states, however, most of them turned out to be ineffective. This happened because educational problems were formed under the influence of many factors, and in order to improve the state of this area, an integrated approach is needed, which few people are ready to take seriously various reasons: ranging from lack of interest to basic inability.
The problems of modern education currently concern mainly only a layer of intellectuals and researchers who work directly in this area and feel very acutely all its shortcomings. There is also a small part of students, graduates, and an even smaller part of applicants, who have already been affected by educational reforms and the quality of teaching that are far from ideal. As you know, only those for whom it is a real problem can solve any problem (even the most complex one), and since the interested parties do not have a number of powers, and those who by and large do not need it do, the educational sphere has been abandoned. Indeed, sometimes minimal attempts are made to change something in it, but their quality and general superficial approach suggest that only the appearance of a desire to change something is created.
Problems of education: narrow specialization
Here we encounter a contradiction between narrow specialization and wide range industries in every profession. Universities offer a number of specialties that are, in fact, very vague: psychologists, managers, lawyers, economists, and so on. The labor market focuses on narrower specializations, but young specialists are not prepared for specific sectors and are rather vaguely familiar with them due to the predominance of general education subjects in the list of disciplines studied. So, it turns out that the whole world is striving to live in a modern Western manner (the need for specialists of a narrow profile), and educational services are morally outdated, people with a wide profile of skills are being graduated.
This can also include professions: there is a catastrophic shortage of people in working professions, at a time when crowds of lawyers and economists, of whom there is already a surplus, are annually released onto the streets. And few people make efforts to balance this flow.
Problems of education: economic component
Financing is one of the most painful topics, certainly not only in the educational sphere. This shows the low quality of education that, unfortunately, many universities can offer. In metropolitan and major cities This is not a big concern, but in smaller centers there is a regular outflow of specialists due to poor funding. Basically, the problem lies precisely in low salaries, which force talented people to leave teaching and scientific activity and devote yourself to another field.
However, some of them still remain, and they are very valuable employees who produce good specialists.
Educational Issues: Cultural Trends
There is also currently a problem of cultural development of society. Under the influence of various factors, most young people are not interested in getting an education; they need tangible evidence that they have mastered a certain profession, more than knowledge and skills. This also does not improve the overall educational picture; some kind of propaganda of the value of knowledge and skills that are useful to the whole society is probably necessary. The media made a big contribution to this: the systematic broadcast of base values and stupid examples of behavior, as well as an infantile attitude to life, realized its educational function in a negative way.
Thus, the problems of education have been grouped into one global problem, which is difficult to eliminate, but possible. At the same time, shifting all responsibility to government managers is too naive: the problems of society should be solved by the same society, or at least with its participation, and not by individual elite groups. Everyone must take the first step by forming a conscious attitude towards what surrounds them.
