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77ПРОБЛЕМЫ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ ПЕДАГОГИКИ И ПСИХОЛОГИИ
УДК 378.8
Д.Ш. Ахтямова, Лю Чаоцзе
ИНТЕРНАЦИОНАЛИЗАЦИЯ РОССИЙСКОГО ВЫСШЕГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ НА ОСНОВЕ ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЯ КИТАЙСКИХ И РОССИЙСКИХ ВЫСШИХ УЧЕБНЫХ ЗАВЕДЕНИЙ
Ключевые слова: образование, университет, интернационализация, глобализация, Китай, Россия.
Аннотация. Интернационализация образования является одной из важнейших задач в эпоху, когда в мире преобладают экономическая и культурная глобализация и интеграция. Концентрируясь на интернационализации высшего образования в странах Восточной Азии, особенно в китайских высших учебных заведениях, в статье исследуется углубление взаимодействия китайских и российских высших учебных заведений. С одной стороны, в статье исследуются особенности международного сотрудничества российских вузов; с другой стороны - обобщаются существующие проблемы, препятствующие дальнейшему взаимодействию высших учебных заведений России и Китая. Кроме того, особое внимание уделяется сравнительным преимуществам китайских высших учебных заведений, обусловленным их высокой интернационализацией. Предпринята попытка исследовать возможность применения режима интернационализации китайских высших учебных заведений к российским высшим учебным заведениям.
На основе проанализированных материалов сделан вывод, что перед Российской Федерацией стоит задача интеграции своей системы образования в мировое образовательное пространство. Для этого есть два основных направления. С одной стороны, это помогает удовлетворить требовательные интересы мирового образовательного рынка. С другой стороны, это способствует сохранению традиций и социальной значимости образования внутри страны.
Для цитирования : Ахтямова, Д.Ш. Интернационализация российского высшего образования на основе взаимодействия китайских и российских высших учебных заведений /Д.Ш. Ахтямова, Лю Чаоцзе II Педагогический журнал Башкортостана. - 2020. -№2. - С.50-58.
Diana Sh. Akhtyamova, Liu Chaojie
INTERNATIONALIZATION OF RUSSIA HIGHER EDUCATION BASED ON INTERACTION BETWEEN CHINESE AND RUSSIAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
Keywords: education; university; internationalization; globalization; China; Russia. Abstract: Internationalization of education is one of the most important tasks in the era when economic and cultural globalization and integration prevail in the world. Focusing on the internationalization of higher education in East Asian countries, especially Chinese Higher Education institutions, the article explores the deepening interaction between Chinese and Russian higher education institutions. On the one hand, the article explores the peculiar features of international cooperation within the Russian universities; on the other hand, the article summarizes the existing problems that impair the further interaction of higher education
institutions between Russia and China. Furthermore, the authors pay special attention to the comparative advantages of Chinese higher institutions brought by their high internationalization. The article attempts to explore the possibility of applying the internationalization mode of Chinese higher institutions to Russian higher institutions.
Results: Based on the analyzed materials, it was concluded that the Russian Federation faces the task of integrating its education system into the world educational space. There are two main directions for this. On the one hand, it helps to satisfy the demanding interests of the global educational market. On the other hand, it helps to preserve the traditions and social significance of education within the country.
For citing: Akhtyamova, D. Sh. , Liu Chaoze (2020). Internationalization of Russian higher education based on the interaction of Chinese and Russian higher education institutions Pedagogical journal of Bashkortostan. №2 (87): 50-58. (In Eng).
DOI:10.21510/1817-3992-2020-87-2-50-58
There is no doubt that economic and cultural globalization have given an impetus to the internationalization of higher education, which have been facilitated by the emergence and development of transnational information and communication space, as well as global labor markets and educational services. In modern society, there is a growing need for highly qualified and mobile specialists, experts and elites in various fields at home and abroad. The globalization of education actualizes the need for appropriate modernization changes of national higher education system, aiming at accelerating the speed of domestic universities in compliance with international standard.
In 2012, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation launched the 5-100 Project to promote the Russian education in the world, which aims to increase the competitiveness of Russian leading universities among the world's leading research and educational centers. As part of the project, 21 universities selected by the competition received financial support (15 universities received support in 2013, and the number of project participants was expanded to 21 in 2015). Under the terms of participation in the project, universities must reach a number of indicators, one of which is to increase international students[8, p. 239-240].
In addition, in 2017, former Prime Minister of Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev officially endorsed that the export of higher education should be regarded as a national priority. In the same year, a project called "Development of Russian Education System Export Potential" was launched. According to the project the number of foreign citizens studying in secondary and higher professional education institutions on a full-time basis should grow from 200,000 to 710,000 by 2025, while an increasing number of foreign students should be trained on a contractual basis. In other words, the goal is to generate additional income in the vocational education system: the amount of funds raised through education exports should grow from 70 billion to 373 billion rubles in 2025.
1. The importance of strengthening cooperation with East Asian countries. The target of strengthening Russian economic and cultural competitiveness could not be attained without the development of international activities initiated by universities. The development should be promoted in two directions. One direction is to attract foreign students to study in Russian Federation and attract scientists to do research or teach in Russian Federation, and the other direction is to increase the mobility of Russian students and faculties [8, p. 236]. According to UNESCO (The United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the transnational mobility of students in the world has increased by 300 % over the past 25 years [1, p. 16]. To develop and strengthen ties with Asian higher education institutions has become one of the most perspective cooperation targets for Russian education institutions in recent years. As for the higher institutions of the two countries, the cooperation targets are fulfilled in terms of students mutual exchange ,while as for companies and enterprises, the cooperation targets are fulfilled by means of graduates employment, internship opportunities offering in the specialty and so on[11, 14].
A.V. Prokhorov notes that the East and South-East Asian countries have gradually taken leading positions in the world market of educational services in recent years [10, p. 221-224]. For example, citizens from 202 countries study at Chinese universities. The number of international students in 2016 increased by 8.4 times compared to that of 2000, reaching almost 450,000 people [4, p. 90]. Today, China ranks third in the world after the United States and Great Britain in attracting foreign students to its educational institutions.
It should be noted that the East Asian States have moved to the practice of world educational standards and implemented the standards in national higher education systems much earlier than that of Russia. Stimulated by the economic and cultural globalization as well as the strengthening position of Asian States in the world economic, scientific and technological spheres, the internationalization of higher education in East Asian countries takes the lead. Despite of the unavoidable existing cultural differences among East Asian civilizations, the vector of higher education development set by the Bologna process is also reflected in the educational policy of East Asian States.
It should be noted that strategies for the development of transnational higher education in East and South-East Asia differ. Thus, in China, the Republic of Korea and Malaysia, transnational higher education is fully controlled and regulated by the state, which determines the strategic vector of development of national higher education institutions. In Japan, the "transitive" direction of transnational higher education prevails. It is characterized by the transition from state regulation to market orientation [15, p.421-432].
According to the Institute of international education, one of the fastest growing countries of foreign students' quantity is China. This growth is a result of large-scale educational reforms and investments in the higher education system in order to increase the competitiveness of Chinese universities. Russia is one of the seven countries in terms of the number of foreign students, and it accounts for
about 6% of the total global number of students studying outside their home country (figure 1) [8, p. 238].
2011
Russia Canada 2% Germany 3% 2%
Figure 1. Global international student market
The existing system of financial support for students from other countries contributes to attracting a significant number of foreign students to higher education institutions in China (table 1) [3, p. 13].
Table 1.
Dynamics of growth in the number of foreign citizens studying in China _(thousand people)_
Year Number of foreign students Number of fellows Amount allocated by the central government of the People's Republic of China for scholarships (million dollars) Number of students from countries and regions
2008 223,5 13,5 71,4 -
2010 240,0 - 117 (and 16 more by the provincial governments) 190
2012 292,6 25,7 238 194
2015 360,0 50,0 - -
2020 500 (150 of them in universities) - - -
For instance, foreign students who receive full financial support from the Chinese government are not only exempted from tuition, dormitory fees, insurance premiums, registration fees at a university, but also are provided with funds to cover their fundamental expenditure [12, p.134-135]. This state support program is designed not only for undergraduate students, but also for masters and postgraduates studying in Chinese universities. Currently, the largest number of students come to study in Chinese universities from countries with their own higher developed education systems - the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the United States [6, p. 155].
The higher education institutions of China and other Asian countries have managed to implement educational reforms in a short time, and reached the
boundaries of the world's highest indicators effectively. The value of higher education internationalization of China and other Asian countries consists of the following two parts: 1) follow the modern trends of educational services in globalization effectively, 2) preserve the national traditions completely. All in all it is a particularly urgent task for Russia to deepen the internationalization of its higher institutions.
2. The quantity of overseas students from China influences the internationalization of Russian higher institutions. It is widely acknowledged that the interaction of higher education institutions between Russia and China is intensifying. The educational relationship between Russia and China has begun to expand, which has piqued the interest of researchers and other academic professionals on an international level. [13, 124-131; 9].T. G. Ozernikova identifies the following main factors that determine the trends of further interaction between Russia and China in the field of higher professional education [7, p. 92100]. First, because of economic reforms that began in the 1970s and 1980s, the modern Chinese economy has made a powerful modernization leap. Secondly, China's needs for high-qualified specialists are growing due to the rapid growth of the state's economy, which determines the dynamic development of the higher professional education system in China. However, every year at least 6 million young professionals graduate from higher education institutions in China,which leads to a certain oversupply of applicants with higher professional education diplomas in the national labor market (according to the latest data, at least 10% of Chinese University graduates remain unemployed) [7, p. 92-100]. Meanwhile, for Chinese citizens, the attractiveness of obtaining a higher education diploma in another country increases, which means the possibility of employment in a global labor market.
The third factor, according to T. G. Ozernikova, is the overall growth of the material well-being of Chinese citizens. For a long time, Russian universities have captured the Chinese applicants' hearts due to the low cost of talents cultivating. The growth of the material well-being of Chinese people may reduce the competitive advantages of Russian universities, as Chinese citizens will be able to have more access to other universities to obtain high-quality education needed in the international labor market. In changing social-economic conditions, it is only possible to ensure the competitiveness of Russian higher education if Russia Federation could strive to create positive conditions for the development of foreign business, especially in a specific situation - with the predominant of Chinese Market.
Finally, the language factor is no less important than the factors mentioned in interaction between Russian and Chinese universities. With the popularization of Russian language in the world, it has become one of the most important directions of the state language policy designed to strengthen the position of the Russian language and attract foreign students to enter Russian universities. However, even in China, it has not yet been possible to significantly increase the number of students who study Russian language in Chinese educational institutions [12, p. 132-138].
Researchers have attempted to explore the interactions between Russia and China in the field of education and and their viewpoints are different from each other. E. B. Yatsenko pays special attention to the prospects of development of cooperation between Russia and China in the field of education within the framework of state efforts and university initiatives. The main focus is on the creation and development of joint educational projects, associations of Russian-Chinese universities, and tools for overcoming the language barrier [16].D. D. Trifonova analyzed the process of educational cooperation between Russia and China in such areas as academic mobility, implementation of joint educational programs and joint activities of universities. She also reviewed the development of the legal framework and highlighted the main prospects for cooperation between the countries [13, p. 124-131].
The prospects for the development of educational cooperation between China and Russia are wide and based on mutual beneficial terms. Experience of active intercollegiate interaction shows that cooperation between China and Russia in the education sector continues to expand and improve quality and scale of interaction.
3. The existing problems that impair the internationalization of Russian higher institutions. Researchers such as Shkunov V. N., Shvedova I. A. hold on the viewpoints that the following main factors that impair or weaken internationalization of Russian higher institutions. Firstly, the lack of English education programs in Russian universities is one of the vital factors [11]. As English is the most popular language in the world, it is essential for Russian universities to carry out the educational programs in English. Russia should take standard examples from other countries such as China. On the one hand, internationalization of the higher education institutions serves its benefits in China. On the other hand, it helps to increase the leading Chinese universities' competitiveness in the world education market, which is strengthened through the introduction of English-language textbooks and programs. Secondly, the lack of publicity and promotion of Russian language effectively blocked the internationalization of Russian higher institutions. On the contrary, in parallel with the development of English-language education in Chinese universities, China has been actively promoting the Chinese language in other countries, which is facilitated by the opening of foreign language centers. A network of Confucius Institutes in foreign countries started in 2004. It stimulates foreign students to show interest in Chinese culture and Chinese language. Henceforth, the number of foreign citizens who studies in Chinese higher educational institutions is increasing [12, p. 132-138].
Thirdly, the lack of financial support severely hinders he internationalization of Russian higher institutions. Russia has not yet been a leading player in the global market of educational services. According to the OECD Center for research and innovation (Organization for economic cooperation and development), Russia lags behind the world's leading countries in terms of annual income from educational services exports. According to various sources, in recent years, this amount has ranged from 150-200 million dollars (0.5% of the world market for educational services) to 0.5 billion dollars (the same figure for the United States is
10.3 billion, Australia - 2.2 billion, China - 0.9 billion dollars). One of the main reasons is that almost half of foreign students in Russian universities are citizens of CIS countries (The Commonwealth of Independent States) [5].
Despite the fact that many measures are being taken in this direction, one of the main mechanisms for supporting the attraction of foreign students for the time being is to reform the scholarship system. Scholarship quotas for domestic students, students abroad, including overseas compatriots, are limited in Russian Federation. In the 2014/2015 academic year, almost 105 ,000 scholarships were awarded, which is just over 4% of the total number of foreign students. A third of the quotas (33%) are intended for applicants from CIS countries, a quarter (25%) — for students from Asia, 13% — for students from the Middle East and Africa, and the remaining 16% — for other macro regions [8, p. 241].
4. Prospects for internationalization of higher education in Russia. Currently, the number of Russian students studying in higher education institutions in China is growing. As for Chinese students, the researchers note that most of them are characterized by a low level of knowledge and motivation to get an education in Russia, because they consider their staying more in the direction of employment and development own business, rather than obtaining any real knowledge. A more prepared and motivated contingent of Chinese students, especially from high-income families, prefer to receive higher education in the United States and Western Europe (table 2) [3, p. 9].
Table 2.
Selection of Chinese students who went to study abroad at their own expense in the 2012/2013
academic year, %
USA 30
Great Britain 21
Australia 13
Canada 10
Japan 5
France 4
Germany 2
Thus, an important aim for Russian universities in the direction of developing bilateral relations with China is improving the quality of Russian education. Financial support of operation with foreign students and elimination of negative trends in the work of migration services, which are responsible for registration of foreign citizens also play an important role [7, p. 98]. According to M. Argila, the social-cultural adaptation of foreign students to the conditions of study and residence in another country depends on the overall satisfaction with the living conditions, as well as a positive perception of the surrounding social-cultural environment [2].
In the bilateral relations between two countries in the field of education, Russia is noticeably inferior to China in the level of "aggressiveness" of marketing and advertising policies. In particular, higher education institutions in China implement a significant number of educational programs in RF aimed at attracting Russian students
to higher education institutions in PRC (the People's Republic of China). For this purpose, the Chinese side provide favorable condition to welcome Russian students and teachers to China, as well as the establishment of centers for studying Chinese language and culture in Russian higher educational institutions. According to the researchers, higher education institutions in North-Eastern China (Harbin, Dalian, Shenyang and Beijing universities) are most active in Russia [12, p. 137].
China is the only country leading such an active educational policy towards Russia, but, as practice shows, the Russian educational community was not ready to turn these processes in a profitable direction. In any case, the best Russian universities are becoming more attractive to students from China. Russian specialists are aware of the importance of developing educational cooperation with China and are aiming to take steps in this direction. Therefore, the countries have to develop strategies and tactics of interaction within the framework of educational cooperation that meet international standards.
Conclusion. Currently, the Russian Federation faces a challenge to integrate its education system into the world educational space. Modernization of its own educational system is essential for the promotion of innovation. In the context of permanent globalization of the educational space and the commercialization of the education system, where there the speed of internationalization in Russian higher institutions is accelerating and the number of students is increasing, together with the state should be concerned about combining the two main vectors of education development. On the one hand, it helps to cater for the demanding interests of the world educational market. On the other hand, it helps to preserve the traditions and social significance of education within the country. Thus, the modernization of domestic education in the context of its internationalization and integration of the Russian Federation into the world educational space can be carried out, drawing on the experiences of China and other East Asian countries.
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