The poor fit between the specialties and employment opportunities of university graduates in Russia requires rethinking the way that higher education in Russia operates. Russia's economic future, and avoiding social unrest due to high unemployment or underemployment, is dependent on changing the education-employment linkages.

Research on young blue-collar workers in Russia indicates that a large percentage of them continue to improve their educational qualifications during the first five years of employment, but that it declines after that time. The two most frequent reasons for upgrading their skills are a desire to leave blue-collar employment, and to increase the…

The declining size of the Russian population means that labor resources need to be used more effectively, which is especially true of highly skilled workers. An analysis of data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) shows that the social and workplace situations of specialists need to be improved significantly. (Contains 5 tables…

The weak connection between Russia's system of higher education and the labor market in Russia requires that greater attention be paid to preparing students for successful, employment. This will require more careful research into best practices, and the development of more effective links between employers and educational institutions.

The modernization of pedagogical education must entail a thorough updating of established customary approaches and mechanisms of the training of workers for the sphere of education, taking account of the complexity and differentiation of the endeavors of pedagogical personnel owing to the requirements of today's society, which is also going…

The future of Russian agriculture and rural community depends on the willingness of skilled workers to accept conditions of village life and the demands of agricultural work. Surveys of potential rural specialists indicate that they are concerned about the lack of up-to-date technologies, the difficult working conditions and low prestige of…

As Russia has moved closer to a market economy, radical transformations of the system of higher education have become necessary; and it needs to be oriented to the training of specialists who possess a high level of professionalism and competence. Research shows that what employers in Russia see as most valuable in young specialists are behavioral…

The political decision to convert to the system of multilevel professional training in the higher educational institutions of Russia has already been made and formalized in law. The system, a combination of the "bachelor's and master's" pattern and the "specialist" pattern is being adopted starting in 2009. However, in spite of…

This survey was intended to combat bureaucratic and criminal malfeasance in the system of higher education. Experts in seven federal districts in Russia were asked to determine the attitudes of the population toward higher education reforms in the past two years. Survey data show that Russians are generally not in favor of many of the changes in…

The educational network of educational institutions that are implementing programs of primary professional education includes twenty-three vocational schools and two professional lyceums. There are departments of primary professional education in eleven technicums of technology and in a professional pedagogical (secondary-level) college. About 21…

Supplementary professional education is a link in the structure of Russian education; there is neither any clear-cut program for its reform nor any visible results. According to the definition that has been adopted, it refers to an education that has been acquired on the basis of a higher or a secondary professional education; it is offered in…

Art education in Belarus is based on two fundamental state documents, the "Law on Education in the Republic of Belarus" and the "Law on Culture in the Republic of Belarus," which spell out the prospects of the development of art education in a unity of goals, tasks, and paths of implementation. The system of art education in…

It must be acknowledged that the present system of higher education in Russia does not have a system to evaluate the quality of the specialists who are being produced. Three years ago, an order of the education minister approved an appropriate procedure. Seemingly everything is in place: an overall aim, a hierarchical rating system, a structure of…

This article reports the findings of a survey examining the social and psychological characteristics of future specialists of agriculture who were enrolled as students in Tuva State University. The study was carried out by the Tuva State Institute for Cadre Retraining and Upgrading of Qualifications under the Government of the Republic of Tuva.…

The labor market is sending out explicit signals that determine the behavior of present and potential workers. These signals give impetus to the development of education. In the past few years, for example, there has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of college students and higher educational institutions; the sphere of supplementary…