Russian educational system

The Russian educational system may be arranged into three major groups: secondary education, higher education, and postgraduate education.

Secondary school

Secondary education in Russia takes either ten (skipping the 4th form) or eleven years to complete, depending on the school. After graduation from the 9th grade, which is compulsory for all Russian citizens, a pupil obtains a Certificate of Incomplete Secondary Education. After that a pupil has to choose one of the following ways to complete his secondary education: to continue education for two more years at the secondary school or to pursue an associate degree at a community college or a technical school. The latter variant usually takes three to four years to complete but provides a pupil with educational qualification that is sufficient for most blue-collar jobs.

University

After obtaining a Certificate of Complete Secondary Education a student can enter a University to get a Higher Education Diploma. A student can choose a program of higher education with duration from four to six years. There are three different degrees that are conferred by Russian universities: Bachelor's Degree (4 years), Specialist's Degree (5–6 years), and Master's Degree (6 years). Bachelor's and Master's degrees were introduced relatively recently; they did not exist in the Soviet Union. Even now they are not offered by many six-year institutions.

Post-graduate levels

The training of well-qualified specialists for teaching and research lasts for 3 to 4 years and ends in the public defense of a Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) thesis. A thesis or a dissertation in a form of a monograph is a science book edition, containing a profound and comprehensive research of a thesis that has passed a scientific review and meets required criteria.

If you are studying for a Ph.D. as a full-time postgraduate you can expect to finish your research within 3 years. If you take university Master's Degree course you will have an opportunity to continue your research work and to earn Ph.D. after 2 years. As a rule, postgraduate students carry out real scientific and engineering investigations with the use of modern laboratory equipment, prepare scientific papers for publication and participate in national and international scientific conferences. All these are fulfilled under the guidance and supervision of leading university scientists. After 2 to 4 years of obtaining important scientific results, publishing them and writing new thesis would result in Doctor of Science degree, but the typical way is working in a university or scientific institute with parallel preparation of a thesis.

Doctor of Philosophy may keep a position of Assistant Professor in universities and of Researcher or Senior Researcher in scientific institutes. Doctor of Science can hold a position of Professor, Department Chairman or equal and higher ones.

Ex. 2. Complete the sentences.

1. Russian educational system consists of 3 cycles: ……………….. .

2. A pupil receives a Certificate of Incomplete Secondary Education after ……………….. .

3. After graduation from the 9th grade a pupil can ………………… .

4. To enter a university a person needs to have a qualification called ………….. .

5. To get Bachelor's Degree a student should stud y at university for … years.

6. To obtain Master's Degree a student studies for ……………….. .

7. Defending a Doctor of Philosophy thesis results in ……………….. .

8. Doctor of Science degree is received if ……………………… .

Ex. 3. Read the text and find the English for стипендии, ЕГЭ, вступительные экзамены, сочинение, оценка (2 variants), недостаток системы, расходы на образование, распад СССР, приличная зарплата, журнал.