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.”
“The occupational certificate should guarantee the need in the market for a particular profession, as well as a decent salary, and it should also confirm the high skills of a person who holds such a certificate. If we set forth stringent requirements for the quality of training, we will at the same time be raising the social prestige of these occupations and will thereby guarantee respectable employment, just like it's done at the educational institution where we are now.”
“We have established a system of federal higher educational establishments and a nationwide network of research universities. And each of them will be in receipt of additional funding. We have approved a grant allocation programme for talented people, a grant allocation programme for scientists that suggest interesting and promising ideas, strategic ideas.”
“I would like to bring up another important subject that has to do with improving schools and pre-school education. Please note that this also falls under the responsibility of municipal authorities. We have allocated 120 billion roubles for the modernisation of Russian schools over the next two years. What we need to do now is make all the necessary arrangements in conjunction with the regions and purchase equipment, outfit labs, gyms, medical offices and cafeterias. There is certainly the need to follow through on the implementation of the main purpose for the allocation of federal funds, which is to raise the salaries of school teachers. It’s not enough to report about the situation in general in a region or a municipality. Please make sure that each and every teacher sees an increase in his or her salary, without any glitches.”
“Next year, we will continue with our project to support Russian schools and will allocate another 60 billion roubles towards this purpose. Our goal is to bring teachers’ wages to the level of the average wage in all regions of Russia already in 2012. In the next three years, the federal budget will allocate 10 billion roubles to support pre-school education.”
“What are we trying to achieve, after all? We want our children, no matter where they attend school, to receive a high-quality education and a chance to enrol in a university or college. Generally, this means they should be in a position to decide their own fate, as they and their parents see fit. For this purpose, a proper level and good quality of training in schools should be guaranteed, and there are modern facilities that can make this possible.”
“Rehabilitating education will allow us to increase support for universities that have maintained high education standards, and increase investments for their programmes and development projects. Funds that are being used inefficiently today should be used instead to finance state-funded scholarships which are in demand, and to prepare quality specialists that the Russian state and society need most. In this regard, I would like to say that we are launching a pilot project – increasing financing for the programmes to prepare engineers in ten universities of Russia. We will evaluate the results and take a decision on extending this practice”.
“The universities should be made more open. This concerns both the character and the results of the admission process, maintaining high education standards, and assessing the quality of education. Ratings of universities should become an important tool. <…> The rating process cannot be turned into a corporate, backstage procedure. The consumers of education services must get unbiased ratings, and you can get them only by engaging the leading researchers, experts, public figures, and of course, the business community – the consumers of your product”.
“We have envisaged a separate area on qualification standards within the Strategic Initiatives Agency. I very much rely, esteemed colleagues, on your direct engagement. I would very much like you to participate in developing these standards, to turn them into real guiding points that would help fill respective vacancies in the market. We have already had positive experience with this. Currently, a consortium of universities is working with the United Aircraft Building Corporation, which allows for a strict specialty division while preparing engineering personnel”.
“We are planning to adopt a law soon that will expand the powers of the board of trustees of higher educational institutions. These changes involve including representatives from business and the regional executive power on the board of trustees. They will have to take an active role in developing educational programmes in line with the needs of certain territories and specific industries. The respective draft law is being considered by the State Duma and has already passed the first reading”.
“It is very important that while living through such difficult times, we have managed to keep our best traditions alive, and the continuity and quality of higher education intact. For the most part, of course, this was possible thanks to the brilliant work of professors, teachers and university and school teams – their faithfulness and devotion, and awareness of their responsibility for the future of Russia. On this basis, we can set new challenges, improve Russian higher education in line with the demands of time, societal requirements and national development goals”.
“But I am convinced that the Russian education system has preserved its main competitive advantages. <…> Graduates from Russian higher education institutions set the tone in the world's leading centres and high-tech companies, and this applies not only to previous years, there are many fresh examples as well”.
“I am convinced that we all share an awareness of the fact that quality modern education is the guarantee of the sustained development of our country, the foundation for realising one’s potential and for expanding social and economic opportunities for all the country’s citizens, and a strategic resource of Russia that we must strengthen and make full use of. It is thanks to our strong higher education system that our country has scored many successes and come out ahead in the global competition at critical junctures in history…”.
“It should cater for the labour market – local, regional or possibly national, but mainly to the local and regional ones. This requires teamwork from the business community, industry and education. Our top corporations and successful companies, including medium-sized ones, should be in close contact with universities and secondary schools to arrange students’ practical experience and to implement financial support programmes for students. That is the way to interest businesses in employing these students after graduation.”
“Let me inform you that we decided to create a new position: the teacher librarian. <…>It will improve the status of school librarians. Their average salary should increase, just like teachers’ salaries, and reach the regional economic standard.”
“We will absolutely preserve free general education. This is one of the fundamental provisions of our Constitution and nobody is going to relinquish it. The state must and will pay in full for the entire educational process and the upkeep and development of schools, including repairs, the purchase of equipment, and the remuneration of teachers.”
“Its goal [Unified State Exam] is to provide a more accurate assessment of the quality of both curricula and teachers and, most importantly, to considerably broaden the opportunities for children from the countryside and remote parts of the country to continue their education in the best national centres.”
“We have carried out comprehensive programmes for modernising education in 31 regions. In the process, we have accumulated unique experience and streamlined the key mechanisms for developing the Russian school. Most importantly, we have attracted public attention and focused the efforts of the authorities at all levels on the problems of schools and education in general, which is very important as it is.”
“Now we must look ahead, relying on the foundation that has already been created and upgrade the general educational standards in the country. We must make quality, modern education accessible to all children regardless of their family's social status, their place of birth or residence. The government must ensure an equal start to all of its young citizens.”
“Educational programmes and courses at institutions of higher learning and vocational schools must be tailored to the requirements of companies, while students must have an opportunity to undergo practical training at the plants where they will work in the future.”
“Another promising initiative is affiliating vocational schools and colleges with universities so that they can share infrastructure and teaching staff. This will certainly enhance the reputation of these education centres.”
“We should avoid closing schools where they are needed. We should also improve tuition and make cuts on the expense of education – but how can we do it all at once? Basic educational centres with a network of affiliates might help solve the problem if we extended state-of-the-art online education”.
“The basic system was built fundamentally, and everything that helps us maintain the level of education in the highest bracket, certainly should not and cannot be lost. <…> However, we need to look ahead, look at current labour market demands and use modern teaching aids. Including remote learning tools – all of this needs to be introduced.”
“Children in rural areas should have access to quality education and modern learning tools on a par with their peers in cities and towns. The national programme for education has played a significant role in making that happen. Now almost all of Russia’s rural schools are connected to the internet. More than 1,000 sets of teacher's aids in subjects such as physics, chemistry, biology, and geography have been sent to schools located in out-of-the-way areas. As for small rural schools, we’ll continue to support those that belong to communities with an objective need.”
“I’d like to make is that teachers who live and work in rural areas now have the right to apply for reimbursements on their utility bills. A resolution to the effect was adopted late last year. And, of course, we should do more to promote culture and sport in the countryside and to support rural libraries.”
“Serious money will be allocated to support gifted children, including the organisation of school competitions, sports competitions, as well as the creation of centres for talented youth in the federal universities and distance learning schools at research universities. The country's leading universities – Moscow State University, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Bauman Moscow State Technical University and others – are actively working with prospective students – their future students. This experience must, of course, be distributed as widely as possible.”
“We can’t forget about social issues, such as teacher pay, particularly per capita financing, which we’ve been talking about a lot in recent years. Whenever and wherever this system is introduced, it results in higher pay for teachers. <…> In Omsk, Pskov and Kaliningrad we are seeing salaries go up by about 25%, and in some cases by 40%.”
“As for education, here I would like to emphasise that we will allocate for the first time (as we did not do in many previous years) significant funding to the Russian Academy of Science for attracting young scientists. We will allocate wage-rates and some money especially for this purpose. We allocated another two billion roubles for the purchase of new laboratory equipment. And we'll discuss other costs in more detail now.”
“The question of making changes to the pension system for leading experts was also raised. And this, in turn, affects another problem, that of recruiting new staff. So if the leading scientists could increase the retirement replacement ratio, then those people could be safely transferred to a different status, they would not be lost to science, and full-time jobs would be freed for young professionals. Incidentally, I promised that we would create an additional four full-time positions in the appropriate institute of the Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology, so that they can hire new young professionals.”
“There were many good and efficient elements of our previous education system. However, we need to proceed from the fact that Russia is an open country, for our specialists as well, who may be in demand in foreign labour markets. This means that our diplomas should be adapted to the international standard, including the European, American and many others. To achieve this, we should be part of the unified European system of education. That is largely why we have joined the Bologna Process to integrate our education system into that of Europe. At the same time you are right that we mustn't lose what has always been our competitive edge. First of all, it is in fundamental sciences and all related areas, including specialist training.”
“In recent years, we have substantially increased funding for science as well as secondary and higher education. We have launched a national project in this area, and we have already spent 180 billion roubles on it. For example, new equipment and the introduction of modern programmes have allowed us to improve conditions at 30,000 schools with a total of nine million students. Overall, federal budget appropriations for education have almost doubled since 2006 - from 212 billion to 400 billion roubles.”
