Home – Home – Jornals – "Philosophy of Education" 2014 number 2

The reforms that took place in the Russian society at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries, had the strongest influence on the system of domestic education. As a result of breaking up the old traditions, the system of domestic education, which used to be a system-forming institute, forming the country's citizens, into an ordinary service.Significant budget cuts led to the fact that higher education institutions found themselves on the brink of survival and were forced to increase the number of «pay students». This policy has led to a decrease in the level of quality training and overproduction of the graduates. The number of places for students in higher education institutions has exceeded the number of high school graduates, which led to the lack of competitive selection for various professions in some universities. Accordingly, the lack of competition among applicants has led to a decrease in quality training of the high school graduates. To solve the problems, there is needed a comprehensive approach to education reform, which takes into account not only the interests of the middle and high schools, but also Russian society as a whole. It is necessary to conduct a thorough expert evaluation of universities and calculate the risks by engaging highly trained specialists from among the representatives of the Russian scientific and educational community. One of the main criteria for assessing the success of higher education should be the level of demand for the graduate in the labor market. The results of the balanced, serious, careful analysis of the effectiveness, conducted by leading experts, will optimize the system of higher education by reducing the number of ineffective institutions. In turn, the reduction in the number of universities and admission criteria revision of entrance examinations may, on one hand, lead to increased competition among applicants and will raise the level of training of graduates of secondary schools; and, on the other hand, universities will be able to select potential students really aimed at further training, not only to receive the diploma. Besides, the budget, released as a result of cuts, can be directed to the revival of the network of specialized secondary and vocational education, which will allow raising the general (basic) literacy of the society. Such measures may have a positive impact on improving the level of training of highly qualified personnel in Russia, which is a prerequisite for effective modernization in the formation of the knowledge-based economy.