Russian Education in Transition: transformation of labour market, attitudes of youth and changes in management of higher and lifelong education

Abstract

abstract Education in the former USSR provided an adequate amount of domestic knowledge and skills but it did not develop individual capacities and it strictly limited any access to Western experience. A need to introduce new methods and organisation after the dissolution of the USSR was not met by the education system itself, but has penetrated into it via a badly damaged social environment, i. e. as a side effect of the failure of the orthodox Communist ideology and the crisis of the centrally planned economy. Despite more democracy in Russian society and transition to a market economy, the education system remains strongly centralised and largely dependent on decision‐making and finance at the national level. Changes in public curricula and teacher training are too hasty to bring about meaningful results. Private or parastatal institutions are profit‐oriented, lack subsidies and cannot at the moment replace public instruction and diplomas. Chaotic developments in the organisation and management of high...