Russia abandons the Bologna educational system

According to Russia’s Deputy Head of the Ministry of Education and Science, Dmitry Afanasyev, all Russian universities have been barred from the Bologna system of education.”

According to TASS, Afanasiev claimed during a meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education, and Culture on April 11 that the Bologna Group “made a decision to stop representation of Russia and the Republic of Belarus in all organizations of the Bologna Process.”

After the heads of Russian educational institutions signed a petition from the Russian Union of Rectors supporting the special operation in Ukraine, Russia’s educational organizations were expelled from the Bologna Process, according to the official.

Valery Falkov, Russia’s Minister of Education and Science, had declared that the Bologna system of education had been abandoned owing to changing conditions in the country. Furthermore, the application of this educational approach did not yield predictable outcomes in terms of educational quality.

The Bologna educational system is a notion that has been applied in the educational spaces of key European countries since the Bologna Declaration was issued in 1999.

• The Bologna process unites 48 states. Russia joined it in 2003, after which a two-level education system began to take shape in the country — bachelor’s degree (four years) and master’s degree (two years).
• Prior to that, Russian students would study only within the framework of specialist’s degree — they would receive a diploma after five or six academic years. This form still exists in a number of areas and universities, but the members of the Bologna Process, as a rule, equate Russian specialists with bachelors.
• The Bologna system makes it possible to become a bachelor in one special field, and graduate from a master’s degree in another. The idea is to give students an opportunity to combine knowledge from various fields and choose a profession at the intersection of the mastered specialties.
• In addition to the bachelor-master system, participation in the Bologna Process implies that the participating countries recognize each other’s diplomas and ensure academic exchange between teachers and students.