Demand for higher education in steady decline – Survey

The demand for higher education in Russia is steadily declining due to its high cost and the lack of opportunities to find a good, well-paid job after graduation, according to results of some recent public surveys conducted in Russia.

The results of one such survey were published on 7 July by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), the oldest polling institution in post-Soviet Russia.

They said in recent years the attitude towards higher education in Russia has changed significantly among the local population. The survey also found that about 66% of people aged 18-34 in Russia consider a university education unnecessary in order to find a good job.

Previous surveys conducted by VTsIOM generally confirm these trends, while one of the latest shows that more than 50% of Russians do not work in a specialty obtained at a university. Close to two-thirds of university graduates in Russia are forced to do work that does not correspond to their level of their education, with very few people being able to find a job related to their specialty.

The situation is significantly worse for graduates of teachers’ universities and colleges, who can usually apply for vacancies for teaching posts in Russian secondary schools, but where the rate of wages is among the lowest in Russia. Nearly 90% of them are not working in their speciality.

An official spokesperson of VTsIOM, commenting on the survey results, said: “The demand for intellectual [ie white-collar] work in Russia is currently very low. One of the reasons for this is that it is paid several times lower than the majority of blue-collar jobs.

“Therefore, many secondary school graduates prefer to learn a profession [trade], instead of studying at university. That usually provides them with an opportunity to maintain at least an average standard of living.”

Trends confirmed

The existing trends have been confirmed by some leading Russian experts in the field of higher education.

According to Daniil Dobrynchenko, head of the design department at Skolkovo Innovation Center, a high-technology business area in the Moscow region, higher education in Russia is not as highly valued now as it was 10 years ago.

“Most domestic universities do not provide any higher education but rather do vocational training,” Dobrynchenko said.

“The current poor quality of higher education provided in the majority of Russian universities leads to growth in the demand for vocational post-secondary education.”

The same view is shared by Yevgeny Yamburg, an ‘Honored Teacher of Russia’, who said that graduates of Russian secondary schools seek to continue their studies in institutions of vocational education because they want to receive skills that will provide them with better job prospects and a good salary.

According to Anatoly Ovodenko, deputy chairman of the Council of Presidents of Universities, Saint Petersburg and Saint Petersburg Region – who is also president of the Saint Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation – this year only 45% of secondary school graduates in Russia will submit their documents to universities’ admissions offices.

Vladimir Shamakhov, director of the North-West Branch of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, argues that the quality of higher education in Russia remains high, but says secondary school graduates should not apply to the cheapest universities, which provide the cheapest specialties, where the quality of education remains low.