Konstantin Aranovsky questioned the value of diplomas from domestic universities.
The judge of the Constitutional Court (CC) of the Russian Federation, Konstantin Aranovsky, declared distrust of the diplomas of Russian universities and, in general, harshly criticized the system of Russian higher education. “Kommersant” found such statements in the “dissenting opinion” of the judge on one of the latest decisions of the Constitutional Court. Konstantin Aranovsky believes that the "countless funds" spent on educational reforms should have been used "for decent wages for teaching." The judge also reproaches the rectors of Russian universities for the fact that they have abandoned "self-government and academic freedom" and, as a result, "maintain the system that issues permits for the profession." “Kommersant” retells in detail the thoughts of Konstantin Aranovsky and publishes comments to them from members of the educational community.
Judge Aranovsky was prompted to think about the state of the Russian education system by a complaint filed with the Constitutional Court by former businessman Mikhail Tchaikovsky. In 2015, Mr. Tchaikovsky turned to the Voronezh Employment Center for help in finding a job. However, the officials refused to recognize him as unemployed and to assign an allowance: the man brought a passport and work book, and the employment center demanded a certificate "on average earnings from the last job" and "a document certifying qualifications." The man successfully challenged both claims in court. In 2015, the Constitutional Court agreed that in the event of a “long break in employment”, a citizen can be recognized as unemployed without a certificate “from the last place of work”. And last week, the Constitutional Court again supported Mr Tchaikovsky, stating,that the absence of a diploma or other “qualification documents” should not limit the “right of citizens to protection from unemployment”.
Additionally, the judge of the Constitutional Court Konstantin Aranovsky made a "dissenting opinion" (.pdf) - this is the name of the statement in which a member of the panel of judges can express his personal position on the case. At the beginning of the document, Mr. Aranovsky discusses whether it is possible to trust the diploma of a Russian university, and comes to the conclusion that "professional education" is not able to "confidently guarantee the qualifications of the holders of diplomas." Moreover, the judge admits that the decision of the Constitutional Court could have been different, “have educational documents of a different reputation than now”.
He adds that there is so much dynamics in the education system that one cannot count on a stable quality of the educational product. As an example, Mr. Aranovsky cites the initiative, which was announced in October 2018: the revision of the rules for accrediting universities with their subsequent distribution into three categories. “Then, of course, universities would have reduced costs … while reducing the number of teachers,” the judge suggested. “Such initiatives invariably enjoy support in the administrative class and among activists, they constantly mature there and sometimes receive implementation. Not everyone, however, sees in them the progress of enlightenment. " The judge also reminds that “not everyone considers it useful to introduce the Bologna system”. He concludes that the "countless resources" spent on educational reforms"Could be spent for the benefit of science and for a decent salary for teaching."
“Improvements in education have lasted thirty years, and the results are still controversial, so now that so much has been spent and the credibility of diplomas has not increased, there is no reason to continue to rely on ministerial decisions, the initiative of the administrations and the enthusiasm of activists,” said a Constitutional Court judge. “It is possible that now we will have to wait until the diplomas of the majority of universities and technical schools (lyceums, colleges, etc.) become convincing.”
“The system pays meagerly if the teacher does not get a paid role of an administrator, executor or enthusiastic activist in its management sector,” Judge Aranovsky is sure. “Sometimes it allows the teacher to slightly increase his poor earnings, but not for work, but for good statistics and reporting, for demonstrating a competency-based approach instead of academic methods, for applying for grants and for ratings, monitoring with graphs and for everything else that is dear to the administration and department services. For this, the teacher needs to cultivate the skills and ability to write resumes and applications, place them among funds and departments, issue accreditation, and form citation indices. In such an environment, they value not teaching and not studying, but educational and methodological complexes that are needed not by students and teachers, but by services,so that they feel good and remain in an important job in advantageous positions."
“Subordination and accountability under the direction of administrators oppresses teaching and science, when universities cede their self-government, academic freedom, style and maintain a system that issues permits for the profession,” says judge KS.
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After that, Konstantin Aranovsky recalls the previously stated position of the entire Constitutional Court: “The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation sees in the autonomy of universities the fundamental principle of their activities, which determines their relations with the state and state policy in the field of education; he states that autonomy has justified itself historically in the common European university tradition, and connects it with the goals of the welfare state, freedom of scientific, technical and other types of creativity, teaching, with the right of everyone to education and with other constitutional values. " Restrictions on the autonomy of universities on the part of the authorities are allowed "only for constitutionally significant purposes and insofar as these bodies, with the rights of the founder, control the compliance of the university's activities with its statutory goals." At the same time, the judge emphasizes,Russian legislation recognizes autonomy "with academic freedom in the search for truth, with its free presentation and distribution under the professional responsibility of teachers without the care of the authorities."
“The implementation of these provisions is doubtful if the system puts the participants in the educational case at the service of their interests,” Judge Aranovskiy is sure. strong evidence that universities are restoring autonomy."
When I worked in the ministry, we were unable to fix it
Rector of the Moscow City Pedagogical University Igor Remorenko (former Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, worked in the department in 2003-2014):
- I think that the Constitutional Court made a very correct decision on the situation of Mikhail Tchaikovsky. As for the “dissenting opinion,” it seems to me that the requirement for a higher education institution to award qualifications to its graduates is contrary to the requirement to expand academic autonomy. Because autonomy is not a story about professional qualifications, but about a degree.
In our law, two results are declared as the result of higher education: one of them is a bachelor's or master's degree, and the other is a qualification. And this is a big mistake of the legislators. When I worked in the ministry, we were unable to fix this, primarily because we lacked courage. But these are absolutely incompatible things. A degree is about meanings, about a person's choice of a professional path, about his interests and values. And qualifications are tough requirements for behavior in the workplace. And dear judge, it seems to me, these two circumstances are confusing, but they should, on the contrary, be diluted.
In an amicable way, of course, the task of assigning qualifications should be removed from universities. And to make this process external, with the help of special certification centers. We, with our pedagogical education, have now opened a separate building, where they will deal with certification. Over time, we plan that it will be outside of our jurisdiction, as an outside organization. Legislation requires us to write on diplomas that students have graduated from a bachelor's degree and they have been awarded the qualification of a teacher. But in fact, we have a parallel procedure for this, where this qualification is awarded through serious passing of three types of tests. And this is not a university story, but an external one.
As for the judge's opinion of ongoing educational reforms, well, this is not unusual. Every country complains that they are tired of educational reforms. The other day I listened to a report on the situation in New Zealand - in this country, education is compared to a traffic jam in the sea. That is, it is constantly chatting back and forth, the banks are not visible. But it seems to me unproductive to say that the reforms are tired and must be urgently stopped. If only because if you quit the business halfway through, you will have to start other reforms.
The autonomy of universities turned into the autonomy of the rector from the team
Co-Chair of the University Solidarity Trade Union, Ph. D. Wanda Tilles:
- We, university professors, are pleasantly surprised that among the judges of the Constitutional Court there are such experts in the activities of Russian universities as Konstantin Aranovsky. As the letters that come to the University Solidarity trade union, as well as discussions in the Problems of Education and Science group, show that the teaching staff of universities shares the judge's view on the autonomy of universities, on distance education, on the imposition of the Bologna system, and on the quality of Russian higher education.
The autonomy of universities has been undermined primarily by the fact that in recent years the Ministry of Education and Science has approved the statutes of universities, which fix the appointment of rectors by the ministry, and not the election of rectors by the conference of the faculty, representatives of other categories of workers and students, as it was in more democratic times … In universities, faculties and departments are being liquidated in order to abolish the election of deans and heads of departments. A rigid vertical line is being built.
The competition for filling the position of teaching staff began just a couple of years ago in the departments, that is, the first recommendation was given by colleagues. Now everything is decided by a certain "collegial governing body", which is formed by the rector. He, contrary to the law, imposes one-year contracts on teachers to keep us on a short leash. The autonomy of universities turned into an autonomy of the rector from the staff.
The judge rightly noted the lack of self-government in universities. If teachers unite in a real independent trade union, then they are subjected to pressure, as was the case a year ago with the illegally fired MIPT professor Maxim Balashov. In our small provincial university, the rector's algorithm of actions is similar: he accused the leadership of the trade union of "financing from abroad" and said that the trade union hinders the development of the university. Although all the union requires is compliance with labor laws.
Of course, all these problems are reflected in the quality of education in general. And Judge Konstantin Aranovsky quite rightly concludes that confidence in bachelor's degrees has declined.
The Russian diploma does not reflect the level of qualifications
Alexey Khokhlov, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences:
- Of course, we can only welcome that the judge of the Constitutional Court has studied the problems of Russian university education and expresses his opinion on them. Of course, this opinion should be treated with respect. In some ways the respected judge is right, but in some ways he could be corrected.
I certainly agree that the quality of knowledge among Russian students is constantly decreasing. The diploma really no longer provides confidence that the graduate has received the required qualifications. We all face this - for example, when we come to see a doctor.
On the other hand, the measures that the respected judge proposes to solve this problem, they may not work in today's situation. For example, the proposal for greater autonomy of universities when it is necessary to stop interfering with their internal life. But in the situation that we have now, this will lead to crowding, stagnation. And universities simply will not be motivated to change.
It seems to me that in order to solve the problem, it is necessary to strengthen external control over higher education. Of course, I'm not talking about bureaucratic control with its endless requirements for filling out papers, but about professional control. For example, that the final exams for students were taken by external commissions, which would include representatives of employers, professionals in this field, and so on. For these people to assess the real level of qualifications of graduates, and the higher it is, the more funding the university itself receives. It seems to me that this is a reasonable chain that will lead faster to the goal designated by a respected judge than the complete autonomy of the university and its staff.
There are a number of other things where it can be corrected. For example, Mr. Aranovsky writes that German universities did not switch to the Bologna system, but they switched to it. To be honest, I don't understand at all how the level of education is related to the Bologna system. After all, its main idea is just the division of higher education into two systems, bachelor's and master's degrees. For some specialties it is more expedient, for some less. But the quality of education can be good or bad both under the old system of specialization and under the Bologna one.
In general, I would like to emphasize that the very statement of the question that a Russian diploma does not reflect the level of a graduate's qualifications is absolutely correct. And deserves a thorough discussion.
When rectors are appointed from above, they become ordinary government officials
Armen Aramyan, editor of DOXA student magazine:
- In general, this text demonstrates a fairly high level of the judge's familiarity both with the context of university autonomy and with the situation with universities in Russia over the course of decades. This criticism has two main theses: 1) without autonomy, the university cannot guarantee the quality of education; 2) corporatization of universities and subordination to bureaucratic reporting reduce the quality of education and put employees and students in a subordinate position.
If you look at the history of Russian universities over the past few decades, then you can really talk about the fall of autonomy - rectors stopped being elected and began to be appointed, which hit self-government very hard even in the most prestigious universities. When rectors are no longer elected by the university community, but appointed from above, they begin to perceive their function in a completely different way and become ordinary government officials who have nothing to do with the essence of the educational and scientific process. As a result, we have a situation where changes can occur in the largest universities in the country, with which neither employees nor students agree. Remember the structural changes at St. Petersburg State University and the move of St. Petersburg State University from historic buildings.
Interestingly, the subordination of universities to the “vertical of power” coincides with increased accountability. That is, on the one hand, this is the political subordination of universities and the destruction of internal institutions of self-government, and on the other, the subordination of the scientific and educational process to standards and metrics. The paradox here is that corporatization of the university and increased accountability in Western universities are associated with neoliberal reforms and the commercialization of higher education. In our country, it turns out that the process of commercialization and the extension of market logic to higher education and science coincides with the complete subordination of universities to the state.
A certain peak of ideological rejection of the autonomy of universities is a new project for university accreditation, which implies that universities with low qualifications will be required to broadcast online courses from top universities. This is the use of the managerial logic of centralization at the highest level, and it certainly contradicts what the university is in essence. This is the return of factory-conveyor logic to university education.
In general, it is quite ironic that while university representatives continue to repeat the mantra "university outside politics", they say that the university is not a place for discussion, self-organization and self-government, it is up to the constitutional judge to remind of the demand for university autonomy.
Authors: Alexander Chernykh, Elizaveta Mikhalchenko, Ksenia Mironova