Victor Sadovnichy on Russian universities: First of all, we want to train specialists of high quality

In a few years, the main higher educational institution of Russia, Moscow State University (MSU) named after Mikhail Lomonosov, will grow to the scale of a small town. In line with the expansion project, the area of ​​the campus of the University will be 3 million square feet.

The university's rector, Viktor Sadovnichy, spoke about its development at a press conference yesterday at Ros Business Consulting (RBC).

In the coming years, MSU has significantly expanded its already rich infrastructure, both through new dormitories and academic buildings, and special projects. "For example, we have government permission to build a school for gifted children. It will be a wonderful palace. Construction will begin this summer," Sadovnichy informs.

In addition, the campus will be filled up with a new dormitory for five thousand inhabitants, two school buildings for 100 thousand places, five academic buildings, a new library, sports complex and an alley.

"All these cover one million square meters in total. We will close our territory on Koshtoyants Street - this is the limit, farther on is the Vernadsky Prospekt metro station," V.Sadovnichy says.

The MSU campus, founded by Mikhail Lomonosov and Ivan Shuvalovym by decree of the Empress Elizabeth, was located on Mohkovaya Street until 1852, and in 1953 it "crossed" the Moscow River.

"Until 1990 we had a campus covering 1 million sq. m.  Approximately from the early 2000s to the year 2008 another 1 million sq. m were built. The campus doubled in size: the library, the Shuvalovsky building, the buildings for the Department of Legal Studies and for the Economics Department, the medical center, the second Lomonosov building and several smaller buildings were built. Now we are planning to become a small city," Sadovnichy concludes.

At the press conference, the rector of Moscow State University said that he opposes the idea of ​​introducing a unified state examination (USE) for bachelor graduates. "Now this is just an idea, and it is very difficult to oppose an idea if you do not know what it is. But if it is in a trivial form, then it is wrong," Sadovnichy says. According to him, such an examination may be needed only for those graduates of Bachelor degrees who want to study on a Masters program.

The rector of Moscow State University recalled that Masters programs, which originated in Europe, have been historically conceived as an academic degree.  "A Masters program is not just about further studying; this means that a person has decided to devote herself to an academic career, she has decided to become a scholar." Introducing a USE for applying to a Masters program will result in the selection of people for scholarship based not on the skills of each individual applicant, but on “a test or some kind of averaged index."

"All this should be very carefully discussed; I think we should debate more times. I will participate in the debate, if there will be precisely defined ideas," Sadovnichy concludes.

However, the rector of Moscow State University says the additional specialized exams, which applicants take to enter the main university in Russia, allow you to objectively evaluate the level of knowledge of prospective students, RIA Novosti reports.

"I am very satisfied with the core exam organize by all our Departments, and in all Departments it is in written form," Sadovnichy says.

In his view, the unified state examination is not the only way to enter the university. "This way is necessary to supplement with others, if we want to accept talented people. In this sense, an examination of profile orientation allows us to understand an applicant," the university Rector says.

According to Sadovnichy, the second way of applying to the university is the Olympiad. "Research would show that Olympiad winners study at as high a level as those reaching a 100 score in the USE, this should not be denied," the rector explains.

To improve the quality of higher education in Russia, it is necessary to continue uniting higher educational institutions and reducing their numbers, Victor Sadovnichy says. According to the rector of Moscow State University, now in our country there are more than 3500 universities and their affiliates. Yet there is insufficient capacity to teach at a high level in all these educational institutions.

According to Sadovnichy, unification can strengthen institutions of higher learning. At the same time, the process of uniting and reducing the number of high schools should be gradual and prudent, radio "Mayak" reports

Regarding the issue of national rankings of universities, Victor Sadovnichy noted that this rating will make it possible to compare the domestic and foreign approach to quality criteria and to understand why our universities rarely occupy high positions in foreign rankings.

"As for Russia's rating, it must be independent and should take into account the mentality of our country, and we need to try conducting it and comparing the education systems of our and other countries. And then we should sit down for discussion. Our view is that, first of all, we want to train specialists of high quality: quality of education is important for us. If we compared these two approaches, the situation around the ratings would be calmer," the rector says, as quoted by the television channel "Culture."

"There are some reputational ratings that have proven themselves by working for many years. They have a name, and they rank world universities. We met with all the heads of these agencies, and they visited Moscow State University. I must say - and they too write about it – that the infrastructure of the university makes a lasting impression on them," Sadovnichy continues.

"You will agree that I am not exaggerating as a rector. But it's a different system of education, a different mentality, and of course other criteria. They vary, but they are such that each time for Russian universities they are new, and thus our universities, with their own history, cannot meet these criteria with a high score," he concludes.