Interconnection between the higher educational organizations and educational service consumers in Russia Текст научной статьи по специальности «Науки об образовании»

G. R. Iksanova

INTERCONNECTION BETWEEN THE HIGHER EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND EDUCATIONAL SERVICE CONSUMERS IN RUSSIA

Keywords: higher educational organizations, educational service consumers, graduate employment, employers interconnection, board of faculty guardians, students’ self-administrational agencies, educational cluster, monitoring, quality.

This article is devoted to the problem of the interactive system between the higher educational organizations and the users of educational services. Historical reasons for graduate employment, the mechanism of the personnel training at the universities are described. Big attention is paid to the educational cluster that helps to increase the quality of education.

Ключевые слова: организации высшего образования, потребители образовательных услуг, трудоустройство выпускников вузов, взаимосвязь с работодателями, попечительский совет факультетов, органы студенческого самоуправления,

образовательный кластер, мониторинг, качество.

Статья посвящена проблеме взаимосвязи организаций высшего образования с потребителями образовательных услуг. В ней раскрываются исторические предпосылки трудоустройства выпускников вузов, описывается механизм подготовки кадров. Особое внимание уделяется образовательному кластеру, позволяющему улучшить качество образования.

The interactive system between the higher educational organizations and the users of educational services traveled the path from the total governmental order, “strict” requirements and standards, that had been centrally changed, to the modern flexible approach in the scales of a region, a university as well as the individual trajectory of bachelors, masters, PhDs, according to the specific requirements of the private or the government consumers. Nowadays it can be confidently said that over the lifetime period the Russian system of education and teaching regains its personality in accordance with the concept of Bologna process. The established connection with the consumer becomes one of its cornerstones. Today the leading national and regional universities have a tremendous experience in this subject, which needs to be analyzed, summarized and recommended for application in Russia and beyond its border.

For a long time the employment of graduates (specialist, bachelor) considered to be the additional process that took the place after the finalization of educational services [1]. In my opinion it happened upon the variety of reasons: firstly, in Soviet period of our history the government fully regulated the graduates’ job placement system, directing them to the places of the necessity: to the villages, to the youth-komsomol projects, to the virgin land and so on. Secondary, today in many independent countries the graduates themselves bear the risks of employment, which leads to the disbalance in labor-market as a result of the excessive demand in some majors. Here in the course of time everything will be arranged according to their places, the operating model of the market makes it possible. However, in the glance of the emergent social contradictions, the regulation of this process up to the government and local standards becomes effective and allows saving the resources of the society. The excessive amount of the educational establishments and the alarming tendency of professional training quality downfall bring in its negative contributions. The possible way out from this situation is to form the

regional system of interconnection with the consumer through the realization a set of arrangements up to the standards of the government, the main (regional) university, as the process coordinator, the businesssociety, the graduate and his (her) representatives.

The competent model appears as a goal for credit, distant technique of educational application and other innovations in this area which is based on the modern reforms of the personnel training. It allows to minimize the period of employment adaptation and to provide essential level of professional and personal competitiveness in terms of globalization. The government standards are oriented on this.

The final goal of education nowadays appears to be not only in getting the formal document of education, (for the modern youth who oriented on successful career and the employees this went to the past) or the possession of excessive knowledge, ability and skills (competences), which become out of date in the century of informational techniques, but also the following employment of university graduate, the ability to study constantly and maintain the compatibility at the required level, career-oriented growth for the support of young specialist’s wellbeing, of his (her) family, and through the last the employer-company profit and economical growth of the country in general.

As the matter of fact, the employment and career become the strategical goal of the whole educational process at the university, including methodical, educational, scientific, educative components, the foundation of the partners’ relations with university consumers system. The quality and quantity of employment (career development) - are very exact indicators of corporative administration principal operation, the university competitiveness and its perspective in the educational services of the global market. That is what the university image depends on at the national and international levels [2].

The government maintains the education to achieve economical innovational development and to

overcome the consequences of worldwide financial crisis. This includes the additional grants, financial expansions from the budget and the privileged crediting. However, we need the systematic determinations, and in my opinion, the main problem of the effective interconnection with the consumer consists in the selection of the process integrator. The higher educational establishments should implement this function.

The user interrelation and further graduate employment have their regional specification in each university. Here is the mechanism of employers interconnection improvement puts into effect. Nowadays the university by acquiring the best skills from the old system establishes the mutual beneficial connection with the employers, also with the leading training facilities, scientific research institutes and others. The formation of educational process implements under the aegis of the university with the relevant rules for every participant. In my judgment, this helps to provide the rightful principals and financial basis to the university integration in innovational and technological infrastructure of the regional economic.

University forms its own organizational structures, which are functionally connected with the main educational services users; in the first place they are employers and students (starting from university entrant till graduate). The creation of graduate and university employers association, board of faculty guardians and the students’ self-administrational agencies play a great role in here.

Let’s mark 4 main classical approaches in professional orientation and university interconnection with the consumers and other interested parties [3]. (Table 1).

The university initiates the complex of arrangements that are directed to the support of educational cluster: starting from the entrance to the educational process of the high school graduate, until the graduation with bachelor, masters or PhD degrees. The whole this process is coordinated by employers, who give the external appraisal through the board of guardians of the university, and by the students themselves through the self-administrational agencies, who are attracted as the participants of educational, scientific and educative activities.

One of the factors to maintain the quality of this system is the constant monitoring and marketing researches. At the university the most prevailing instrument of users’ satisfaction is the computerized test, analysis of recommendations and consumers addresses, that are receives from the faculty board guardians, virtual deans’, vice-chancellors’, and chancellors’ reception rooms, and the results of the test. First and foremost the tests take the students at the end of each semester, also graduates, employers, training leaders and the professors of the university, which helps to correct the approaches of the corporative administration and to accept the administrative and economical measure of influence.

In the terms of tough competitions among the universities the connection with the user doesn’t start after the students reaches the last semester, neither when

he (she) graduates; it starts before the student’s admission, but when the educational and methodical complex of specialization and the collection of certain trajectory of education, the composition and content of elective discipline start forming; continues through the whole educational process; and followed by the employment monitoring and the career on the basis of stable connections with the employer. The cluster is actuated in its full terms when the graduate starts actively working with the university as the employer him (her) self.

Table 1 - The main approaches of the effective interconnection with the consumers

Approach Content Implements

Informational To provide the participants with different reliable professional oriented and analytical information. Filling internet sites, publications in media, advertising materials, etc. with the information according to the university activities.

Diagnostic- consulting To establish the student compliance according to the certain activity category. Diagnosing the personality trait in professional orientation, the choice of the effective trajectory of education, the areas of the scientific efforts, etc.

Developmental To form the professional competency, different skills, knowledge, and acquired habits. The techniques and methods of education, practice, internship, applied scientific projects, branches of the enterprises departments, allegeable to travel the defenses of the projects, etc.

Activating To form personal competency and active stand in life. Educating programs, special psychological trainings, etc.

Thus, finishing the university, graduates obtain theoretical knowledge on the modern material technical base and industrial platform as well as practical skills and abilities necessary for their future job.

For systematic work on the employment of graduates many universities form electronic vacancy banking which contains all students’ CVs. The program itself is a good chance for young specialists to start working and to undergo training/study courses. Various presentations of specialities, students meetings with the leaders of big companies are held in annual vacancy fairs.

To conclude, the creation of educational cluster system, board of faculty guardians allows to attract

employers’ attention to the personnel training, to secure not only practical aspects of educational process in real industrial conditions on the modern material technical base but to increase the quality of education.

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© Г. Р. Иксанова - к.п.н., доцент КНИТУ, guzeliksanova@rambler.ru.