Getting higher education in Russia

1. The history of higher education in Russia goes back to 1755 when the first university was founded in Moscow on the initiative of M.V.Lomonosov and in accordance with his plan. Later, universities were opened in many other big cities of the country.

2. After the revolution of 1917, education was guaranteed to the Soviet cities by the constitution and was free of charge, including higher education. The system of education was the same throughout the country.

3. In 1991 the former fifteen republics of the Soviet Union became independent states. The Russian Federation, the biggest and the most powerful of them, began to develop as a democratic state. From the very start, democratic reforms began to take place in many fields of life. Changes in political, economic and social conditions required changes in the system of education. Its aim is to prepare the growing generation for independent life and work under new conditions.

4. Nowadays every year thousands of young men and women enter Universities and Academies of higher education. Moscow and St. Petersburg Universities may be the aim of many applicants although there are many more institutions all over Russia where students get their higher education in various subjects. Besides full-time departments, there are part-time and correspondence departments for those students who work during the day.

5. The applicants go in for entrance examinations in July or August before the new academic year begins. A written examination in the Russian language is compulsory as well as written or oral examinations in the subjects the students are going to major in. If the applicants want to have a good command of the subjects in which they will take examinations, they attend preliminary courses.

6. At the present time to get higher education is not always free of charge as it used to be. There are many higher educational institutions at which students have to pay for their education.

7. Most students receive scholarships (grants). The amount depends on the results of the term examinations.

8. The first two years of study are generally most difficult. The students may have up to 30 hours a week of seminars, lectures and classes. Apart from the major subjects and their allied subjects, University or Academy students take courses in Socio-Political History of the 20th century, Philosophy and Foreign Languages.

9. Sport is also compulsory during the first years of study.

10. Student life is a very full one, both academically and culturally.

11. Students have holidays twice a year, at the end of each term they take end-of-term tests and examinations. In winter, when examinations are over, students may spend their vacation in the country where they skate and ski, or they may go to warmer places where it is possible to sunbathe and swim even at this time of the year. Unfortunately, some students fail their exams. They stay in town and cram for their failed exams.

12. Now more and more young people understand that education provides the younger generation not only with formal learning, but also with social, moral and political ideas.

Дата добавления: 2015-08-17