The concept of private education development was presented in Russia

The Association of Non-Governmental Education (AsNObr) presented a draft strategy for the development of private education in Russia at the III Forum of Non-Governmental Education. The key goal of developing and implementing the document is to strengthen the integration of the sector into the state agenda, the Association said.

Addressing the forum participants, Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, noted that with a large number of students in Russia, there is a shortage of qualified specialists "in almost any field." He stressed that it is necessary to expand the non-governmental education sector to meet the needs of the economy. The minister suggested "looking at the forecast on the labor market for the next 5-10 years, abandoning some programs and opening others." According to Falkov, the Ministry of Education and Science is ready to carry out this work with non-governmental educational institutions and with colleagues from the Ministry of Labor.

LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky, who spoke at the forum, in turn called non-governmental education an underestimated resource of the educational system "in terms of the challenges facing the country." "The task of the sphere is not to replace the state system, but to show new formats of interaction with employers and a quick response to changes in the labor market," Slutsky said.

"The strategy will help consolidate the efforts of the private sector of the industry and direct them to solving priority government tasks with their own resources, without attracting additional funds from the budget," said Vadim Lobov, President of Synergy Corporation, part of ASNDB. He added that today private organizations take on a significant part of the state educational burden due to their own investments in infrastructure, technology, and personnel.

According to the ASNDB, the competencies of the private sector are applicable in the context of the development of new educational programs, including with the participation of employers. The economic model of the non-governmental segment makes it possible to actively introduce innovations, develop the material and technical base and test new formats that can be scaled to the entire education system.

The draft strategy focuses on key government priorities: technological sovereignty, training of engineering personnel, development of digital solutions, and R&D, the association said. He also considers issues of youth education, sports development and social support, including free retraining of veterans of the military and affordable education for schoolchildren from the regions.

One of the key directions of the strategy is to reduce the heterogeneity of the quality of education. The document provides for the development of mechanisms for identifying unscrupulous players, including the creation of intra-industry quality standards and an education quality council, and the introduction of independent assessment.

The draft strategy is planned to be finalized jointly with representatives of all levels of education, the association said. Then it will be taken to the stages of discussion with government agencies for subsequent approval.

More than 2 million people study in the private education sector in Russia. Over the past five years, the number of private university students has increased 1.6 times, and in the secondary vocational education segment — by more than 80%. At the same time, the share of the sector in Russia currently stands at about 10%, while, for example, in the BRICS countries, private education takes on up to 50% of the burden.

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