VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
“Education and science should become top budgetary priorities. We are well aware that these two areas define the intellectual and technical strength of Russia and the quality of our human capital. Approaches to developing the long-term fundamental research programme will be improved. This programme should combine work performed at state-run academies of sciences, research centres and institutes of higher education. This programme should focus on those designs that will help Russia become a technically and scientifically advanced country.”
“Today we will be discussing the establishment of the organising committee of the Moscow International Innovative Development Forum, which will be held later this year. The responsibility for this mission lies with the Moscow City Hall, business associations and the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This is a good initiative and one we can support.”
“We should convert to a modern logic of state allocations for the development of science cities, replacing per capita funding with project collaboration. I believe that budget allocations should be granted to projects that win tenders, and to practical programmes for the comprehensive development of the research and production centres and infrastructure of science cities. These programmes are to be drafted by the municipalities with the assistance of leading academic specialists and businessmen.”
“The crucial task of these projects should be the commercial application of research results and the production of goods based on modern Russian technology. Only in this way can the investment by the government and business be fully justified. Moreover, the status of science cities should be reaffirmed on a regular basis, say every 10 years. Such regular audits would allow us to objectively assess the development standards and prospects of the science cities, thereby creating an incentive for their further development.”
“There’s one more issue concerning the approval of the document that will underlie the activities of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property. Allow me to emphasise that in addition to contractors hired under government R&D contracts, the service will supervise and oversee government customers in order to avoid a situation where funds intended for research and design activities are being disbursed just for the sake of being disbursed without much to show for it in terms of actual intellectual products.”
“As you know, we have been introducing a system of grants for researchers and instructors. One such programme is called Megagrants, under which a grant of up to 150 million roubles is given to an individual researcher, as opposed to a university or a research institute. <…> So, the idea is to establish a similar grants programme for young instructors and researchers so that our young and talented specialists can work at universities across Russia.”
“We have allocated additional federal funds, 120 billion rubles, to modernise education in 2011-2013. We have also agreed with the regional governments that they will provide co-financing for this project. Especially, rural schools will receive twice the financing, which will help rapidly develop a network of effective rural schools across Russia, provide rural residents with education services that meet modern standards.”
“We have significantly increased government spending on education and schools nationwide, and are changing the very principle of financing: funding follows the student now, which means that the government in fact places an order for educating each student. Schools enjoy greater independence but have a bigger responsibility.”
“The standards of educational culture and the integrity of the educational environment are key indicators of our societal priorities, and which determine our national identity and perspective. The preservation of the common educational space is a crucial condition for the preservation of Russia, a guarantee of civil, ethnic and inter-faith cooperation.”
“Investment in education will be our key budget priority. Not only does education mean that we are training a workforce for the economy, it is also a crucial factor in the social development of society, one that shapes our values and unites us. In this sense, the role of education is inextricable with that of culture.”
“The demands on education keep growing. While modernising our schools and introducing new approaches and educational technologies, we must also preserve the advantages and undeniable achievements of the Russian system of education, including its fundamental nature.”
“We must establish basic order within the system of higher education. There is a large number of higher educational institutions on the market (including state-run universities) that are in direct violation of the human right to receive good-quality knowledge. Rosobrnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Education and Science) has been ineffective in this respect. I suggest that between 2012 and 2014 our leading universities, with the help of scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences and international experts, conduct an audit of all higher professional education curricula.”
“We will continue improving the Unified State Examination system. <…> This system should be revised both in terms of methodology and organisation. Independent public observers should monitor the process to avoid abuses and distortion of results, while at the same time preserving the system’s advantages and rational core. By this I mean an independent evaluation of the quality of children’s knowledge and the work of their teachers. But most importantly, this system will give students from rural areas and remote regions, as well as from families with varied income levels an opportunity to get into the best regional and federal universities.”
“The system of supplementary education should become the government’s responsibility as before – by that I mean the regional governments, although the federal government should also provide financial support. The salaries of teachers who work in this system should be gradually raised to the level of school teachers, as their professional qualifications as sports coaches and arts teachers are just as high. As a result of our policies, we expect to boost the proportion of students involved in extracurricular programmes to 70%-75% by 2018, with half of them receiving these services free of charge.”
“Russia’s main challenge is learning to exploit the “educational drive” of this younger generation, to mobilise the middle class’s enhanced demands and its readiness to assume responsibility for its own welfare in order to guarantee economic growth and the country’s continued stable development.”
“People should not have to adapt themselves to the existing economic and labour market structure – it is the economy that must change so as to enable people with a high educational standards and high requirements to find a worthy occupation.”
“We need to make sure that young people are able to see the promise of a vocational training and of the new economy. They should be able to see that the meaning of occupations is changing. <…>Our project to create 25 million modern jobs is designed to create an entirely new level of employment, raise the demand for skilled labour and, at the same time, raise its social prestige.”
“Now, given the growing national economy and the forthcoming modernisation of all spheres of our life, especially production, it has become abundantly clear that our lack of highly-qualified workers presents the same obstacle to development as restrictions related to infrastructure, such as a lack of roads, electricity and communications.”
“That by using federal support and funds provided by businesses, we will be able to promote primary and secondary education. I have mentioned this already, but I want to emphasise that Russian regions should intensify their focus on this issue, and they should do so not only because it falls under the issues overseen by the regions. Above all, they should do so because a good vocational training system serves the interests of the regions themselves and is a prerequisite for their socio-economic prosperity.”
“It is essential that employers, businesses and unions take part in the development of these occupational standards. I also suggest developing effective frameworks for involving businesses in the development of additional training programmes, and assessing the quality of training and acquired skills. To do this, we need to establish a nationwide employee certification system for priority economic sectors within the next two years.”
