2. Education

Роль высшего образования для развития личности.

The Significance of University-level Education for Person’s Development.

Особенности учебного процесса в разных странах.

Академическая мобильность.

2. Высшее образование в России и за рубежом. Мой вуз. Студенческие международные контакты: научные, профессиональные, культурные.

Higher / University-level Education in the Russian Federation and Abroad.

Siberian State University of Railway Engineering.

Students International Contacts: getting into research, professional knowledge and cross-cultural relations

Belief in the utility of higher education is shared by students nationwide. Education has been society’s change agent. History provides examples that reveal the link between social needs and the goals of education. Ancient China sought to prepare elite officials to govern the empire according to Confucian principles, the Greeks sought to cultivate civic responsibility and to develop well-rounded persons, the Romans sought to develop civic responsibility for the republic and then empire, the Arabs attempted to cultivate religious commitment to Islamic beliefs and to develop expertise in mathematics, medicine, and science, the Renaissance focused on cultivating a humanist expert in the classics, and the Reformers desired to instill a commitment to a particular religious denomination and to cultivate universal literacy.

At the present time no one denies the significance of education because it shapes the person’s mind and character. Every person experiences a training process which leads to a true understanding of his own nature, needs and wants. Education develops the unique human capacities making people understand the world and how it works. They acquire practical knowledge and skills developing their capacity to deduce, analyze, synthesize, criticize, theorize, hypothesize, organize, conceptualize, articulate and thus fill in blanks with knowledge-level facts.

But education is not merely a matter of training the mind. To educate people means to teach them better ways of doing something and a better way of living. As long as education does not cultivate an integrated outlook on life and does not explain the students the eternal values on the basis of moral behaviour, it has very little significance. People may be highly educated, but if they are without deep integration of thought and feeling, their lives are incomplete and contradictory. The ideal of education is the full development of human nature’s potentialities which are fostered at Universities. The idea is to develop the critical, adaptable, multi-skilled and creative person.

University-level education must help any person to live at this time of environmental, economic and social upheavals. Universities have been a means to provide students with scientific knowledge and a sense of personal responsibility for a sustainable multicultural society in which all human beings can live happily without violence, in peace and security. Education provides students with a sense of a community life with diverse cultures which could blend into a new civilization and live using the advantages of a civilized society. It is essential that universities develop independently thinking and self motivated citizens making students autonomous, self-governed, and this-world focused. University-level education promotes human intellectual capacities and takes people further in their careers, particularly with the fast technological developments which demand sophisticated and educated workforce. Nowadays education is thought of as the most crucial element of the employability and income and is considered to be a firm guarantee of a well-trained workforce for a global economy.

Education is not necessarily only as a means to economic gain but also enables happiness, independence and fearlessness through cultivating the ability to think critically. Universities raise young generations to be active citizens in a democratic society, to move away from dependency to self-sustaining models of economic, scientific and cultural development. All countries need citizens who have developed the ability to think for themselves and solve problems creatively, rather than submissively taking orders from above.

For each person education expresses personal values, his knowledge and skills which are necessary for his personal development and career advancement.

Subject List for “Education” (Тематическая карточка)

Nouns	Vbs	Adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech	Colloquial, common, figurative and fixed expressions
education University-level education	to provide	elite	At the present time
society	to reveal	according to	fill in blanks
change	to desire	civic	education is thought of as
agent	to seek	well-rounded	knowledge-level facts
link	to prepare	social	sustainable society
needs	to govern	particular	this-world focused
goal	to cultivate	universal
officials	to develop	from above
responsibility	to attempt	unique
person	to focus	human
commitment to	to instill	practical
beliefs	to deny	thus
expertise in	to shape	merely
science	to experience	as long as
literacy	to lead	integrated
significance	to acquire	moral
mind	to deduce	highly educated
character	to analyze	without
a training process	to articulate	deep
nature	to solve	environmental
own wants	to explain	economic
capacities	to need	scientific
knowledge	to raise	personal
skills	to enable	full
order	to consider	multicultural
matter	to foster	diverse
outlook on life	to blend	independently
values	to demand	autonomous
behaviour	to move away	self-governed
integration
thought		further
feeling		particularly
responsibility for		fast
development		essential
human nature’s potentialities		civilized
upheaval		sophisticated
a means to		Nowadays
advancement		crucial
sense		firm
human beings		necessarily
violence		through
security		critically
community life		self-sustaining
advantage		creatively
workforce		rather than
employability		submissively
income		well-trained
guarantee		eternal
gain		incomplete
independence		contradictory
citizen
ability
generation
dependency

to seek – sought - sought (стремиться)

Confucian [kən'fjuːʃ(ə)n] principles

to instill a commitment to прививать приверженность

expertise in [ˌekspɜː'tiːz]искусство, мастерство, умение

the Renaissance [rɪ'neɪs(ə)ns, -ɒ̃s]

to cultivate развивать, оттачивать (навыки)

religious denomination вероисповедание; конфессия

as long as (пока)

foster ['fɔstə] воспитывать, обучать

contradictory [ˌkɔntrə'dɪkt(ə)rɪ] внутренне противоречивый

environmental, economic and social upheavals беспорядки

crucial решающий

to enable делать возможным

to raise воспитывать

critically серьёзно

self-sustaining models самоподдерживающийся

submissively [səb'mɪsɪvlɪ] покорно, смиренно, послушно

Tasks

1. Exchange views with your fellow students (сокурсник, однокурсник) on the modern goals of education.

1. What do you understand by the term “education”? (Use: University-level education; personal development; to shape the person’s mind and character; to cultivate the ability to think critically; scientific knowledge; a sense of personal responsibility for a sustainable society; to experience a training process; to develop the unique human capacities; to understand the world and how it works; to train the mind; to analyze, to conceptualize; to articulate; to fill in blanks with knowledge-level facts; to cultivate an integrated outlook on life; to integrate the thought and feeling; personal values; full development of human nature’s potentialities; to be an independently thinking and self motivated citizen; to be an autonomous, self-governed and this-world focused professional; to promote human intellectual capacities; to receive the diploma, which allows to be engaged in professional work or to proceed to the following stage of formation; to earn a degree or certificate from a recognized school, college or university; to find oneself among sophisticated and educated workforce; a crucial element of the employability, income and financial security; career advancement; not to lag behind the time and be competitive at the current education and workforce market; preparation for execution of various social and professional duties.

2. What do you understand by the word “to study”? (Use: to be a student; learning should be fun; to study at the university; acquire academic knowledge at an educational establishment; to form the skills to study; to attend a lecture; to attend high-level educational institution; devote time and attention to acquiring knowledge on an academic subject, especially by means of books; to acquire knowledge of something by self-study; to acquire knowledge by being taught; to form a true notion of the world; to connect things in my mind; to raise one’s general and professional culture; to develop the creative potential; to study for degrees; investigate and analyze a scientific problem in detail; to do academic research; to gain skill in (something) by experience; (study up) learn intensively about something, especially in preparation for a test of knowledge )

3. Can you acquire academic knowledge on your own without a teacher? (Use: way of learning; computer skills; self-study; to learn one's lesson; to use the website; to get the education online; to use the different programs available online; to complete and finish a course from any location; a period of learning; a course of instruction; to take classes; to gain the necessary experience in finding useful information.

4. Why is education considered to be society’s change agent? (Use: universal literacy, well-rounded persons, civic responsibility, sophisticated and educated workforce - опытные, современные специалисты, трудовые ресурсы, to be an expert in, sustainable society, economic gain)

5. What does higher education provide to graduates? (Use: to shape the person’s mind, to shape the person’s character, eternal values, moral behaviour, to develop the unique human capacities, to acquire knowledge and skills, to deduce - делать вывод, synthesize ['sɪnθəsaɪz], hypothesize [haɪ'pɔθəsaɪz], conceptualize [kən'sepʧuəlaɪz] (осмыслять), articulate (чётко выражать свои мысли), to fill in blanks with knowledge-level facts, integrated outlook on life, to promote human intellectual capacities)

2. Make up short dialogues as in the model.

Model: 1. He doesn’t like attending lectures.

2. Does he prefer to use the website to get the information on the subject?

1. Yes, he does. And he also likes borrowing books from the library.

Discuss in the same way: Devoting time to (self-study, English), cultivating commitment to (science, technologies), entering (school, college, university), learning (studying, training).

Self-study tasks

Situations

You are talking to a new acquaintance (to your fellow students). Tell him/her about your school and ask him/her to tell you about his/hers.

Your fellow student is interested in web sites designed for bridge engineering. Invite him/her to find out the relevant reading materials by the Internet and broaden your professional outlook.

International Cooperation and Academic Mobility in the Sphere of Higher Education and Research

The system of Higher Education all over the world suffers from cultural, socio-economical and academic barriers. The Bologna [bə'ləunjə] process is an attempt to lower these obstacles within the European higher education area. In 1999 Education Ministers from 29 European countries signed the Bologna declaration. This document promotes international cooperation in the sphere of higher education and research because academic degree standards and quality assurance standards become more comparable and compatible throughout Europe. The processes in education can draw benefit from systematic exchange of experiences, support to best practice, innovative products and educational cooperation.

The Bologna declarationhas given rise to academic mobility which allows professors’, research workers’, students’ and post-graduates’ moving to anotherhigher educationinstitution inside or outside their own country to study or teach for a limited time. It cleared the way for various international organizations, funds and programs which provide informational and financial support of mobile students and teachers. The students may be taught and examined in particular subjects similar to those at their home universities.

Mobile students use exchange programmes at department, faculty, institution or national level. As programme students they may choose Erasmus [ɪ'ræzməs], Nordplus or Fulbright programmes. These programmes contribute to the development of quality and innovation in the educational systems by means of educational cooperation, development projects, exchanges and networking (установление деловых контактов, налаживание связей).

Erasmus Student Network (ESN) is a non-profit international student organization working on a volunteer base in Higher Education Institutions and offering services to students in 35 countries. It involves travelling and provides international students with opportunities for cultural understanding and self-development under the principle of Students Helping Students.

Nowadays, the traditional Erasmus exchange has been complemented with Virtual mobility, or Virtual Erasmus, in which students from different countries may study together without leaving their home. "Virtual Mobility" refers to the use of the new Information and Communications technologies (ICT) as an alternative to physical mobility. The students can search courses on line, as well as read relevant learning information.

The Nordplus Framework Programme offers financial support in the area of lifelong learning from the eight participating countries in the Baltic and Nordic regions.

The Fulbright Program is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchangefor students, scientists, scholars учёный (обычно гуманитарий) and teachers. It provides 8,000 grants annually to undertake graduate study, advanced research, university lecturing, and classroom teaching. The program was established to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills. Under the Fulbright Program, U.S. citizens are eligible имеющий право to go abroad, and non-U.S. citizens are eligible to come to the United States. This Program operates in over 155 countries and is one of the most prestigious awards programs worldwide because many Fulbright alumni [ə'lʌmnaɪ] выпускники have won Nobel and Pulitzer ['pʊlɪtsə] Prizes.

Some of mobile students are called  free-movers. They travel entirely on their own initiative using special-purpose catalogues which contains information about main international organizations promoting cooperation in the sphere of higher education, for example: The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), Russian Council of academic mobility (ROSAM), Regional Centre for International Cooperation of the West Siberian Universities (RCIC), Novosibirsk International Centre for Education (NICE), etc. Free-movers may apply any university satisfying their educational needs.

One of the key aims of academic mobility is to place an emphasis on studies measured by results and to make an assessment of what students actually know and what they don't.

Give a detailed description of your learning experience. (опыт обучения)

Did you go to a state or private school?

Did you study at lyceum or gymnasium?

Do you think private schools are better than state schools?

Is your secondary education of high quality?

Were you given systematic intellectual, moral, and social instruction at your school?

Why is it necessary to study systematically?

What subjects do you think should be studied at school?

Does your school provide a fail-safe preparation for university entrance?

Was there any discrepancy between the curriculum at your school and the Unified State Examination (USE) requirements?

Did you have to turn to expensive private tutors to upgrade your knowledge to the level required by the test or exam? (to turn to прибегать к помощи, обращаться за помощью)

Did you participate in any academic contests?

Do you believe that students’ grasp of the various subjects can be verified by the Unified State Examination?

Do you support this innovation in education?

Did you have a chance to show your abilities when sitting the Unified State Exam?

Were rehearsal exams conducted at your school?

Were you offered a trial run of the exam?

What subjects (Russian language, mathematics, foreign languages, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, literature, history, basics of social sciences, computing science) did you choose for the USE?

Did your choice depend on the requirements of Siberian State University of Railway Engineering?

What results did you get in the USE?

Were there any subjects you were bad at?

Is the USE the only form of graduation examinations in schools and the main form of entrance examinations in Russian universities?

Why do several technical universities in Moscow accept talented students on the basis of their participation in various all-Russian contests in mathematics, physics or other technical subjects?

Is the elimination of subjective factors in students’ evaluations the obvious advantage of the USE?

What are the drawbacks of the USE?

Does the USE devalue students’ personal qualities and their participation in various academic contests?

Many students are not ready to accept such a radical change in the education system, are they?

Does every talented student have a chance to show his abilities when sitting the Unified State Exam?

Are all soon-to-be graduates able to take part in various academic contests due to the distance or other personal factors?

Should there be different schools for bright and less intelligent children?

Why did you intend to apply to our University?

Are you going to prolonger your education with two and half years of advanced study in English?

The Structure of Public Education in Russia

Tasks

1. Reading the text for the first time skim it through fairly quickly to understand the topic and the main points.

2. Reading the text for the second time look through it very carefully. Do read through the questions first to see what kind of information you need to look for. When you have finished reading, see how much you can recall.

3. Try to work out the meanings of any words you don’t know from the context. Try to find Russian equivalents to the underlined word combinations.

Educational policy in Russian Federation focuses on how to help people develop useful knowledge and skills. The idea is to develop the critical, adaptable, multi-skilled and creative person. Education is given in many languages, and according to their parents’ wish children may attend Russian schools or national schools where they are taught in their native language.

There have been many changes in the system of Public Education in Russia but the basic principles have remained unchanged. Characteristic features of our public education are:

1. The equal right to education for all citizens is guaranteed by the Constitution.

2. Full-time education is compulsory up to the middle teenage years;

3. Co-education, no separate men’s or women’s schools.

4. Free tuition throughout the state system.

5. Non-state and private educational establishments must meet the Education Standard Requirements.

The unified system of public education in Russian Federation consists of the following chief types:

1. Compulsory general secondary education (state general secondary schools, lycees, gymnasiums, private schools). The educational reform at school has been through a period of constant change. The first three or four years at school are the primary school. Pupils may leave school after the 9^th form and continue their education in evening or shift school for working youth.

2. Specialized secondary education (colleges).