On Western Experience of Student Research Activity Organization and on Opportunities for Its Improvement at Baikal State University

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to define main disadvantages of current system of research activity at Russian universities, on the basis of analyzing valuable western experience, highlighting the research course content at American universities, as well as considering the biggest drawbacks of national university courses and propose some practical solutions. This paper examines main features of American-based Research Methods courses taught at graduate level, by analyzing their structure, requirements, practice-based assignments, and other aspects. We also provide in-depth analysis of how student research activity is organized within undergraduate system of Russian education, by assessing its main characteristics and challenges. We demonstrate that the main challenge faced by Russian educators is that undergraduate (bachelor / specialist) programs at Russian universities do not provide any core curriculum Research Methods courses while having research paper as the main graduation requirement. We argue that early-on introduction of a specially designated research design course will be to a great advantage for our students as it will establish solid foundation for student research work at sophomore and senior levels. Therefore, we recommend that a basic Research Methods course should be included as a required course at Baikal State University for the majors with term research projects and final graduation research papers.