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CRITERIA OF TRUST
Who ensures positive changes in the Russian economy?
Working leisurely from one accounting event to another might seem rather tedious. Undoubtedly a low key approach to life might preserve the unruffled air around you and even encourage some people to rest on their oars. In contrast, the policy of the Russian Association for Engineering Education, which we regard as dynamic and flexible, is aimed at holding regular meetings every four years. Despite this fact our many members believe that it is impossible to wait for such a long time. The people that constitute the organisation are professionals of many diverse backgrounds: teachers, scientists, engineers, specialists from engineering higher educational institutions, research centres, scientific development and production centres, technological parks and other organisations irrespective of their departmental belonging that are interested in developing and enhancing higher engineering education in Russia and are ready to facilitate acceleration of the scientific and technical progress. It is especially topical nowadays when all the changes in higher education occur so rapidly. This implies that we should also respond to these changes rapidly and correct the plan of work of our organisation in accordance with them. Having this in view, we decided to hold the 9th open meeting of the RAEE at the end of December.
"According to the Charter, we are to hold the RAEE meeting once in four years", reminded the RAEE President Prof. Yuri Pokholkov. "However, between the meetings at which we elect the RAEE governing bodies we should carry out at least one more meeting just not to forget that the association still exists", joked the RAEE head. Speaking seriously, we should see what results we have achieved and what problems we have faced including those linked with the defined priorities.
It is known that the RAEE has the national status and is entitled to set up its structural subdivisions such as regional departments, representative offices and branches on the territory of all subjects of the Russian Federation. Today, the public organisation of such kind is a unique phenomenon for Russian educational environment. Other associations, such as the associations of Russian higher educational institutions, technical universities, engineering and building universities, etc. are guided by the principle of uniting state institutions. The principle of the RAEE building (individual membership) is a great value. In its essence, it can be regarded as an example of forming civil society in our country. When we discuss the problems of particular higher educational institutions we speak on behalf of the public organisation. The members of the public organisation can freely express their opinions concerning reformation, rebuilding, modernisation and redevelopment of education in our country; they are not guided by the position of administrative agencies and governmental bodies.
This helps to form public opinion of professionals concerning the content of engineering education, educational technologies and assessment of various innovations at engineering higher educational institutions. Then this opinion is presented to both federal and regional departments of legislative and executive authority and educational institutions.
The RAEE renders assistance in solving many problems of international significance. This, for instance, concerns establishment of such independent public and professional organisations which deal with attestation and accreditation of educational programmes recognised abroad, certification of specialists and teachers of higher educational institutions, signing a number of international contracts on education, etc.
At the moment, the RAEE comprises over one thousand people. The regional departments of the organisation have been set up in 60 subjects of the Russian Federation. Some RAEE representative offices include hundreds of members, while others only 4-5 members. The biggest RAEE branches are located in Krasnoyarsk and Altai Region.
The RAEE working plan approved in June 2003, included such issues as preparation and holding scientific forums, meetings, conferences, seminars on problems of engineering education; development of informational resources; mobilisation of scientific, research and educational potential of the regions; facilitating establishment and development of new forms and structures of research and educational activity; facilitating enhancement of the content of engineering education; providing assistance in organising and running public and professional accreditation of educational programmes; RAEE international links and projects in the field of engineering education.
Today, engineering constitutes the biggest part in the Russian higher professional education. Three hundred and forty six state and 112 non-state higher educational institutions in Russia educate engineers. The number of students studying in accordance with engineering programme lines amounts to almost 30 per cent out of the total number of students in Russia. One should also take into account the fact that most part of engineering students and teachers are concentrated in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
In the accounting period, the RAEE paid special attention to organising and holding international symposiums and conferences as the most active forms of communication and developing public opinion of experts concerning topical problems of engineering education. About two thousand experts from 36 Russian cities, former CIS states and other countries took part in the international symposiums, scientific and methodological conferences and seminars held by the RAEE in 2003-2004.
"Such international meetings are a serious job for the organisation", stressed Yuri Petrovich. "When we just started to organise such large-scale events we had a pessimistic attitude towards it, we were not sure that the RAEE should get engaged in this activity. Now we see that it was worth doing, and the response from international conferences on the problems of engineering education was significant not only for Russia.
Among the subjects discussed at the conferences in the RF, the Czech Republic and Italy were such as scientific and technological cooperation of higher educational institutions of Russia and former CIS countries with the EU countries; problems of quality of engineering education in compliance with the requirements of the Bologna process; enhancement of competitive ability of human resources, etc. On the eve of the 9th Congress of the RAEE, we held the international symposium called Development of the Students' Cohort of an Engineering Higher Educational Institution: World Experience and Basic Enhancement Trends (the Poisk, No 1, 2005).
At one of the recent meetings of the board of the ministry the dispute arose over the quality of specialists' training at higher educational institutions of Russia. (By the way, the RAEE is preparing the seminar on the subject which will take place in the upcoming future). Different rectors have a different attitude towards this problem. Some say that the Russian education is the best, others object to this statement. Yuri Pokholkov stresses that, "first of all, we should define the criteria of the quality itself. I believe that the ability of our graduates to ensure positive changes in the Russian economy can be considered as a key factor when assessing education quality. If we can achieve this, the quality can be regarded high. However, the fact that our specialists have a solid background in physics or mathematics and they are employed by international companies does not mean that the quality of education at the Russian higher educational institutions is high.
The final documents of the conferences and other events organised by the RAEE always contain definite recommendations for solving engineering problems by different Russian organisations and institutions. However, the recommendations elaborated by experts are not always heard and even more rarely they are taken into account when solving particular problems of engineering education. In this case, the task of the RAEE members is to get the expert opinion across to governmental bodies and defend it when decisions are taken at all levels of the state power.
In the recent time, the RAEE has greatly facilitated establishment and development of the new forms and structures of research and education. In 2003, the RAEE expressed the initiative to conduct a survey of the problems academic entrepreneurial universities in Russia regarding them from various perspectives, from their coming into being to further development. The initiative was supported by the RF Ministry of Education. Six higher educational institutions were supposed to accomplish the project, among them Tomsk Polytechnic University, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University, South-Russian State Technical University, and South-Ural State University.
During the investigations, we analysed the similar experience of entrepreneurial universities in Europe and the USA and the development of entrepreneurial activity in Russian universities. The results of the studies have revealed that today many universities of the world are concerned with the changes in the external environment, loss of stability that they used to have, increasing misbalance between the existing demand for basic products of the university's activity and the possibilities of their satisfaction, increase in the consumers' requirements on scientific research, quality of technological projects and educational services and finally reduction in governmental financing.
The domestic and international experience shows that by establishing and developing technical universities as innovative structures and including them into the essential constituents of entrepreneurial sector of the Russian economy it is possible to adequately respond to these challenges.
The analysis of the situation in European, Russian and American universities as well as the investigations carried out by our American colleagues (B. Clark 1997, B. Sporn 1999, K. Cameron 1999, etc.) enabled to reduce the activity on transforming traditional universities in accordance with the requirements of the external environment to the uniform conceptual system-the University of the Entrepreneurial Type. As a result of this work, we were able to determine the conceptual basics of the Russian entrepreneurial university and to develop the principles and the methods of transforming a traditional university into an entrepreneurial university. Besides, its production and organisational structures were developed.
"The entrepreneurial university adapts to the requirements of the external environment: it is a functioning and intensively developing research and educational complex whose activity is aimed at satisfying the needs of the basic Russian and international profile markets and obtaining profit which is used to increase the potential of maintaining the academic nature, uniqueness, moral and intellectual independence of a university."
Mr. Pokholkov noted that "some people might find this definition a sort of long-winded; however, if we thoroughly read these lines we will get the most precise and the fullest description of what the entrepreneurial university is. Perhaps, this definition is too official but it reveals the essence of an entrepreneurial university at the best advantage. It is true because, first of all, we speak about preserving and distributing traditional academic values and obtaining new quality on their basis. If we try to give a shorter definition to an entrepreneurial university, it might be done in the following way: the objective of an entrepreneurial university is to educate the generation of winners. The graduates should win using their knowledge, skills, competence; they should demonstrate the best of their competitive advantage. If we cannot achieve, this we will continue using imported telephones, TV sets, detergents, etc.
The strategic purpose of establishing entrepreneurial universities in Russia is educating specialists and implementing the results of the scientific activity which might be beneficial for the Russian economy. However, to put all this into practice successfully, we should develop:
entrepreneurial education;
the system of educating elite specialists;
the academic base of a university and fundamental research of innovative activity;
innovative corporate culture and internal competitive environment;
university management consistent with the new objectives;
strategic partnership among universities, industrial enterprises, the Russian Academy of Sciences and business.
We consider it reasonable that the universities participating in the project should be given an opportunity to conduct a pilot experiment on polishing and working all the above stated principles through. After it has been done, we will present the integral project of an entrepreneurial technical university to the academic community.
More details on the 9th Open Congress of the Russian Association for Engineering Education are available at: http://aeer.cctpu.edu.ru.
Contributed by Nina Shatalova
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