Accessibility Issues general education in modern Russia

The problems of access to education are of concern to almost all Russian society. These problems are discussed not only by scientists and officials from the education system, but also by teachers and parents. The reason is that education is increasingly seen by both the population and the governments of most countries in the world as an important economic resource which ensures successful self-realization, social mobility and material well-being of an individual in the modern world. At the same time, the requirements that were and are being made to those who want to get an education are not always the same, which creates the problem of inequality, primarily related to the availability of education and its quality for people of different socio-economic status, nationality, gender, physical abilities, etc. Principle equality of opportunity in education is to give everyone, regardless of background, the opportunity to reach the level that best suits their potential. The lack of equal access to education actually means the perpetuation of economic, social and cultural inequality, blocking the way for children from the lower layers to the upper ones. There are several concepts of unequal access to education. This is a legal inequality, which is seen as an inequality of rights enshrined in law and socio-economic inequality, due to the socio-economic characteristics of different groups of the population.

The right to education (along with the right to vote) is one of the freedoms that all peoples of the world have fought for throughout their history. The right to education is enshrined in the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. In European countries, the right to education is part of the value system of a modern democratic state. Mass public school education has become a fundamental condition for ensuring social justice, national prosperity, economic and social progress in society.

According to Russian legislation (Article 43 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation), the state guarantees to citizens the general availability and free of charge of primary general, basic general, as well as secondary (complete) general education in state and municipal educational institutions within the limits of state educational standards. Formally, these guarantees are observed. According to the All-Russian Population Census of 2002, the proportion of children aged 10-14 years old who studied in general educational institutions in cities and urban-type settlements was 97.4%, and in rural areas - 97.9%. The proportion of the illiterate population aged 10 years and over in 2002 was 0.5%. These figures indicate a fairly high degree of accessibility of education in the Russian Federation. For comparison: in India, the enrollment rate for children of the considered age is 65%, in China - 80.7%, in Canada - 97.2%, in the UK - 98.9%, in the USA - 99.8%, in France and in Australia - 100%. Structural changes in the political and economic life of Russia in the 1990s. affected all areas of state activity, not leaving aside the education sector. The transformation of the structure of the country's economy has led to a change in the structure of demand for educational services. Per last years the demand for higher education services increased significantly, which was accompanied by a reciprocal increase in supply. Both according to sociological surveys and statistics, the volume of educational services provided is expanding. The number of universities increased by 108%: from 514 in 1990 to 1068 in 2005 (of which 615 are state institutions and 413 non-state institutions). The number and admission of students increased by 150% over the same period. These trends are characteristic of both state and non-state universities, and non-state universities have developed even more actively. The number of students studying on a paid basis in universities of various forms of ownership is increasing. In the 2004/2005 academic year, more than half (56%) of the students studied on a paid basis (in the 1995/1996 academic year, this figure was only 13%). Based on the above, one could make an optimistic conclusion that education in Russia has become more accessible and in demand in recent years. In terms of the proportion of people with higher and postgraduate professional education in the economically active population, Russia is in third place after Norway and the USA, in Russia this figure is 22.3, in Norway and the USA - 27.9.

For Russia, experts note discrepancies between the proclaimed goals and real facts, indicating the inability of the education system to meet these goals. The formation of the economy of the new Russia was accompanied by a sharp and significant reduction in public spending on education. This led to the degradation of institutions at all levels of education. The deterioration of the material and technical base and human resources had a negative impact on the accessibility and quality of education.

The Russian education system does not ensure social mobility of the population, there are no “equal start” conditions, quality education today is virtually inaccessible without connections and / or money, there is no system of social (grant) support for students from low-income families. The introduction of market relations into the sphere of education causes a growing degree of inequality among educational institutions, primarily higher education. Political and social changes, the development of democracy create favorable conditions for reforms, including in the field of education, but these same changes cause an increase in corruption, crime and other negative consequences.

The development of the non-state sector in the field of education and the official provision of paid educational services (including the use of paid forms of education in state educational institutions) in the context of ensuring equality and accessibility is ambiguous. Paid educational services in 2006 were provided to the population for 189.6 billion rubles, or 10.4% more than in 2005. On the one hand, the development of a system of paid educational services expands access to vocational education through the introduction of paid vocational education, which has brought Russia to one of the leading places in the world in terms of the relative number of students in higher educational institutions. But on the other hand, paid education reduces its accessibility to the poor.

In the context of the constant underfunding of the education system and the growth of its payment, the incomes and disposable resources of parents are a significant factor affecting the accessibility of education for children from different social strata of the population. The subjective side of the problem of accessibility is that almost all social groups are sure that education has become paid. Consequently, in public opinion, we have lost one of the most important gains - access to high-quality free education for prepared and capable children. Recently, the problems associated with education have become more acute in the public mind - people increasingly believe that this important socio-economic resource is becoming less and less accessible. According to VTsIOM polls conducted in 2007, half of Russians cannot afford paid education, 40% - paid medicine. In case of emergency, 42% of our fellow citizens will be able to use paid medical services, educational services - 27%. Only 16-17% of Russians are systematically able to pay for such services.

The problem of its availability in modern Russia ceases to be exclusively a problem of socially vulnerable segments of the population; it affects almost the entire population. The social differentiation of modern Russian society creates unequal conditions for the social mobility of young people. The growth of differences in income and material security is inevitable during the transition to a market economy and plays the role of an incentive for labor and business activity, but in Russia it turned out to be excessive, provoking an increase in social tension in society. The gap between the narrow rich minority and the poor majority increased from 4.5 times in 1990 to 14.5 times in 2003. Due to this factor, youth crime has increased significantly in the country. Young people who did not see other ways to take a place under the sun joined the ranks of criminals. The availability of education services should alleviate the problem of poverty. The installation of equal access to education in the development of the modern Russian education system, despite the general increase in the educational level of the population, has not yet been implemented in practice.

We can say that in fact the public education system is developing in such a way that it ensures the reproduction and even strengthening of social disproportions in society. This inequality arises at the level of pre-school education and further persists and intensifies at all further stages of education.

In the course of monitoring the education economy of the Russian Federation, estimates were obtained of the population's funds entering the system of general and vocational education. An analysis of family spending, which includes officially unregistered costs, makes it possible to assess the processes that lead to inefficient use of resources in the education system. The results of the research demonstrate how social inequality manifests itself in school, and then in the field of vocational education. This is most clearly manifested in the system of higher education, as the most competitive area, which accumulates all the shortcomings and problems of the previous educational levels, and in the future leads to a deepening of social differentiation and creates the prerequisites for its reproduction.

The constitutional guarantees of providing free general education to all children in our country are mainly implemented in practice. However, parents who have a strongly pronounced attitude towards their children receiving higher professional education and further social growth, prefer from the first grade to place the child not in any, but only in a good school that provides a high level of socialization, i.e. the sum of knowledge, skills and target settings.

Unfortunately, such schools are a scarce resource (demand for high-quality general education services by the population exceeds the supply of these services by general education institutions). Therefore, the admission of children to them is carried out mainly on a competitive basis. Competition is a special filter at the transition stage " Kindergarten – Primary School” and is ideally designed to ensure access to quality education for the most gifted children. In reality, the competition for access to a scarce resource involves not only the child's abilities, but also the "dignities" of his parents - their high position in society or a high level of material well-being, combined with a willingness to use one or the other for the benefit of the school or its administration. This circumstance has an objective economic basis. The lack of a good on the market due to the fact that its official price is below the equilibrium market price always leads to the emergence of a parallel existing “shadow” market of the good in question and the formation of a “shadow” price on this market that is higher than the officially established one.

Thus, despite the formal accessibility of general education in Russia, there is an inequality of opportunities in obtaining a quality school education, due to the socio-economic stratification of society. The main danger of this phenomenon is that, arising at the stage of the preschool filter, it can be preserved and subsequently reproduced at all further stages of education.

To assess the expenses of Russian households related to the preparation of a child for school and his admission to school, we use data from a representative survey of the Public Opinion Foundation conducted in 2004. As mentioned above, about 25% of families with preschool children of the corresponding age bear such costs. At the same time, approximately 21% of households purchase books, stationery and other supplies necessary for school. The expenses of Muscovites in this case amount to 3,200 rubles a year, the expenses of a non-Moscow family - 1,300 rubles a year. Another 2.4% of families spend money on the necessary medical examination of the child (1,900 and 300 rubles, respectively); 0.3% of respondents pay for testing or an entrance exam to school (1,500 and 500 rubles, respectively).

As the child grows older, parents begin to seriously think about which school to send him to. Let us consider some results of a sociological survey of parents of preschool children conducted in 2003 in 4 pilot regions. Characteristically, if about 30% of the parents surveyed say something definite about the characteristics of the school for children under the age of 3, then almost 100% of the parents express their preferences for children older than 5 years. At the same time, if for parents of younger children, only such characteristics of the school as a convenient location and good teachers are important, then for parents of children of an older age category, the opportunity after this school to enroll in good university.

The territorial factor influencing the accessibility of quality education plays an important role. The existing economic differentiation between large cities (primarily Moscow) and regions, with limited mobility, leads to inequality in access to education. Many Moscow families begin to build educational strategies for their children from a very young age. 17% of the capital's residents invest in the educational preparation of the child for school. Of these, 12% pay official fees to various educational institutions (5,500 rubles a year on average) and 5% pay for the services of private teachers (9,400 rubles a year on average). In other regions of Russia, only 8.2% of respondents make similar investments. Of these, 6.7% pay official fees to various educational institutions (2,200 rubles a year on average) and 1.5% pay for the services of private teachers (3,200 rubles a year on average). Analyzing this segment of the educational services market, it should be noted that in the capital there is no longer only demand for the services in question. Compared to other regions, their offer is also significant and varied.

As it turned out during the survey, some parents (3.4% in Moscow and 1.2% in Russia) pay the official entrance fee when their child enters school. In the regions, it is quite insignificant - 400 rubles, in Moscow it is much higher - 12,300 rubles. The practice of bribes and gifts for taking a child to a good school still persists, as such schools become an increasingly scarce resource. According to indirect estimates and, 8.7% of Moscow families and 1.7% of other Russians gave bribes for enrolling a child in a school educational institution in the academic year. At the same time, the average bribe for Muscovites was 24,500 rubles, and for residents of other regions - 6,600 rubles. Almost half of the families (45%) are aware of the existence of the practice of informal payments for a child's admission to a good school. Most of those who are familiar with this practice are in Moscow and St. Petersburg (67%). In small towns, the proportion of such families is 40%, and in villages - 27%. From 40 to 50 percent of families are ready to pay for the sake of getting their child into a good school, while the proportion of those who are "rather ready" in settlements of different types is almost the same, and the share of "definitely ready" in Moscow and St. Petersburg is twice higher than in villages (30% versus 15% respectively)

In Russian educational institutions in 2003, the number of students per 1 personal computer was 46 people. And for 1 personal computer with Internet access, there were 400-440 schoolchildren. The results of PISA, which are unpleasant for our national self-consciousness, are explained, in particular, by this lag in the field of modern educational technologies.

In 2003, in the course of a sociological survey of teachers in 4 "pilot" regions, the degree of provision of teaching staff with the items necessary for work was studied. As follows from the responses of teachers, the provision of the educational process in general educational institutions with the means necessary for normal work is insufficient. The most scarce resource is free Internet access: on average, 16% of the teachers surveyed are provided with it. Only 30% of respondents receive computer diskettes and stationery (notebooks, pens, etc.) at their place of work. But teachers need pens every day to check students' homework and give grades. Only half of the teachers are provided with computers and professional literature at their place of work; 40% of the teachers surveyed are not provided with textbooks.

The teachers of Moscow schools are best provided with the necessary subjects for work. No significant differences are observed in other regions. Attention is drawn to the fact that for most positions the level of provision in rural schools is higher than the average for all types of schools. Apparently, this is explained by the fact that the total number of teachers in rural schools is much less than in urban ones. Therefore, the share of each rural teacher accounts for a greater number of textbooks, stationery and copies of professional literature provided by the institution.

Only 20% of the teachers surveyed did not buy things necessary for work with their own money. The percentage of purchases of computer equipment and related products (floppy disks, CDs, Internet cards) is very small - from 2 to 13%. In combination with the insufficient level of provision of information resources at the place of work, this is an alarming symptom, signaling the unpreparedness of at least half of the teaching staff to train schoolchildren in accordance with the requirements of modern information technologies. The reasons for this are the lack of computer literacy among many teachers (especially older ones), as well as the lack of financial resources from schools and teachers themselves to buy modern office equipment (computers, printers), the cost of which is not comparable with the average salary of a school teacher. Most often, school teachers purchase stationery, professional literature and textbooks, spending on this almost 2/3 of their wages at their main place of work.

We have already spoken about the current trend towards a decrease in the quality of general education in Russia. One of the reasons explaining this trend is the low level of wages. Although in recent years (years) there has been a significant increase in the wages of school workers, it still remains quite low.

The low level of wages makes teachers look for additional sources of income. For the majority, this is either work in another institution, or tutoring, or an increase in the load, sometimes due to the combination of subjects. Then what kind of quality preparation of schoolchildren for life in society, about the development of professional educational programs can we talk about if most of the teaching staff increases their income by increasing working hours?

Consequently, today there is a trend of turning a school teacher into a technical school teacher, as he increasingly becomes only a translator of a certain set of knowledge, gradually losing the educational function necessary for elementary and basic schools. Finally, more than 40% of part-time teachers give private lessons. Tutoring is another way to increase the money income of school teachers.

According to the results of a sociological survey of teachers in 6 pilot regions, conducted in 2004, the average salary of a school teacher at the main place of work is almost 9,300 rubles per month in Moscow, about 3,900 rubles in the regions, and about 3,700 rubles in incomplete and rural schools. Thus, in 2004 the salaries of teachers increased in comparison with 2003. 36% of teachers earn extra money, most often it is private tutoring. This additional work makes it possible to earn about 6,800 rubles a month in Moscow and 2,200 rubles in the regions. The least (10%) and the least (600 rubles a month) employees of rural schools have additional earnings.

Uncompetitive income levels lead to an aging teaching staff. According to sociological surveys in the pilot regions, the average age of teachers is 41-43 years. According to state statistics in 2003, 15.7% of 5th grade teachers were older than working age. Among teachers in grades 1-4, teachers older than working age accounted for 10%. There are practically no young recruits in the system of educational institutions. The school is supported by teachers of middle and retirement age, as a result of which there is a certain conservatism in the knowledge of schoolchildren. Young professionals do not go to work in school. In the labor market in the field of education, there is a steady trend towards the outflow of workers from the industry.

The low level of income of employees of educational institutions gives rise to the practice of unofficial payments and gifts. Corrupt relations in the school education system distort the signals in the market of educational services. An analysis of the monitoring results showed that about every thirtieth family in Russia (except Moscow) and about every twentieth family in Moscow unofficially paid at school for special treatment of their child. Underfunding of school teachers, their low motivation lead to the fact that there is no one to deal with the moral education of the younger generation.

The deterioration in the quality of the material and technical base and the staffing of the general education system is largely a consequence of the insufficiency of its budgetary financing. Budget expenditures per 1 student in the system of general education in 2004 amounted to 16.65 thousand rubles.

Budget funds received by general education institutions account for approximately 50% of all budget expenditures on the educational system. At the same time, general education is almost completely financed from the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and local budgets. Expenditure on general education institutions from the consolidated budget amounted to 1.8% of the country's gross domestic product in 2004 and 1.5% of GDP in 2000. The share of budget expenditures on general education in the total volume of RF budget expenditures in 2004 was 6.4% against 6% in 2003. But, speaking of budget expenditures, it should be said that visible growth is not a qualitative indicator of the improvement in the situation with the financing of the general education system, since in real terms the volume of invested funds has not changed much. During the period under review, rather high inflation rates are observed in the Russian economy.

In addition, the amount of public funds received in the general education system is not always used effectively. For example, computerization and Internet connection of rural schools will not be used properly without appropriate qualified service. It is clear that each such school will require an increase in staff, and therefore a significant increase in costs. In order to attract qualified specialists to rural schools, it is necessary not only to pay high wages, but also to provide housing and other guarantees of social well-being. And at the current moment, the possibilities of the budget do not allow the proper operation of modern equipment.

A considerable part of the budget funds is directed to the implementation of programs in high school, the goals of which are not achieved. The heavy workload required to complete the curriculum in high school is practically becoming a burden for schoolchildren. As a result, they ignore courses that are not related to their chosen field of study. Consequently, public finances are spent for other purposes. It would be better to increase the efficiency of the use of budgetary funds through the creation of specialized areas in the senior classes and the corresponding redistribution of finances.

Today, with the extreme stratification of property, the Russians turned out to be unequal, including in the possibility of realizing the equal fundamental rights proclaimed by the Constitution for all - to education or medical care.

Thus, the school education market needs to be regulated - both by the state, and by the professional community, and by consumers. The school system lays the foundation for the overall process of shaping future qualifications. And here, from the point of view of the needs of the economy, several common tasks are visible. One of the tasks of the school system is the availability of high-quality teaching, which, in turn, must meet the realities of life, modern technology and social needs, and which depends on the prestige and status of teaching work, its remuneration, conditions, and the level of training of the teachers themselves. Independent quality control of the services provided is necessary.

Creating a competitive level of wages for workers in this field of education, increasing the authority of teaching, organizing quality control of services, redistributing resources allocated to the system of general education by households and the state will reduce the losses of society. If the school continues to develop by inertia, then by 2010 school graduates will receive a "pseudo-education", which will contribute to the further development of corruption phenomena. In this case, it will be difficult to talk about ensuring equal access to education based on ability, rather than financial ability.

Literature:

1. Education in Russian Federation. Statistical Yearbook. - M.: GU-HSE, 200s.

2. federal Service state statistics, 2006

http://www. /scripts/db_inet/dbinet. cgi

3. Monitoring the economics of education. "Social differentiation and educational strategies of students and schoolchildren". Newsletter #6, 2007

4. Economics of education in the mirror of statistics. Newsletter, No. / Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, SU-HSE. - M., .

5. Monitoring the economics of education. "Economic strategies of families in the field of children's education". Newsletter No. 4, 2007

I'm here also broken spears. The majority of the population (according to the results of a study by A.G. Levinson) continues to believe that education, including higher education, should be free. But in fact, more than 46% of the total number of students in state universities pays. Today, 57% of students study at state universities on a paid basis in their first year. If we take into account the contingent of non-state universities, it turns out that in Russia at present every second student pays for higher education(in fact, 56% of Russian students are already studying on a paid basis). At the same time, the cost of education, both in the public and non-public sectors of higher education, is constantly growing.

As early as 2003, tuition fees at state universities exceeded tuition fees at non-state ones. At prestigious higher education institutions, tuition fees can be 2-10 times higher than the average, depending on the type of institution and specialty, as well as location educational institution.

Significant funds are spent by families not only on education at the university, but also on admission to high school. According to sociological research, families spend about 80 billion rubles on the transition from school to university. This is a lot of money, so changing the rules for admission to universities (for example, the introduction of a unified state exam - the Unified State Examination) will inevitably affect someone's material interests. Tutoring accounts for the largest share of the above amount (approximately 60%). It is unlikely that tutoring in itself can be considered an absolute evil. Firstly, it was, for example, back in Tsarist Russia, was practiced in the Soviet era, and has flourished at the present time. Secondly, with mass production - and modern education is mass production - the need for an individual fit of a product or service to the needs of the consumer is inevitable. This is the normal role of the tutor.

But in recent years, for many tutors (although by no means for all), this role has changed significantly: it began to consist in the fact that the tutor had not so much to teach something within the framework of the school curriculum, and not so much to give knowledge in accordance with the requirements are no longer universities, but a specific university, how much to ensure admission to the chosen university. This meant that payment was taken not for giving knowledge and skills, but for certain information (about the features of examination problems, for example, or how to solve a specific problem) or even for informal services (to poke around, follow up, etc.). Therefore, it became necessary to take a tutor only and exclusively from the educational institution to which the child was going to enter (this applies both to the provision of some exclusive information, and to the provision of informal services). This does not mean that admission to all universities was necessarily associated with tutors or with informal relationships, but it became more and more difficult to enter prestigious universities or prestigious specialties without appropriate “support”. In general, the idea began to take shape that a good education at school was no longer enough to enter the university that allowed one to hope for a successful professional career in the future.

Sociological studies have shown that parents are still inclined to believe that "you can study at a well-known university for free, but it is no longer possible to enter it without money." Connections are an alternative to money. In a "regular" university, there may still be enough knowledge itself, but the knowledge itself is already differentiated into just knowledge, and knowledge, taking into account the requirements of a "specific university". And this knowledge is given only either by courses at the university, or again by tutors.

38.4% of applicants are guided only by knowledge. At the same time, the orientation only to knowledge when entering in this context means that the applicant and his family are not inclined to enter into informal relations for the sake of entering a university. But this does not at all indicate that such applicants will not use the services of tutors, it’s just that the perception of a tutor in this case is different - this is a person (a teacher or a university lecturer, just a certain specialist) who transfers knowledge, and does not “help with admission” .

Orientation to knowledge and money or/and connections among 51.2% of applicants indicates that the applicant (his family) believes that knowledge alone may not be enough, and it is necessary to insure either money or connections. In this case, the tutor performs a dual role - he must both teach and provide support to his client upon admission. The forms of this support can be different - from withdrawing to the right people to transferring money. Sometimes, however, a tutor can only teach, and intermediaries for transferring money are sought independently of him. And, finally, the third category of applicants openly counts only on money or connections. At the same time, a tutor can also be taken, but his payment is actually the mechanism for paying for admission: this is the person who pushes into the university - we are no longer talking about the transfer of knowledge.

The extremely high proportion of those who consider it necessary to use money and connections when entering a university (more than 2/3) indicates that persistent clichés arise in public opinion, which university can be entered “without money”, and which “only with money or connections. Accordingly, entry strategies are built, the choice of a university is made, and ideas are formed about the availability or inaccessibility of higher education among various groups of the population. It is characteristic that the concept of accessibility is increasingly supplemented by the words "quality education". In this context, it is no longer significant that higher education has become accessible at all, but that certain segments of it have become even more inaccessible.

career paid education

3. The role of the USE in the accessibility of higher education

Because of this, one State exam should and will be perceived in society extremely ambiguously. The idea of ​​the USE as a tool to fight corruption in entrance examinations or tutoring (which is far from the same thing) does not exhaust even a small fraction of the understanding (or misunderstanding) of this tool. When they say that the USE increases the accessibility of higher education, then in a situation where it has already become accessible, this statement is of little worth. The most important is the answer to the question, to whom exactly and what kind of education will become available as a result of introduction of the USE. Obviously, a prestigious education will never be enough for everyone - that's why it is prestigious (which includes a certain restriction of access). It will also not be possible to create a mass good higher education in a short time (and in Russia the contingent of university students has grown 2.4 times over 15 years). The process of massization of higher education in the country is proceeding at an unprecedented pace (similar processes in the republics of the former USSR, as well as other countries with economies in transition, have not acquired such a scale), and the quality of education in its traditional sense will inevitably fall in these conditions. Therefore, if earlier it was possible to talk about fixing a certain quality and expanding accessibility, now the achieved level of accessibility must be provided with at least some acceptable quality. At the same time, given the limited budget funds and effective demand of the population, this task cannot be solved simultaneously for the entire system of higher education. It would be more practical and honest to legitimize the differentiation of universities, especially since at the moment everyone knows that they differ in the quality of education. Explicit fixation of differences in quality educational program could become the basis for posing the problem of accessibility, since the question would no longer be raised about the accessibility of higher education in general, but in relation to a specific category of higher education institutions. But to legitimize the differentiation of universities in terms of prestige or the quality of the educational program (which, generally speaking, does not always coincide) means at the same time to legitimize the differences in their budgetary financing. They - these differences - exist at the present time, but they are informal (exclusive). Making them formal and clearly defined means, on the one hand, fixing some rules of the game, and, on the other hand, explicitly prescribing the responsibilities of those universities that are at the top. In other words, formalization will also affect the rights and responsibilities of the parties, and whether the parties are ready for this is a big question. The idea of ​​GIFO - state nominal financial obligations - no matter how controversial it was in itself, this problem made it possible to fix this problem very clearly: many prestigious universities, to which all applicants would come, even with the highest GIFO category - the 1st category, would not receive those the budget they currently receive. And, besides, it could have happened that they would have come with lower categories of GIFO, which would have jeopardized the financial well-being of these universities.

At the same time, the lack of formalization of differences in the position of universities leads to the fact that teachers of even very prestigious educational institutions receive very small salaries, and tutoring becomes an almost obligatory means for them to stay teaching at a university. Our calculations show that, on average, a tutor receives about 100-150 thousand rubles a year. or about 8-12 thousand rubles. per month. Considering that the budgetary salary of even a professor is on average 5.5 thousand rubles, we find that the tutoring “appendage” provides an income for a university teacher somewhat higher than the average salary in industry or the average salary in such an industry as non-ferrous metallurgy. Naturally, prices and incomes are highly differentiated in this sector.

If we look at the problem of the USE from these positions, then it will come out in a slightly different perspective. Already in the course of an experiment on single exam acti began

“In the aspect of the study of value orientations, special attention is paid to the value of “education”.

Speaking about education, it should be noted that today there are several specific promising trends in the development of a modern university:

1. The attitude of students and their parents towards university education is becoming more and more consumerist. Of great importance are such components of choosing a university as a well-known brand, a beautiful and convincing catalog, good advertising, a modern website, and so on. In addition, and perhaps in the first place, the principle of "price-quality" turns into a leading one in determining a higher educational institution for future students and their parents. The university should be a mega market for knowledge consumption, with all the ensuing consequences.

2. For the majority of students, university education has lost the characteristic of "fatefulness". Education at the university is just an episode in their life, unfolding along with other equally important episodes: parallel work, personal life, and so on.

3. The university should be at the forefront of the technical and technological process, offering students the latest achievements in the organization of the educational process and student life.

4. Gradual university education is included in the process of virtualization, i.e. distance education programs, teleconferences, education via the Internet - sites and so on are gaining more and more weight. For any student, the university and the teacher should be promptly available.”

At the same time, over the past 15-20 years, many problems have accumulated in the Russian education system that threaten the preservation of the high educational potential of the nation.

One of the serious negative trends in the Russian education system has been the strengthening of social differentiation in terms of the degree of accessibility of different levels of education, as well as the level and quality of the education received. Interregional differentiation continues to grow, between urban and rural areas, as well as the differentiation of opportunities for obtaining high-quality education for children from families with different income levels.

“There is a problem of accessibility of higher education for people with disabilities, associated with the reform of the education system and social policy in relation to people with disabilities.

Despite the current federal legislation that guarantees benefits for applicants with disabilities, a number of factors make it difficult for people with disabilities to enter a university. Most universities in Russia are not provided with even the minimum conditions necessary for teaching disabled people in them. Higher education institutions do not have the opportunity to reconstruct their premises according to the principles of universal design from their own budgetary funds.

Currently, applicants with disabilities have two alternatives. The first is to enroll in a higher education institution at the place of residence, where there is hardly an adapted barrier environment, where teachers are hardly prepared to work with people with disabilities. And the second is to go to another region where such an environment exists. But then another problem arises related to the fact that a disabled person who comes from another region must “bring with him” the financing of his rehabilitation program, which is difficult due to the mismatch between departments.”

Within the boundaries of the common European educational space, students and teachers will be able to freely move from university to university, and the received document on education will be recognized throughout Europe, which will significantly expand the labor market for everyone.

In this regard, complex organizational transformations are ahead in the field of Russian higher education: the transition to a multi-level system of personnel training; the introduction of credit units, the required number of which a student must collect to obtain a qualification; practical implementation of the mobility of students, teachers, researchers, etc.

Any education is a humanitarian problem. Education, of course, means awareness and professional competence, and characterizes the personal qualities of a person as a subject of the historical process and individual life.

At present, there is a trend towards the commercialization of higher education, towards the transformation of universities into commercial enterprises. Relations between a teacher and a student are becoming increasingly market-oriented: the teacher sells his services - the student buys them or orders new ones if the proposed ones do not satisfy him. The disciplines taught are reoriented to the immediate needs of the market, as a result of which there is a “decrease” in the importance of systemic fundamentality. There is a reduction in the proportion of courses in fundamental sciences, which give way to the so-called "useful knowledge", that is, applied knowledge, primarily to numerous special courses, sometimes esoteric.

As a legacy from the Soviet era, Rossi inherited free higher professional education, one of the main principles of which was the competitive selection of university applicants. But there was and especially reveals itself in modern conditions, along with the official, a completely different practice of selecting applicants for higher education. It is based, on the one hand, on the social ties of the families of applicants, on social capital, on the other hand, on the basis of monetary relations, in other words, on the purchase of the necessary results of competitive selection, regardless of the actual level of preparation of applicants and their intellectual development. Not those who are better prepared and think better, but those for whom the parents were able to pay the necessary amount of money, go to study.

The university is both an intellectual and information center for local civil society institutions, as well as a forge of leadership qualities for them. Higher education, primarily universities, can play a key role in the deep evolutionary transformation of regions, the country as a whole, in the formation and development of civil society in it. This requires the formation of interest both in university structures and in the student environment.

“The first paid places in state universities appeared in 1992. The demand for paid higher education services began to form precisely from that time, i.e. even before the opening of the first non-state universities (1995) In 2001-2002. 65% of the respondents considered paid education more prestigious, and among the group of "payers" this opinion was expressed by 75% of respondents. In 2006-2007 the total number of students who deny the greater prestige of commercial education compared to education at state universities increased to 87%, and the share of those who hold the same opinion among the "payers" was 90%. Among the reasons why one or another system of education is chosen, the main ones are still the ease of admission and the desire to reduce the risk of failing exams to zero (more than 90% both in 2001-2002 and in 2006-2007) . Other reasons - the level of training of teachers, the best technical equipment of universities - do not have a significant impact on the selection process. When studying the attitude of students towards paid education, it is important to consider what their ability to pay for education is.

Also, based on the study of Tyuryukanov E.V. and Ledeneva L.I., it can be noted that now the prestige of higher education is high both in general among the population of migrants surveyed by them, and in each individual region. At the same time, in general, migrant families are distinguished by limited adaptation resources: both material, and information, communication and social. They are torn out of their usual life context and have limited access to social services and cultural values. The successful integration of migrants into Russian society, their transformation into an organic part of the Russian population will, in particular, contribute to the implementation of the educational orientations of their children

The modern education system increasingly concentrates the functions of the socialization of the individual, including young people with disabilities. Today, there is an acute need to help people with disabilities fully engage in society, which involves the realization of the right to education, improvement and creation of specialized educational structures, learning technologies. In European countries, disabled people are guaranteed higher education. No higher educational institution in the developed countries of the world has the right to refuse admission to an applicant with disabilities. At the same time, the problematic point is the availability of education for students with special needs. In this regard, it becomes necessary to consider the systems of higher education abroad (USA, Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden), the features of the organization of professional training of young people in higher educational institutions. The features and specifics of higher education for persons with disabilities in the above countries were analyzed within the framework of the Tempus-Tacis European project "Center for Higher Education for the Disabled" (trips, seminars, trainings, conferences), as well as during a research trip to the United States within the framework of the project "Secondary Education in the USA: a project for one state”. There are different classifications of disability in the countries under review. So, in Belgium, 8 types of disability are distinguished: 1) a mild degree of mental retardation; 2) severe degree of mental retardation; 3) emotional disorders; 4) limited physical abilities; 5) congenital diseases; 6) hearing impairment; 7) visual impairment; 8) dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysphasia. In the UK, according to the Guidelines for the Provision of Students with Disabilities in Higher Education, there are six groups of students with disabilities: with dyslexia; with hidden diseases (diabetes, epilepsy, asthma); with mental disorders; with hearing impairments; with visual impairments; with disorders of the musculoskeletal system. The United States and Sweden distinguish five types of disability: visual impairment; hearing impairment; disorders of the musculoskeletal system; mental disorders and learning difficulties. In Germany, four types of disability are defined: physical disabilities, mental disorders, mental retardation, a combination of several types of diseases. The specificity of the Italian definition of types of disability is the complete lack of classification. The concept of "disability" includes the presence in a person of various disorders of more than 66%. This is set by the health authorities. This approach is also typical for Spain - more than 33% of people with disabilities are considered disabled. Thus, a distinctive feature of the typology of disability in European countries, the United States is the absence of disability groups (as in Russia, Ukraine), the presence of a greater number of types and types of people with disabilities. Also characteristic is the mandatory allocation of such a type as disabled people with learning difficulties (dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysphasia). An important factor in the accessibility of higher education is the payment for educational services. It is regulated by the laws of foreign countries, in which the essential principle is that for none of the categories of students free education - there is compensation for it. Allowances, scholarships are paid, grants are provided, loans are issued. These costs are financed by organizations, funds, centers, services, local governments. Students, applying to the university service, receive information about which funds, organizations to apply for financial assistance, or independently look for a source of funding. For example, in the UK, full-time students with disabilities receive a basic government grant. In addition to full-time disabled students, part-time students, as well as graduate students, are also entitled to benefits. There are funds at universities, the funds from which can also be paid to students with disabilities. Part-time students with disabilities and graduate students at a British university receive student allowances, which are divided into three groups: 1) allowances for special equipment - a computer, a scanner, specialized software, a digital voice recorder, an electronic dictionary, an Oxford dictionary, a pocket organizer, color bookmarks , insurance and of course, ongoing support of equipment, according to individual needs; 2) non-medical aids - additional classes, exercises, but not the main course of the discipline; 3) basic student allowance - copying, tape recording for lectures, colored paper, additional books. The amount of the allowance depends on how many hours a day a student with a disability studies, even with distance learning. Typical for the payment of tuition in the Italian system of higher education is the payment of tax. However, if a student has a disability greater than 66%, he is entitled to a full exemption from university tuition fees. It is necessary to present at the beginning of the school year a certificate of a disabled person issued by the health authorities. Also, local authorities establish additional payments for various expenses (transportation, home help). In Spain, universities provide preferential payment if the disability is 33% or more. Compensation for the rest of the money comes from scholarships, allowances, for which you need to submit documents and write an application. Germany provides people with disabilities with student loans. The United States provides free education for people with disabilities under the Education for Persons with Developmental Disabilities and Health Act (1997) . It is beneficial for American higher education institutions to have students with disabilities, because the state allocates funds for the organization of support and accompaniment of students of this category. Students with disabilities have the right to apply for scholarships to various foundations, organizations, centers. The tuition fee system in the UK is similar to the American one. Under the Disability Discrimination in Education Act (1999), the state provides grants, loans, or other payments to Educational and Skills Councils to provide appropriate support for students with disabilities. A prerequisite is the submission of public reports on the spending of funds by universities. In the context of the study, it is important to analyze the presence of departments that provide high-quality higher education to disabled people in the universities of the United States and the countries of the European Union. Table 1 presents a list of centers, departments, services for working with students with disabilities in the analyzed foreign universities. Each higher educational institution in foreign countries has its own service or support center for students with disabilities, which is a distinctive feature from Russian universities. Table 1 Structural subdivisions that provide support and accompaniment for students with disabilities in foreign universities State University Sam Houston Disability Services Counseling Center Tulane University Disability Services Office University of Minnesota Disability Support Center University of North Carolina at Acheville Disability Services Office 2. Belgium Free University of Brussels Center for Research and Training for Disability Services Catholic University of Leuven Center for Disability Research Ghent University Disability Student Assistance Service 3. UK Queen's University Belfast Disability Support Center University of Edinburgh Disability Services Open University Yorkshire Disability Student Services, Persons with Disabilities and Additional Needs 4. Germany University of Wuppertal Disability Services and chronically ill students Heidelberg University Service for Disabled and Chronically Ill Students Technical University of Berlin Service for students with disabilities disabilities and chronic diseases Technical University Dortmund Dormund Center for Disability Research 5. Spain National University Distance Learning Integration Support Service for Students with Physical or Sensory Disabilities University of Barcelona Integration Service for Persons with Special Needs University of Valencia Service for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities 6. Italy University of Padua Social Integration Support Service for the Disabled University of Milan Management for the Disabled University of Pisa Integration Service University of Florence Disability Student Service 7. Sweden Stockholm University Disability Student Service Karolinska Medical University Center for Students with Disabilities Swedish Agricultural University Center for Students with Disabilities Uppsala University Center for Disability the material of the activities of the services and centers presented in Table 1, in some countries the centers become not only a training and rehabilitation subdivision a social and pedagogical support for students with disabilities, but also a research one. Examples are Belgium (Centre for Research and Training for Assistance to Persons with Disabilities, Center for the Study of Disabled Persons); Germany (Dormundt Center for Disability Research); Sweden (Center for the Disabled). In the context of our study, it is important to note that one of the important characteristics of the higher education system for students with disabilities is the presence of a responsible (coordinator) for the affairs of the disabled at each faculty, institute, department of the university. There are such specialists in every university in the United States and European countries. Domestic higher education institutions have not yet introduced such a system for coordinating efforts and taking responsibility for the result in teaching people with disabilities. In addition, in the universities of a number of countries (USA, UK, Spain, Sweden), a prerequisite for successful education of people with disabilities is the presence of an ombudsman, a specialist who checks the observance and implementation of all the rights of students with disabilities, and especially during the educational process. In Russia, there is also the position of an ombudsman, but only at the national level. However, there are no ombudsmen in any of the domestic universities. At the same time, their presence would contribute to the development of recommendations and guidelines for the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities in accordance with international standards. An analysis of foreign experience showed significant differences from domestic experience in the field of organizing the accessibility of education for students with disabilities, namely: the introduction of the position of coordinator (responsible) at the faculty (institute) for working with students with disabilities; the presence in the university of specialists who accompany students with disabilities in the educational process (mentors, tutors, coaches, support assistants); development of international exchange programs for students with disabilities. It should be noted that the above distinctive features for domestic universities are a promising direction in providing quality higher education for people with disabilities. This study was carried out within the framework of the state task of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation "Development and implementation of a system for the rehabilitation of students with disabilities in an inclusive educational environment of the Republic of Crimea" (No. 115052150078).

Introduction to the problem

1. The role of educational career planning

2. The problem of paid higher education

3. The role of the USE in the accessibility of higher education

Summary

Literature

Introduction to the problem

The issues of developing education in our country are hot issues, they now affect the interests of almost every Russian family. One of these issues is the accessibility of higher education.

Since 2000, the number of students admitted to universities has exceeded the number of those who successfully completed 11 classes and received a matriculation certificate. In 2006, this gap reached 270 thousand people. University enrollment has exceeded 1.6 million in recent years.

But a sharp decline in the number of applicants due to demographic reasons is not far off. For another year or two, the number of school graduates will exceed 1 million people, and then it will decrease to about 850-870 thousand. Judging by the situation in recent years, there should be a huge surplus of places in universities, and the problem of affordability will cease to exist. So is it or isn't it?

Now having a higher education has become prestigious. Will this situation change in the near future? To a large extent, the prevailing attitude towards the problems of higher education is formed under the influence of the trends that we observe - and it is rather inertial. In 2005, it is hard to believe that in the early 90s of the last century, young people thought whether to go to university or not. Many then preferred to make a choice in favor of the “real business”, and now they are “gaining” education in order to consolidate that social status, which they received by postponing their studies to a later date.

But a significant part of those entering universities in recent years go there only because it becomes simply indecent not to have a higher education. Moreover, since higher education is becoming a social norm, the employer prefers to hire those who have received it.

So, everyone learns - sooner or later, but they learn, albeit in different ways. And it is difficult for us, in the conditions of an educational boom, to imagine that in a year or two the situation in the higher education system can change and, accordingly, our perception of many problems associated with entering higher education will change.

1. The role of educational career planning

On June 30, 2007, the Independent Institute for Social Policy (IISP) held an international conference dedicated to the results of the large-scale project “Accessibility of Higher Education for Socially Vulnerable Groups”. Speaking about the accessibility of higher education, we will largely rely on these studies, which are unique for Russia. At the same time, we will dwell on the results of another very interesting project “Monitoring the Economics of Education”, which has been conducted by the HSE for the third year already.

As the results of both studies show, the desire to get a higher education and the willingness to pay for tuition is characteristic of almost all Russian families: both families with high incomes and families with very modest incomes. Both parents with a high level of education and those with a low one are ready to pay. However, different family resources lead children to different outcomes. This determines not only which university the child will eventually enter, but also what job he will be able to apply for after receiving higher education. But different financial possibilities of families begin to influence the education of a child much earlier than it comes to entering universities.

These opportunities are already determined by the school in which the child went to study. If even 20 years ago you could simply send your son or daughter to a school next to your home, now you have to choose the “right” school. True, both 20 and 30 years ago, the quality of a school was largely assessed by how its graduates entered universities: everyone or almost everyone entered a good school. No matter how many eminent figures in education now say that the school should not train for a university, that the orientation towards admission deforms the educational process, cripple the child's psyche and creates in him the wrong attitudes in life - the school continues to prepare for a university. But if earlier it was possible to say that everyone gets good from a good teacher, and this supplemented the characteristics of the school, now a good school is a necessary, but, as a rule, far from sufficient condition for admission to the university in which the child wants to enter or in which wants to identify his family. And now almost no one remembers the teacher. At the same time, in recent years, the formation of educational networks of universities has been underway, and depending on whether the school belongs to the near or far circle of such a network, the chances of a child getting into the chosen university increase or decrease.

However, a child's real educational career begins even before school. Parents now have to think about it literally from his birth: which kindergarten he will go to, how to get into a prestigious school, which one to finish. It can be said that now from early childhood there is an accumulation of the "credit" educational history of the child. It is important not only how he studied, but also where. Admission or non-admission to a particular university is a logical continuation of an educational career, although it does not end with a university.

Consequently, a lot now depends on how early a family thinks about the prospects for the education of their child. And it is access to a good kindergarten and a good school that largely determines access to a good university. When we talk about the problems of rural schools, we primarily focus on the fact that the quality of education in rural schools is lower than in urban ones. This is generally true, but it is far from the whole truth. In the village, a child goes to the kindergarten that is available: his family has no choice. He goes to the only school, he again has no choice. Therefore, his parents do not think about his educational career; more precisely, they can think about it quite late, when the question of whether to go to study at a university and, if so, which one, will already rise to its full height.

A similar problem exists for children from small and even medium-sized towns. The possibilities of choice are small for them from the very beginning, and the limited choice of the university only reinforces and confirms this.

However, one should not think that children from big cities do not have problems. There are many different things in a big city, including different kindergartens and different schools. And here there are similar processes. The city is divided into different sectors, and their residents are provided with different opportunities, including educational ones. We are increasingly faced with the fact that parents are beginning to choose which area of ​​the big city to live in, depending on how they think about the education of their children. It is clear that such a choice is not possible for all families.

If we talk about the possibilities of choosing a school for children in the capitals (Moscow and St. Petersburg), then they are higher here. The role is played not only by higher incomes of the population, but also by the presence of a developed transport network that allows a schoolchild, especially a high school student, to get to school on the other side of the city.

At the same time, it must be emphasized that the educational opportunities provided by Moscow are significantly higher than in other regions of the country. This, in particular, is evidenced by the volume of paid services provided to the population of the city in education compared to other Russian regions.

So, the presence or absence of a choice either pushes parents to plan an educational career, or puts this problem on the back burner. And a separate question is the price of such a choice.

Is this situation exclusively Russian? Generally speaking, no. In developed countries, parents start planning their children's educational careers very early. Naturally, the quality of this planning depends on the educational and material level of the family. One thing is important - a modern university begins with a kindergarten.

2. The problem of paid higher education

In a study under the IISP project, E.M. Avraamova showed that children from families with a low resource potential are now enrolling en masse in universities, but this enrollment has ceased to fulfill its traditional role for higher education - the role of a social elevator. As a rule, after graduating from a higher educational institution, they find that higher education does not give them either income or social status.

Table 1

Relationship between the resource endowment of households and the possibility of obtaining a promising profession

Disappointment sets in. This is especially difficult for low-income families, since they, having sent their child to a university, as a rule, have already exhausted all the possibilities for a social breakthrough. Wealthier families, having discovered that the education received does not meet their expectations, rely on obtaining a second (other) higher education or some other prestigious educational program (for example, an MBA program).

A.G. Levinson, in his research within the framework of the IISP project, found that in Russian society obtaining two higher educations is becoming a new social norm. 20% of persons aged 13-15 years old declare a desire to receive two higher educations, including 25% of young people in the capitals and 28% in the families of specialists.

Thus, educational careers are becoming increasingly complex, involving constant choices. Accordingly, the problem of the accessibility of higher education is changing, being built into a new social and economic context.

It is also important to take into account that entering a university does not solve all problems - this is only the beginning of the journey. You have to graduate from a prestigious university. And this has become an independent problem in recent years.

The availability of higher education also depends on how the state will finance it. Currently