“Export of educational services and degree equivalence”

Boris Yakimovich, DSc, Prof.Rector of Izhevsk State Technical University (Izhevsk, Russia)

Concept of State Policy of the Russian Federation

The Concept in the field of training human resources for foreign

countries in Russian educational institutions was approved

by the President of the Russian Federation in October 2002.

The aim:

“Provision of the competitiveness of graduates of Russian HEIs

on the world educational and labor markets”.

World educational market

Data of Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OEDC):• 2.7 million students – in the system of higher education all over the

world• 41% – share of international students• USD 90 billion – volume of world educational market

In the United States of America:• USD 12-14 billion annually from international students• 75% are paid by international students or organizations

Международное сотрудничествоNumber of international students

Internationalization of higher education

Study programs in English are getting more and more attractive for international students.

In academic year 2009/2010 26 undergraduate students of Egyptian-Russian University in Telecommunications and Mechatronics studied at ISTU for 1 semester in English with the recognition of their results by the sending university.

Internationalization of higher education

An additional study program “Translator in the sphere of professional communication”

Institute of Professional Translation

Languages centers:

- Center of Spanish Language and Culture “¡Hola!” together with Granada University

- Center of Czech Language and Culture together with South Moravian Center of International Mobility

Languages studied:

- English- German- French- Czech- Spanish

International Students at ISTU

• Tajikistan – 10• Kazakhstan – 7 • Azerbaijan – 6 • Uzbekistan – 5• Venezuela – 5 • Turkmenistan – 4• Syria – 4• Nigeria – 4 • Armenia – 4• Georgia – 3• Kyrgyzstan – 3• Moldova – 3• China – 3• Ukraine – 2• Hungary – 2• Lithuania – 1• Germany – 1 • Iran – 1

Recognition of international educational documents

Basis for recognition:• International treaty on mutual recognition and equivalence• Comparison of foreign educational document with the corresponding national educational document

Possible outcomes:

1) Recognition of foreign educational document and provision of its holder with academic and/or professional rights as the holder of corresponding national educational document.

2) Recognition of foreign educational document as the document confirming the educational period on the study program of a certain level (academic transcript) and provision of its holder with the right to continue education on such study program.

3) Rejection of foreign educational document.

(Article 72 of the Draft Federal Law “On education in the Russian Federation”, 2010).

Defense of dissertations by international students

Foreign students regularly defend their MSc and PhD dissertation at ISTU. Thus in 2008 Syrian student Samir Alfattameh was granted Master degree after successful defense of dissertation, in 2009 Zoltan Orban (University of Pecs, Hungary) defended the PhD dissertation.

Lisbon Recognition Convention

Lisbon Recognition Convention was signed in Lisbon in 1997.

Aim:

“All signatory countries are equal, a grade of each educational institution is

determined by the country itself, and all other signatory countries trust it”

Drawback:

“It is rather difficult to predict what diploma will be recognized and what level of

education will be acknowledged in this or another country”

Harmonization of study programs

Modular principle of study programs• Joint curricula for educating bachelors, specialists and masters

Maximum unification of fundamental and general engineering modules • All disciplines are split into modules• Modules are unified

As a result, we have up to 8 different sets of modules in each discipline to cover all programs of ISTU.

Common curricula for the following faculties:• Mechanical Engineering• Instrumentation Engineering• Advanced Technologies and Automobiles• Quality Management

Comparison of study programs

In recent years we have compared study programs and signed recognition protocols with:

• Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic – 12 programs

• Egyptian-Russian University, Egypt – 2 programs

• Szechenyi Istvan University, Gyor, Hungary – 2 programs

• A. Dubcek University in Trencin, Slovak Republic – 2 programs

• Pecs University, Hungary – 1 program

• Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Germany – 1 program

• Leuphana University, Lueneburg, Germany – 1 program

International accreditation

On 17 February 2009 the Permanent Commission of Central Evaluation and Accreditation Agency Hannover (ZEvA) accredited 7 study programs of ISTU (6 – bachelor and 1 master programs) for 5 years.

Bachelor programs:•Instrumentation Engineering•Radio Engineering•Telecommunications•Civil Engineering•Radio Electronics Design and Technology •Technology, Equipment and Automation of Machine-Building Plants

Master program:•Technology, Equipment and Automation of Machine-Building Plants

International accreditation

Graduates of ISTU have been issued diploma supplements from 2009. Therefore they have more opportunities to continue their studies or find a job abroad, to be employed by transnational and foreign companies in Russia.

The European diploma supplement plays a key role in the export of educational services. The diploma supplement provides the harmonization of educational standards, curricula and specialties in different countries, reflects the level of professional training and volume of knowledge of the graduate.

Conclusion

To strengthen positions of the Russian Federation on the educational market and provide the competitiveness of graduates of Russian universities on the world labor market, it is necessary to combine the efforts of the government and higher educational institutions to bring the existing normative basis in line with the requirements and realties of the world educational market taking into account modern innovations in the global educational space.

Thank you for your attention!