Targeted university education

1968 - The rules for admission to higher educational institutions of the USSR adopted by the USSR Ministry of Higher Education 04.04.1968 No. 293 ^[1] .

1980 - The model regulation on vocational training for workers in production, approved by the Decree of the USSR State Committee for Labor and Social Affairs, the USSR State Committee for Vocational and Technical Education and the AUCCTU Secretariat dated March 4, 1980 No. 50/4 / 4-85.

1988 - Resolution of the USSR State Committee for Labor, State Education of the USSR, the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions of June 15, 1988 No. 369 / 92-14-147 / 20 / 18-22 “On the Approval of the Model Regulation on Continuing Professional and Economic Training of National Economy Personnel”.

Applicants in areas enrolled in university students out of competition, subject to passing exams for positive marks.

Often this was also carried out with the help of visiting admissions committees, which worked in the regional centers of the USSR. For example, the selection committee of the Riga Red Banner Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers worked in all major cities of Siberia and the Far East, helping talented young people from these regions get an aviation education, and then develop aviation in their homeland.

In the framework of targeted training, the remote regions of the USSR provided themselves with qualified personnel of teachers, physicians, including indigenous peoples .

The training of specialists in the field of enterprises was also widely practiced.

In the 1970s, the practice of creating so-called “national groups” appeared in leading metropolitan universities, which were formed from the best students of national universities, who at the end of the 3rd year at their university were transferred to Moscow or Leningrad universities with the loss of one course - to the third ^{[2 ]} .

1992 - The Law of the Russian Federation “On Education” dated July 10, 1992 No. 3266-1.

2012 - Federal Law “On Education in the Russian Federation” dated December 29, 2012 No. 273-ФЗ (Article 56, “Target Admission. Target Admission Agreement and the Targeted Learning Agreement”).

2013 - Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 27, 2013 No. 1076 “On the Procedure for concluding and terminating the agreement on targeted admission and the agreement on targeted training” (together with the “Rules for concluding and terminating the agreement on targeted admission and the agreement on targeted training”) ^[3] .

2019 - Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated March 21, 2019 No. 302 “On targeted training in educational programs of secondary vocational and higher education and recognition as invalid the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated November 27, 2013 No. 1076”.

Enrollment in universities under targeted programs in the 1990s was a continuation of the Soviet tradition, which guaranteed free tuition for students who enlisted a referral from a region or enterprise. Target workers often took advantage of the priority of providing dormitories or additional scholarships at the expense of future employers.

However, later the Ministry of Education and Science drew attention to the fact that the competition among applicants for higher education under the targeted education scheme is extremely low, and the number of students enrolled in them is quite large - about 13% of students. Therefore, the procedure for setting quotas for targeted education was changed: they are not dictated by the university’s founder, but by the Russian government, in order to create healthy competition for targeted places and a competition that is no less than a competition for budget places ^[4] .

At the same time, the term of employment of target students was clarified: if it was not previously determined and was not actually controlled, then from 2019 the student will be sent to a university with an obligation to work out at the customer targeted training for at least three years and on conditions defined by him, and if he is violated face penalties ^[5] .

According to the law, at the present time the training of applicants for places within the admission quota for targeted training is carried out at the expense of the federal budget: neither the customer, nor the future employer, nor the student himself pays for training (even partially) ^[6] .

Targeted education should not be confused with training at the expense of organizations, as the latter is a form of paid education purchase.

In February 2019, the government of the Russian Federation published a list of specialties in which targeted training will be conducted. The list includes 131 areas of undergraduate studies, including applied mathematics, computer science, mechanics and mathematical modeling, information systems and technologies, economics, management, personnel management, state and municipal administration, and jurisprudence. The list also includes 107 areas of magistracy, 89 specialties. In total, the list includes 500 professions in which graduates will have to work out the distribution or return to the state the funds spent on their training.