Access to Higher Education for Disabled People: A Systematic Approach at Chelyabinsk State University in Russia

The language policy and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) curriculum in Russian universities are standardized, but changes are possible to meet local needs and overcome cultural barriers. The paper is a comparative study of teaching and learning English in different cultural environment at Chelyabinsk State University in the South Urals and its branch in Kostanay, Kazakhstan. The analysis is based upon the 10 teachers’ and 40 students’ interviews and the author’s teaching experience at Chelyabinsk State University and its Kostanay branch.

Given globalization and internationalization of higher education, and technological and organizational changes in the domain over the last two decades, requirements to the infrastructure, architecture and design of universities have changed drastically. The architecture of each university is viewed as a kind of an intricate system, in which the architecture and the overall style largely define the social networks and the nature of educational interactions. The advancing pace of technological progress in the digital society poses new requirements to the university infrastructure, thus stressing on the need to thoroughly study the impact of the university architecture and infrastructure on the educational process. According to global ratings, Chinese universities are becoming more and more popular with foreign students. The trend is largely triggered by the convenience of the university infrastructure there, which includes modern design, interactive educational premises, comfortable campuses, and restricted access to the areas. At the same time, Russian universities are also witnessing the increasing number of Chinese students. However, foreign students, including those from China, are far from being satisfied with the infrastructure and architecture of Russian universities. Nevertheless, the recent advancements in the Russia-China cooperation in the area of higher education compels Russian universities to enhance the educational infrastructure and adjust it to the needs of Chinese students. However, no meaningful research has been conducted so far in this domain. Within the framework of our research project, we aimed to define the architectural image of Russian and Chinese universities from the eyes of students and come up with the list of key requirements to the infrastructure of a contemporary university. The research aimed to gauge key requirements to the university infrastructure and design specifics of Russian and Chinese universities, and to assess their impact on the nature of interactions in the educational sphere. Questionnaire-based research covered three universities in Yekaterinburg. The overall audience of the project comprised 500 Chinese and 500 Russian students who are either studying or sharing apartments with the Chinese ones. The qualitative part included overt observation over the educational process in Russian and Chinese universities. According to the results, the architectural style of universities is becoming a key factor of educational interactions. A long distance between academic buildings and campuses undermine the intensity and uninterruptedness of the educational process, while the lack of comfortable, modern, and technically advanced premises deteriorates the value of the education for all students and shapes their negative perception of the overall educational process. We developed a typology of architectural and social space of universities. According to students, architectural buildings of 20th century associate with the classical university education, and the fundamental science and knowledge; those of the 1960s-1980s are seen as the aesthetical unappealing and comfortless Soviet-era holdovers, whereas modern architectural buildings are regarded as the centers of innovative activities and science. The study was able to identify architectural characteristics, develop recommendations to improve the architectural space of Russian and Chinese universities.

This paper explores pragmalinguistic strategies in the Russian language student requests made to faculty via email and Moodle learning management system (LMS) at Chelyabinsk State University, Russia, from March 2020 to March 2021, in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Drawing from the sample and a questionnaire, we focus on the type of request and its level of imposition, as well as the internal and external modification, following a modified Cross-Cultural Study of Speech Act Realization Patterns framework. The reported case study shows that students use LMS for making requests for action, and resort to email to request information. External modification is a dominant strategy used to mitigate the impositive force of the requests in the sample. LMS requests tend to be concise and directed at ‘getting stuff done’ with minimal mitigation strategies. This may illustrate a lack of essential pragmatic competence on the students’ part and be connected to the normalisation of a telegraph-style communication.

This article belongs to research type as it presents outcomes of the research conducted by the authors and includes analysis of the data gathered during polls and interpretation of university management problems unveiled during the research. The article looks into the efficacy of attracting foreign students to the Russian universities. The problem is a practical one as it solves the tasks which is relevant to universities at present. During the research authors studied foreign students’ opinion about level and quality of higher education in Russia. The main outcome of the research is the development of recommendations for university executives and local authorities concerning increase of the number of foreign students at the Russian universities. Practical part of the research included questionnaires for the foreign students from the following universities: HSE, HSE in Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow State Regional University, RANEPA, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod, Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod as well as Samara State Economic University. The poll covered 124 students. The main result of the research is the list of recommendations on increasing foreign students’ number at Russian universities based on the experience of Russian and foreign universities as well as poll results. Analysis results demonstrated the following measures to be the most relevant: increasing the number of subjects taught in English; creation of joint project uniting Russian and foreign students to solve the problem of communication and interaction; increasing English language skills of teaching and academic staff; adding newest research publications in different topic areas in English to electronic base of Russian university libraries; providing introductory trips around Russia; providing comfortable separate rooms in the dormitory for foreign students: presence of information in English in the city; opening research centers and laboratories in different areas of science. As a suggestion for further research in this topic we can mention broadening the number of respondents which will allow for identifying additional aspects of teaching at Russian universities which require improvement for upgrading university reputation and increasing its attractiveness for foreign students. The article contains authors’ research and recommendations based not only on existing foreign and Russian experience but also on primary data received from participants of the teaching process - foreign students. It must be mentioned that research does not include opinion of CIS students as most of them get benefits when coming to study in Russia. Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation is also interested in solving the problem of attracting foreign students into Russian universities therefore university executives are eager to improve university status at the international level and attract foreign students.

In modern conditions, insufficient attention is paid to the issue of introducing the results of scientific departments into production. (Research purpose) The research purpose is studying the experience of creating research and production centers for the development and implementation of the results of their activities at the repair departments of educational universities.(Materials and methods) Reviewed the results of the activities of industry problem laboratories at the leading agricultural universities of the Ministry of Agriculture; individual laboratories created by VNPO "Remdetal" (NGO "Remdetal", VNIITUVid "Remdetal") at the departments of state universities. We studied in detail the results of the activities of two laboratories. (Results and discussion) It was shown that five branch laboratories were created in Soviet times for the organization of repair production, development of technological processes, which were funded by Rosselkhoznadzor. They presented a list of laboratories at the departments of educational institutions that were funded by VNPO "Remdetal" and worked according to joint plans approved by the Russian Agricultural Academy. We analyzed in detail the activities of the laboratories established at the Chelyabinsk State University and Mordovia State University. It was noted that the laboratory at the Chelyabinsk State University for five years of activity has completed five agreements on the introduction of technologies and equipment, one PhD thesis has been defended and two have been prepared for defense. The results of the activity of the scientific and production enterprise created by the laboratory No. 11 of GOSNITI in 2000 at the Department of Technical Service of the Mordovian State University were presented. This enterprise was transformed in 2021 and currently functions as a small innovative enterprise of LLC Techservice; repairs worn-out equipment for commodity producers with 100 percent of the resource for 40-50 percent of the cost of a new product, including imported units. (Conclusions) The experience of creating research and production centers at the repair departments of universities shows the effectiveness of integrating academic science with university science in the practical implementation of the results of joint research into production.

The key development in organizing the educational process makes it required to address pedagogical science and practice to the problems of planning and implementing pedagogical discourse in the modern educational space. This article actualizes the problem of thekey subjects’recomposition (teacher, student) in the system of modern higher education in general, and in higher education in a foreign language, in particular. The aim of our research is to consider theoretical positions and experience of transforming pedagogical reality (educational environment, activities of subjects). The main research methods we have applied were theoretical analysis of scientific literature, study of documentation, purposeful pedagogical observation, study and generalization of pedagogical experience, retrospective analysis of the own pedagogical experience. The research was based on the Chelyabinsk State University. The results of the study were the following, firstly, on the basis of the system-functional analysis, the main characteristics of the pedagogical discourse were revealed, and secondly, on the basis of the synergetic approach, we have reasoned the conditions for providing the experience of the constructive transformation of the pedagogical reality and productive educational technologies, providing a step-by-step value-semantic organizing the educational process and self-realization of students and teachers.

The paper analyzes the pricing strategies of Russian state universities for bachelor and specialist programs. The analysis is carried out by studying the ratio coefficients of the tuition fees and the funding standards for budget students. On the basis of 2016–2019 Monitoring of enrollment quality at Russian universities and Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education data, it is shown that Russian universities use three types of pricing strategies when attracting a certain contingent of fee-paying students. The first strategy is typical for the leaders of the Russian higher education market: their tuition fee is significantly higher than the funding standards for budget students, while the university’s market niche allows to consistently enroll fee-paying students with a high level of training. The second strategy is used by universities that are able to enroll the required number of fee-paying students with a good level of training on a competitive basis and have advantages at the local and cross-regional levels: tuition fee is approximately at the same level as the funding standards. The third strategy is used by non-selective universities, where the quality of the education allows to enroll fee-paying students only using tuition fees that are below the level of funding standards. The results of the analysis show that competitive universities with a higher level of financial capacity set tuition fees, which significantly exceed the funding standards. At the same time, universities with weak financial capacity and difficulties in fee-paying enrollment are prone to price dumping in violation of regulatory requirements.

of Severe Plastic Deformed Gd100−xYx Alloys S. Taskaev, K. Skokov, D. Karpenkov, V. Khovaylo, V. Buchelnikov, D. Zherebtsov, M. Ulyanov, D. Bataev, M. Drobosyuk, A. Pellenen Faculty of Physics, Department of Physics, Chelyabinsk State University, 454001 Chelyabinsk, Russia National University of Science and Technology MISIS , 119049 Moscow, Russia National Research South Ural State University, 454080 Chelyabinsk, Russia Department of Physics, Tver State University, 170100 Tver, Russia ITMO University, 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia

The paper is dedicated to the memory and scientific heritage of Marij Anatolyevich Svechnikov, an outstanding researcher and teacher, founder of the Ural school of study of close binary systems and author of the classification of eclipsing variable stars. The paper provides a brief overview of the major life events and main scientific achievements of M.A. Svechnikov. The best memory is the continuation and development of those s-cientific directions to which he devoted his scientific activity. The research initiated by M.A. Svechnikov was continued in the works of his apprentices and followers at the Ural State University, Chelyabinsk State University, Chita State University, etc. The paper is based on a talk presented at the astrophysical memorial seminar “Novelties in Understanding the Evolution of Binary Stars”, dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Professor M.A. Svechnikov.

Modern tendencies in the prevalence of tobacco smoking habit among the Ural State University of Physical Culture («UralSUPC») and Chelyabinsk State University («ChelSU») students are presented in the article. The analysis of the results of a questionnaire on tobacco smoking habit, carried out in these two higher educational establishments, allowed establishing the fact, that the number of smoking students of «UralSUPC» was 31% lower than that of «ChelSU». The analysis of the passive smoke in those students was also conducted. The received results proved «UralSUPC» students to be less vulnerable to the passive smoke than those in «Chelsea». The analysis of the results of the morbidity showed the leading role of respiratory diseases in the structure of the temporary disability. Taking into account unfavorable ecological conditions, often occurring in Chelyabinsk, it can become one of the key factors for the development of chronic respiratory diseases in smoking students. The investigation results are the reason for carrying out correction work with «risk group» of smoking students.

The process of foreign students’ adaptation in a Russian educational environment is a complex multi-level phenomenon that combines educational and extracurricular areas. At the same time, extracurricular activities, as one of the components of a single educational process, are on the periphery of scientific interest. The purpose of the article is to analyze the difficulties of foreign students in extracurricular activities that contribute to the disclosure of their internal potential in the educational process and effective adaptation to the Russian educational environment. To achieve this goal, the authors used the methods of questioning, interviewing and reliability retest. The developed questionnaire is designed to identify and determine the difficulties experienced by foreign students in extracurricular activities. The calculation of correlation indicators of foreign students' answers to the questions of the questionnaire proved its reliability, since the coefficient is equal to 0.8. Foreign students were asked to indicate the problematic areas of extracurricular social activity. The study involved 100 students of various specialties from South Ural State University and Chelyabinsk State University. The results show that most of the problems are associated with insufficient knowledge of the Russian language and psychological barrier in establishing extracurricular interpersonal communications in the field of leisure activities. The data obtained can be used to improve the work of the university departments responsible for the adaptation of foreign students in the Russian speaking education environment.

The article aims at characterizing the institutional models of Russian university students’ scientific mentoring in the context of managing research activities. The institutional practices of scientific mentoring are an effective way to make an early academic career, to involve and retain talented students in the field of research and development, to popularize and strengthen the social status of science. Meanwhile, the traditional institutional forms existing in Russian universities should be developed and renewed. In addition, some practices of scientific mentoring are informal, which means that they do not have organizational support and conditions for reproduction. We focus on scientific mentoring for students of the first and second levels of higher education (bachelors, specialists, master students), who are considered as a «reserve» of the community of scientific youth. Our conclusions are based on the data of a sociological study carried out in 2023. Therein, we used methods of systematic analysis of scientific literature, of Russian and foreign universities’ websites content. The study included an online survey of 3032 students of Russian universities. The theoretical task is to substantiate the features of scientific mentoring as a scientific and educational institution. We highlight the institutional features and functions of scientific mentoring. Based on empirical data, we present the content of scientific mentoring institutional models, which have developed in modern foreign and Russian universities. The online survey of students showed their involvement in research activities, motivation for it, and the level of their scientific activity. The results of our research can be used in practice – to develop and improve scientific mentoring programs in Russian universities. The paper in general is the first attempt to interpret scientific mentoring from the standpoint of an institutional approach. We summarize the Soviet experience of scientific mentoring, as well as its modern institutional practices in foreign and Russian universities.

In modern conditions of changing the balance of power in the global educational space, with the continued dominance of Western universities, the tendency to move the centers to the East is becoming more and more relevant. At the same time, the role of Russian and Chinese universities as new educational poles is increasing. The article is devoted to the study of challenges that hinder successful practices in the implementation of internationalization strategies by Russian and Chinese universities (reputational losses of Chinese and Russian universities in the global arena due to geopolitical circumstances, contradictions of extensive internationalization and technological blockades in the form of exclusion of Russian and Chinese universities and researchers from Western technologies and equipment). The paper summarizes and characterizes the changes in the strategic documents of the Russian Federation and the PRC (focusing on technological national sovereignty, training personnel for national and regional needs, and introducing educational innovations) in the field of higher education based on existing contradictions and the distribution of influence in the global educational architecture. The authors propose a number of recommendations on ways to solve current problems in the form of further adjustments to the strategic orientations and priorities of the Russian and Chinese educational systems towards more active implementation of innovative information technologies, intensification of efforts, including joint ones, to promote the Russian Federation and China as new global educational centers, and the development of a common scientific and educational Russian-Chinese space based on Russian and Chinese languages and joint training of specialists. In general, the article argues for the need to switch to an intensification model of internationalization instead of the extensive one used.

The article is devoted to the urgent problem of training personnel carrying out the prevention of extremism and terrorism in Russia. The authors consider several categories of citizens engaged in preventive activities: state and municipal employees, school teachers and university lecturers, journalists, public and religious figures, etc., exploring the acquisition and upgrading of professional skills in the field of prevention of extremism and terrorism. Special attention is also paid to the issue of training in higher education institutions for specialists who are skilled in the relevant field both within the framework of educational programs and in the process of extracurricular activities. The problem of upgrading the skills of state and municipal employees, which are the main subjects of the prevention of extremist activity, is considered separately. The authors identify a number of problems in the training process: the lack of unified educational programs, the shortage of teachers and teaching materials, the lack of distribution of powers between state and municipal employees, and an acute shortage of resources from local authorities. Theoretical conclusions in the article are illustrated by the examples of preventive activities and training of personnel in Chelyabinsk State University

In the modern world, universities have become actors in the global market of higher education while retaining their connections with national higher education systems and staying embedded in their national culture and traditions. In this light, self-narratives of BRICS universities are of particular interest as they not only reflect these HEIs' understanding of their purpose and role in the national and international contexts but also the self-understandings of their national higher education systems. This study analyzes texts and visual elements of web-sites of Russian and Chinese universities as a part of their self-narratives and as means they use for communication with internal and external audiences. The study relies on the methodology of critical discourse analysis developed by Michelle Stack and the principles of multimodal analysis proposed by Luc Pauwels. The sample consists of five Russian and five Chinese HEIs which occupy top positions in QS University Ranking for BRICS 2019. National (Russian, Chinese) and international (English) versions of these universities' sites are analyzed. The study shows that Russian and Chinese universities are oriented primarily towards such key stakeholders as prospective students, current students and their families, and governmental agencies. Universities use their web-sites for promoting their brands among prospective students, both domestic and international, and for self-legitimization in the eyes of national governments. It was found that Chinese universities are generally more consistent in their pursuit of internationalization. Both Russian and Chinese universities, however, appear to be more focused on attracting international students rather than on establishing and developing official partnerships and academic collaborations. In their narratives, Chinese universities present themselves as rightful players on the global market that, while being embedded in national tradition and committed to innovation, are able to determine the future of the region and world in general. Russian universities, in their turn, seek to demonstrate their active involvement into the global academic context by highlighting their positions in world university rankings.