Russia to Improve Quality of Higher Education Through Monitoring of Graduate Employment

The Government in Russia is very much concerned about the quality of its Higher Education and this it plans to control by regularly monitoring graduate employment. The results of the monitoring exercise with its first phase due for completion in November shall be a part of indicators for ranking Universities in 2014.

The government will not take it lightly with Universities with woeful records as the Ministry of Education may have to close such universities and their licences revoked.

How will they monitor this?

A unified register shall be opened for all graduates of Universities and their employments monitored within three months of graduation.

The register is likely to measure the percentage of graduates employed within three months of graduating, average annual salaries, career progress and salary growth. In the longer term it will also contain data on the percentage of graduates who were hired with the help of universities, or found work on their own.

It is worthy of note that only State Universities and high schools will be covered this year, others such as Private Institutions, Colleges and other Universities shall be taken care of in 2014.

What are the reasons behind this initiative?

•  To improve education quality that can match the standards obtainable elsewhere

• To inject transparency into the activities of Universities in Russia

Are there critics?

Yes! Some said the idea is too formalistic while students complained that their views were not taken into account. A representative of the Students Union described graduate employment as a superficial criterion.