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4EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONS
DOI: 10.12731/2070-7568-2014-5-4 UDC 37.01
DEVELOPMENT OF SERVICE MARKET OF HIGHER EDUCATION AS A PRIORITY DIRECTION
OF VOCATIONAL SCHOOL MODERNIZATION
Bedenko N.N., Sergeeva M.G.
The article deals with the analysis of the developed market of higher educational services, various problems in the regional higher education service markets are designated and disproportions in the educational services market are revealed which in case of a suspense pass into the category of barriers to representatives of all interested parties.
In the unstable conditions of a social and economic situation in our society, absence of the forecast of economy development, formation of profile structure of specialist training is complicated. Violation of traditional educational communications with employers, weak influence of professional communities on educational system development, backwardness of a labor market complicates reduction of education content in compliance with economic and social sphere
requirements, the organization of practical training for students, employment of graduates. New conditions of providing educational services in Russia, such as transition from the state monopoly to a multistructure education system as well as paid education have caused a need of reorganization in the work of educational institutions. Competitive fight for the consumer has toughened requirements to quality and conditions of training service. Creation of an extensive network of the most various non-state educational institutions, penetration of the foreign educational institutions into Russian market which have a rich market experience in the field of professional education, possibility for Russian citizens to get education abroad have resulted in the fact that consumers of educational services can now make an independent choice of various training programs, depending on its contents, forms and training methods, as well as conditions of their acquisition.
Keywords: Market economy, competitive advantages, quality professional education, market of educational services, education quality standards, management of educational institutions.
The national doctrine of education in the Russian Federation consists of the following main objectives and tasks: systematic updating of all aspects of education; the organization of educational process in accordance with modern science achievements; training of highly educated people and the highly qualified specialists who are capable of further professional growth and possess professional mobility. In
this regard the professional education system has to be focused on preparation of qualitatively new generation of the experts who are in great demand in labor market. Quality of professional education - a complicated multilevel and dynamic system of the qualities focused on ensuring complete result - quality of the graduate which is defined by degree of compliance of the purposes and results of education. Thus this purpose sets forms, means, content, the course of educational process and, of course, the education result depends on its purpose. Defining the purposes and results of education of a person, researchers in the last decades have paid an increasing attention to unity motivat-sionno-cognitive and behavioral components in the structure of the graduate identity [13].
Current modernization and innovative process in economy of the Russian Federation demand a proper and fast response of educational system to occurring changes. Trying to keep up to date, higher school establishments pay much attention to the problem of quality of training that in the market economy conditions is the major factor providing competitive advantages and further successful development for both of separate higher education institutions and all national educational system. Besides, providing for the population of the country an opportunity to get high quality professional education creates real prerequisites for an increase of the status of a citizen in the society, its growth in material well-being, mobility increase.
Nowadays the higher school system is subject to the influence of various market factors, and, as a result there has been successfully created a market of the educational services. Its main characteristics are as following:
1) the existence and growth in the last decade of the isolated economic free owners functioning in the market of educational services;
2) the consumer cost of each educational service has a certain monetary value (thus it is no longer important who pays for it: a state, an organization or a person);
3) a constantly declared orientation of the educational system on labor market represents manifestation of market tendencies;
4) possibility of the conclusion in the educational sphere of agreements in different interpretations between a buyer and a seller concerning a purchase and a sale of the services connected with knowledge acquisition;
5) the competition between the educational organizations, etc. [1, pp. 18-20].
Estimating the current state of educational Russian Federation system, it should be noted that the tendency of decrease in a share of expenses for education in a total amount of expenses of the federal budget - from 4,8% in 2008 to 4,0% in 2012 is connected with end of a number of federal target programs, and also the termination of the budgetary financing of a number of actions of the priority national Education project (stimulation of the educational institutions which are actively introducing innovative educational programs, ensuring access of educational institutions to information educational resources).
According to results of the All-Russian sociological survey conducted in June, 2009 in the Russian Federation by Spetssvyaz of FSO of Russia, 58,9% of respondents estimated a state in education as good
or satisfactory. By 2020 «Population coverage by the higher and secondary professional education» indicator is to reach 60-70% value. Now the share of such citizens in the Russian Federation is 55%. It is estimated that now 63% of the population of the corresponding age gets secondary and higher education. It is planned to develop further the system of secondary and higher education, to preserve number of places in these establishments, despite existence of «a demographic hole», as well as to predict achievement of the declared indicators in the corresponding terms [6].
Actively proceeding institutional transformations in political and economic spheres of the Russian Federation have influenced the functioning and the educational system development which was affected since the beginning of the 1990s of market factors. The following are the main current trends in the development of the service market of the higher school [1, pp. 18-20]:
1. Activization of globalization processes
Globalizations of economy and aspiration to create a uniform universal market system have resulted in sharp polarization in a world civilization. Globalization in education, except some positive influence (e.g. development of educational systems of various countries according to uniform standards, creation of conditions for ensuring mobility of students, etc.), conducts to its stratification. Two branches are formed: one guarantees a broad and fundamental education (which is as a rule paid), the other - a highly specialized education which strictly limits functionality of being trained, define its social role and a place in society [2]. A positive influence of globalization on higher
education system in the Russian Federation might be the international quality standards of education, the international degrees and certificates, disappearance of distances, mobility for students and the faculty, etc.
It is possible to treat differently a globalization phenomenon, however it should be noted that the processes proceeding in this direction and often having inconsistent character, have forced national educational systems to conform to the European and international standards, still keeping the best national traditions.
2. Negative impact of demographic factors
The demographic situation in the Russian Federation is characterized by decrease in population, and since 1995 «the natural increase of the population» indicator is actually replaced with «natural losses of the population» indicator that couldn't but affect number of potential entrants of higher education institutions in the 2000s [11, pp. 31-34].
Owing to the active state policy in the field of stimulating birth rate growth in a certain degree it is possible to claim some alignment of indicators of birth rate and mortality of the population today.
The number of higher education students in 2013 is about 4,2 million people that is more than 40% lower in relation to the number of higher education students in 2009 (7,4 million people) [7]. According to the forecasts of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, since 2014, the situation to a certain degree will change - number of students' growth in educational institutions by 1-2% a year may increase the number of potential entrants [9].
3. Massovization of the higher education graduates
During 1970-2011 the number of students of VPO institutions in the country has grown by 2,6 times (from 2671,7 thousand people to 7049,8 thousand people), however, since 2005, there has been a decrease in this indicator that it is caused by both objective, and subjective factors [11, pp. 238-241].
The given tendency is also characteristic for the number of the faculties (F): its indicator has grown twice in 2005/2006 academic year in relation to 1970/1971 academic year and its 2,8% decrease in 2010/2011 academic year in relation to 2006/2007 academic year. In 2010 the number of university graduates made 1177,8 thousand people that exceeds a similar 2000 indicator more than twice [3, pp. 241-242], that fact is treated differently in society and the educational environment.
Some consider that the education level growth of the population leads to a growth of an index of human development and thus a steady growth of a world civilization, others are sure that «overproduction» of graduates with the higher education aggravates a difficult situation in labor market. Massovization of the higher education, undoubtedly, generates a choice problem between quality and quantity.
4. Commercialization of the higher education
As it was noted at a meeting of the Russian President V.V. Putin with an asset of the Russian union of rectors, the state investments into the higher education for the last six years has grown more than by 3 times (in 2011 only from the federal budget 390 billion rubles were allocated for these purposes that is 3,4 times more, than in 2005) [8].
However education in Russia faces serious insufficient funding on indicators of security with the budgetary resources. According to expert estimates the amount of financing of education in Russia makes about 4% of gross domestic product that intensifies search of new sources of means.
5. Education quality management - a new paradigm of management of higher educational system where we support A.I. Subetto's opinion. Now in the Russian higher education the formation of the intra high school quality management systems (QMS) is founded on General quality management philosophy. TQM (Total Quality Management) [14] becomes one of the priority directions of educational institutions development.
As the QMS scientific and methodological base are most often used:
1) ISO 9000 international standards;
2) perfection models (model of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, model of the Award of the Government of the Russian Federation, model of the European fund of quality management (further - EFQM), etc.);
3) the standard models developed by scientific community which take into account the specifics of functioning of higher education institutions;
4) the atypical and integrated models created by educational institutions independently, etc.
6. Regionalization of the higher education
The market relations intensified processes of regionalization of educational system of the country as one of the most important factors of alignment of level of social and economic development of territorial subjects of the Russian Federation.
First of all it is shown in education financing system. Considering considerable differentiation in the size of the budgetary funds allocated for ensuring activity of higher school establishments in various regions (7-10 times) there is a real need of search of new sources of financing: regional and local budgets, means of public and private funds, personal savings of citizens, means of economic entities, etc. It demands reorientation of the purposes of activity of educational institutions, improvement of a control system of the educational sphere according to requirements and inquiries of regional labor market, local population and business - communities [5].
Thus, ignorance of the above-designated tendencies of development of the market of educational services might lead to formation of a certain problem field. Except a formulation of problems, an assessment of degree of their importance and study, it is expedient to list the factors influencing efficiency of administrative decisions which have to be under close attention of management of educational institutions.
Problems of the regional markets of services of the higher school
In the Russian Federation the state supervision in the field of observance of the legislation regulating activity of establishments of the higher school, quality control of education are assigned to the federal
center. These processes are carried out in strictly regulated terms in the form of exit and cameral checks by knowledge testing of students, studying of system of document flow in which the facts, the phenomena, results of activity of educational institutions have to be recorded. However control and estimated procedures aren't exhaustive and deprived of shortcomings. Besides, process of the state education quality control is subject to influence of a number of the following factors:
1) remoteness of territories from the federal center;
2) impossibility of implementation of total quality control of educational services (though for prevention of «marriage» of the end result which is practically not subject to elimination, accents have to move on processes of formation of this result);
3) existence of regional features of the educational sphere;
4) selective nature of estimated procedures;
5) existence of a certain temporary log in monitoring processes.
It is obviously important to us, to stop on the problems of the regional markets of services of the higher school generated by existence of certain disproportions which in case of a suspense pass into the category of barriers to representatives of all interested parties. It should be noted that separate problems are identical to a problem field of national educational system of the country, and some have original character.
The first problem - the high specific weight of the population which is getting higher education. Since the beginning of the 1990s till 2008 the number of students of OU VPO of the Russian Federation counting on 10 000 people of the population steadily grew (from
2824,5 thousand people to 7513,1 thousand people), however the tendency of decrease in this indicator - for 6,8% (2008/2009 academic year by 2010/2011 academic year) was outlined later. The curve of number of OU VPO of the Russian Federation also testifies to significant increase in an indicator in 2010/2011 academic year in relation to 1990/1991 academic years (1115 to 514) at some decrease from 2008/2009 academic years (with 1134 to 1115) [11, p. 237].
Considering these figures in interrelation with demographic statistics, it is possible to note that the high specific weight of the population which is training in system of the higher education that is provided with decrease in similar indicators in systems of primary and secondary professional education still remains.
Without concerning the structure of training of the top skills, it is possible to draw a conclusion: the revealed disproportions will increase intensity on regional labor markets, and parts of experts with the higher education will have to agree to move instead of performance of administrative functions of various level to a performing level. Though there is a rational grain in this fact. Foreign experience testifies (for example, in Japan) about expediency of attraction on separate workplaces of graduates of the higher school, having created thus effective system of motivation and having provided high social guarantees.
The second problem - concentration of higher education institutions in the central regions of the country. So, according to statistical data of Rosstat of the Russian Federation in 2010/2011 academic year distribution of number of students of higher educational institutions on subjects of the Russian Federation looked as follows:
• Central Federal District - 31,5%.
• The northwest federal district - 10,1%.
• The Southern Federal District - 8,3%.
• North Caucasus federal district - 5,2%.
• The Volga Federal District - 19,9%.
• Ural federal district - 8,2%.
• Siberian Federal District - 12,4%.
• The Far East federal district - 4,4% [11, pp. 238-241].
These figures confirm that the main desire of potential services consumers to graduate in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as it, in their opinion, guarantees obtaining higher social status and material welfare in the future. The state, actively carrying out the regulating function in the educational environment, tries to influence this process, creating in certain areas of Federation large educational complexes - national universities. However the part of the entrants having a certain financial base or intellectual potential still seeks to study in the Russian higher education institutions with known brands or to get an education abroad that doesn't add prestige to regional higher education.
This circumstance at the same time doesn't prevent capital higher education institutions from continuing to open its branches in regions, caring thus of the financial wellbeing. Authors of article believe that the public status of regional higher education institutions first of all due to activization of efforts of their management, and also introduction of innovations in educational process, creation of conditions for development of research activity, scientific and pedagogical and or-
ganizational and administrative potentials has to change and that will eventually have to be positively reflected in quality of education.
The third problem - isolation of programs of training from time and labor market requirements. If not to mention the main educational programs (MEP) on which training of specialists is conducted, and to concentrate attention on the VPO programs for levels (a bachelor degree and a magistracy), it becomes clear: standards are new, but problems are old. Though there are also some positive moments. So, in particular, monitoring of quality of new OOP, balance of different types of preparation being trained according to the decision of Board of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation of January 25, 2011 have to be without fail to be estimated with attraction of authorized state and public associations [10].
The fourth problem - decrease in university graduates demand on a labor market. It is impossible to solve this problem only on the basis of improvement of organizational and economic mechanisms in the educational environment, in business community, on a labor market. In the beginning the emphasis has to be postponed for the main consumers of educational services, and then - for employers for formation of economically justified vocational guidance.
The analysis of statistical data testifies that as of the beginning of 2011 in total number of entrants the following groups of specialties prevail:
• economy and management - 35,7%;
• the humanities - 16,5%;
• education and pedagogics - 10,7% [11, s. 246].
At the same time currently very important directions of the training, which are capable to solve complex modern challenges of modernization of national economy, carry absolutely small weight:
• IT and computer facilities - 2,1%;
• automatic equipment and management - 1,3%;
• information security - 0,3% [3].
It is possible to change a situation by carrying out educational and explanatory work among the population and business community, creation of social and economic base for increase of prestige of separate professions, introduction of new effective organizational and economic mechanisms, etc.
Scientists have established that in 10-20 years professions which aren't present today or which don't enjoy special popularity will be demanded. Thus it is of prior importance to deal with problems of forecasting of structure of future labor market, to adapt for the forthcoming changes.
The fifth problem - ensuring availability of education. As far as concerning services of the higher education, especially in a regional section, it should be noted the following:
• life quality of the population, especially differentiation of its property status, creates certain barriers to education in higher education institution at the choice of the entrant;
• the impossibility of training in the large cities for inhabitants of the remote place creates future disproportions on a labor market: entrants are compelled to receive such higher education which is presented in their region and is economically available for their families.
The sixth problem is connected with ensuring compliance of quality of education to requirements of interested parties. At all levels of management the educational Russian Federation system declares need of ensuring availability and quality of education. And the essence of the quality of the education isn't yet reflected in any legal act. There arises a question: how is it possible to provide quality of education if it isn't legislatively fixed?
Absence of due consideration to problems of quality of education for a variety of reasons can lead to certain disproportions in the market of educational services [12].
First, weak preparation can remain outside a profession that breaks labor market structure.
Secondly, in connection with uncertainty of standard and legal base in the field of control and an assessment of quality of education each subject of the market of educational services shifts responsibility to other participants: the higher education institution complains about bad preparation at school, business community - on higher education institution. It is always easy to point a finger at each other, but it won't solve a problem.
Thirdly, issues of quality control of the higher education are in competence of the federal center, regions are almost not involved in this question.
Fourthly, employers and public organizations are involved in process of training and quality assessment on a formal basis: pre-feeders-experts conduct 2-3 subjects, representatives of employers are present at the state certifying commissions. The close interrelation of higher education institution with business community, with rare exception, is absent.
Fifthly, the theoretical aspect of training in modern higher education institution obviously prevails over a practical component.
Sixthly, in many respects quality of the final result of activity of higher education institution depends on qualitative and quantitative structure of those who conducts educational process and operates the Analysis of statistical data testifies that educational institutions practically don't increase the level of the main accreditation indicators (an amount of teaching staff, scientific degrees of scientific-and-pedagog-ical personnel), keeping them formally in the standard range.
Moreover, educational institutions of the higher school in regions are separated because of their departmental accessory, the developed conditions of their functioning, high competition in the local market that obviously doesn't promote improvement of quality education.
References
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DATA ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Bedenko Nadezhda Nikolaevna, Deputy Director in Science, Methodology and Quality of education, the Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor
Branch of St. Petersburg Engineering and Economic University in Tver
25V, Ordzhonikidze St., Tver, 170028, Russia e-mail: bednad@mail.ru
Sergeeva Marina Georgiyevna, Leading Researcher of the Laboratory of the Theory of Lifelong Education, Doctor of Pedagogics, Associate Professor
Institute of the Theory and History of Pedagogics of the Russian Academy of Education
7, Pavel Korchagin St., Moscow, 129626, Russia e-mail: sergeeva198262@mail.ru
