Education And Science - One Of The Vectors Of Migration Of Dagestanis

Abstract

Today, there are many areas of migration. Among the largest of these is educational, including scientific, migration. Russian and foreign researchers have developed several concepts explaining the causes of migration behavior, but not all of them work in the conditions of Dagestan. The study showed that in some cases, Dagestan communities differ in their characteristics, manifesting in the behavior of migrants. The sociological surveys conducted during the survey, the interviewing of respondents - participants of migration, the included and indirect observation, the analysis of a diverse array of scientific literature and historical sources, led to the conclusion about the historical validity of this phenomenon. At the same time, significant changes were revealed in the process of educational migration itself. During the years 1980-2000, it deepened, becoming one of the isolated cases caused by the need of the state, a universal phenomenon. Today, a Dagestani who is not involved in educational migration is the exception to the general rule rather than the rule. In addition, this type of migration significantly expanded its geography, stepping over borders of states and continents, and the subject base. Another result was the statement of the negative impact of this migration process on the economic and cultural development of Dagestan. The results of the study can be used by the governing bodies of the republic to draw up long-term plans in order to reduce the scale of irrevocable departure for training and create favorable conditions for increasing the percentage of return migration of this species.

Keywords: Educationscience Dagestanmigrationforeign countries

Introduction

The unrelenting attention of the scientific community to migration processes in all areas of society’s life is largely connected with the diversity of this phenomenon, as well as with their scale and influence on the population of the interacting regions. It is no coincidence that the 20th century was recognized by him as the “age of migration” (Castles, de Haas, & Miller, 2014). After all, numerous political transformations and scientific and technical revolutions of the last century “made the implementation of migrations possible on a scale of the entire planet Earth” (Karpov & Kapustina, 2011, p. 26). Among the main directions of migration flows around the world, a significant place is occupied by the movement of the population in order to increase their intellectual level. As the most important reasons for this is that the interaction of representatives of science and education from different regions and countries “... contributes to: 1) increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of research; 2) improving the quality of education and the training of scientific and technical personnel, the effectiveness of using budget funds, enhancing the relationship with business and the processes of commercialization of the results of applied research and development; 3) the influx of young people into the sphere of research and development, etc. ”(Egorova, 2008, p. 74). All this, combined with the ability to improve your life at a higher material level, leads to the promotion of educational migration to one of the first places in many communities, including among the population of the Republic of Dagestan. In general, the analysis of the main directions of migration of Dagestanis suggests that all its directions depend on a number of factors, such as polyethnicity, ethno-psychological features of Dagestanis, the socio-territorial structure of the region, the geopolitical situation and the socio-economic situation that form the region’s ethnic and regional specifics (Karpov, 2010).

Problem Statement

The greatest shift in the study of migrations, including educational, occurred in the 1980s due to the emergence of several scientific concepts that consider it through the use of the concept of a social network. Thus, a number of scientists led by Massey (Massey et al., 1994), developing ideas about the interaction of people in the framework of international labor migration (one of whose components is educational and scientific), determined the most effective migration units not of individuals, but of the network. Deepening this idea, Park (2002) puts forward the thesis that personal connections within folding networks are a means of transmitting information, social and financial support. Studying the preferences of Dagestan migrants when choosing an educational institution (hereinafter we are talking about higher education institutions), for teaching their children, shows the absolute fairness of this provision. The main guideline is made on the presence of those already studying in the host community of representatives of their ethnic group, village, or clan. This position of Dagestanis allows us to consider their social networks, especially those related to family and home, understanding migration as a social product - that is, not only as an individual decision made by an individual actor, and not only as a result of economic or political parameters, but more as a consequence of the interaction of all these factors (Boyd, 1989).

At the same time, when studying the state of migrants in the host society for Dagestan students and scientists, two completely different ways of adaptation were identified. One part of the migrants sought to transfer to the host community many elements and standards from their native, and also to maintain their social status not only in a new place, but also at home (a phenomenon first revealed by researchers from the Chicago school when studying the internal organization and functioning of migrant communities (Thomas, Park, & Miller, 1971). The other one - diligently imitated the external characteristics of the receiving party, while adhering to the home, in relations with family members of the traditional way. We are in line with and considered from the point of view of the concept of transnationalism, a social process in which migrants form social fields that cross geographical, cultural and political boundaries (Glick-Schiller, Blanc-Szanton, & Basch, 1992). Migrants themselves maintain volatile forms of relationships in several places of residence, often actively existing in two or more societies (Zontini, 2010).

However, the phenomenon of transnationality is more typical for Europe, and among Dagestanis, it is manifested though fully, but does not exceed 1% of the population of the republic. And in this regard, it was more practical to use the version of this concept adapted to the geographical realities of Russia - the theory of translocality, first applied to the Dagestan migrant communities of Kapustina (2013, 2014). Dagestan translocality (as well as European transnationality) manifests itself in the framework of social networks and is supported “... through flows of people who migrate and move to a new place, and those who return to their homeland, visits of relatives and friends in both directions, marriages between migrated and living in their homeland” (Boyd, 1989, p. 622). Moreover, as the respondents note, the choice of the direction of educational migration is always associated with the possibility of the future return of the future student to their homeland to assist in agricultural work, participation in family status events (weddings, matchmaking, visiting senior relatives, etc.) and holidays. (so as not to forget where he came from) (Khalilova, 2013). Such an attitude to the departure of a significant part of the villagers to study and work in other areas of the Republic of Dagestan, regions of Russia and foreign countries allowed for some time to maintain a high percentage of return migration by the beginning of the study period. This is explained by the fact that in the 80s of the twentieth century, the sending community, as understood by a Dagestani migrant, was the most effective form of existence; another reason for return migration was “strong internal solidarity of migrant groups (Park, 2002).

In the next 20 years, due to the expansion of the geography of the educational migration of Dagestanis, the situation in society has changed significantly. In parallel with the migration from mountain villages to the plains, and further to other regions and countries, in the last decades of the twentieth century, a process began in Dagestan, called in the world science a “demographic transition” (Caldwell, 1976; Kirk, 1996; Kaa, 1996; Vishnevsky, 1998). The emergence of a demographic transition in any territory is manifested in the form of a change in the demographic characteristics of the population living on it, from growth to replenishment. This is what characterized the migrant population of the republic during this period.

 At the same time, among the reasons that contributed to the demographic transition in the 90s of the twentieth century should also be attributed to the socio-economic disorder of the population that has undergone a transformation of the state system and the economic model of development, in general. The country, like all its subjects, has moved to a democratic form of government and a market economy. Considering that according to the demographic theory in the territories where “individual entrepreneurship, private trade, etc. is developing the birth rate is lower than in the territories dominated by agriculture” (Galor, 2005, p. 494), this behavior of the Dagestanis is fully justified. On the one hand, this is explained by a more “conscious” reproductive behavior of entrepreneurs compared to peasants, their greater motivation to give children a quality education, which may not be possible for financial reasons with many children. On the other hand, according to researchers, it is necessary to consider the “traditional” organization of rural life, the rural population’s great dependence on relatives, fellow villagers, the rural community (Barbieri, Blum, Dolgikh, & Ergashev, 1996). However, in the study period, Dagestan migrants showed a completely different reproductive behavior.

Due to the stabilization of the socio-economic and political situation in the country and the republic by the beginning of the 2000s, Dagestan migrants are beginning to show a completely opposite trend to the theories expressed. The presence of financial wealth in the family becomes the basis for the birth of a larger number of children and the expansion of the direction of their educational migration, i.e. financially secure parents seek to send their children to study at the best universities and schools in the country and the world, regardless of the opportunities to return to their homeland during the period of study, and even with the expectation of their permanent employment at the place of study. They actively sought to get involved in the activities carried out by the country in the framework of the “Concept for the modernization of Russian education”, when for the first time at the state level it emphasized the importance of developing international activities in the field of personnel training. As a result, over two thousand Russian citizens (including 200-300 Dagestanis - Av) annually: students, graduate students, teachers and scientists - were trained annually in more than 30 countries around the world on the basis of international treaties of the Russian Federation, as well as direct partnership relations of Russian and foreign educational institutions in the following forms: a full course of study, an internship (including language), scientific work, advanced training (International. www). In the conditions of increasing academic mobility, cooperation with European partners is becoming an integral part of the Russian, and, accordingly, the Dagestan educational systems.

Research Questions

This article is devoted to the study of the gradual migration of Dagestanis from rural areas to the cities of the republic, other subjects of the Federation, as well as foreign countries in order to obtain education or further employment in the field of science and education. Considering that in the period under study, the attitude towards migration in the minds of Dagestanis was significantly transformed, it became necessary to identify the causes of this process. Among the main reasons for the positive perception of further migration by residents of Dagestan, should be considered its educational vector. In order to confirm or disprove this hypothesis, in the study we conducted indirect observation, interviewing respondents participating in this process, and interviewing the public opinion of residents of a few host regions on the research problem, as well as a comparative analysis of all data obtained during the study.

Purpose of the Study

The migration process of residents of Dagestan, which took place in 1980–2010, generates considerable interest in the reasons for its expansion and deepening, especially in the field of education and science. Every year thousands of Dagestan school graduates, hundreds of students, dozens of graduate students and young scientists leave their homeland in search of better education, allowing them to take a higher social status in the future, both on return and in a new place, and highly paid investments of their scientific ideas and discoveries . All this encourages us to study the causes and consequences of this process for the Republic of Dagestan.

Research Methods

When conducting a study to study theoretical approaches to this problem, a diverse array of materials and sources was considered from the point of view of the principles of objectivism and historicism on which the research was based, observing a causal and chronological sequence in presenting historical facts. To confirm the accuracy of the claimed provisions, materials of the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the Central State Archive of the Republic of Dagestan, articles from periodicals and Internet sites, scientific papers, which were considered using analytical and inductive research methods, were attracted. To more accurately and visually reflect the changing migration indicators of Dagestanis, both inside and outside the country, the statistical committee was used, as well as the results of the all-Union population censuses of 1979, 1989 and the All-Russian censuses of 2002 and 2010. The basis for collecting field material on the problem under study was the methods of included and indirect observation, interviewing respondents (residents of Dagestan who were direct participants in educational and scientific migration). As a result, over 150 people were interviewed, people from 5 cities and 42 districts of Dagestan. In addition, two public opinion polls were conducted. The first survey was aimed at studying attitudes towards Dagestan migrants by the old-timer’s population in the host regions. The survey, which consisted of 20 questions designed to find out the level of adaptation of Dagestan migrants in the host cultural environment, included 307 people (84 men and 223 women). The study used the traditional 5-point scale with descriptors (from 1 very poor to 5 very good). The second survey, with identical research characteristics, was conducted among Dagestan migrants and was intended to characterize Dagestan's well-being in a foreign community. This survey involved 129 people (79 men and 50 women). In addition, as part of a study on migration issues, an expert survey of migrants was conducted (in-depth interview), consisting of 6 topics (conversation areas), in which 42 people took part. Interviewing and public opinion polls were carried out in compliance with the Ethical Code of the Russian Society of Sociologists (Romanovich, Sorokina, & Shirokalova, 2010), and from each of the respondents agreed to use interview results.

Findings

The study shows that in the 80s of the twentieth century, educational migration was initiated by the leadership of the republic. The need of Dagestan for qualified personnel in that period could not be solved at the expense of its own resources. A few specialties in the field of industry and agriculture were absent in the republic's universities. In particular, the protocols of the Department of Science and Education of the Regional Committee of the CPSU for 1981 noted that "in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the RSFSR" On the plan and procedure for out-of-competition admission to higher educational institutions, transfer to IV and V courses preparatory departments at higher educational institutions of persons of the indigenous population of the autonomous republics, autonomous regions and autonomous regions of the RSFSR “Dagestan ASSR 32-35 out-of-competition places in high schools of the Russian Federation and 10 places for preparatory departments. For 4 years, 162 representatives of indigenous peoples of the DASSR were sent to these universities, to the preparatory departments -46, a total of 208 people” (Korobeinikov, 1981, p. 34). The 1990s, which became a time of decline in the educational sphere, increasing the level of corruption in this environment, and accordingly lowering the status and level of accessibility for the population of educational institutions of Dagestan led to an increase in this flow. According to the State Statistics Committee of the Republic of Dagestan, in connection with studies, Dagestan left: in 1989 - 5.6%, 1999 –5.7%, 2010 - 10% of applicants. Considering that the population of the Republic is constantly growing, the quantitative indicator of student migration is increasing accordingly. At the same time, if in the 1980s Dagestan students studied mainly in the universities of the North Caucasus, and the value of people from Dagestan reached 20-25% of the total number of students in Stavropol, Kuban, and Rostov Oblast, then in 2000 their number decreased to 9-11%. This is largely due to a change in the orientation of educational migration. According to the survey, virtually all students who arrived in these regions for training easily adapted to local conditions (see Table 1 ).

Table 1 -
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Here you can add that, for example, all Dagestani graduates of the Rostov schools continue to study at universities in the region and often identify themselves as “Rostovites”. When asked about the benefits or harms of migrant children at school, Rutgers University professor Jennifer Hunt gives the following answer: “... rather useful. They create an atmosphere of competition in the schools of the working districts, because they are more motivated to learn. I found out: if the share of migrants grows by 10 percent, then two or three percent more local people will graduate from 11 classes” (Kozlovsky, 2013, p. 63).

Despite this, the change in living conditions, the expansion of the horizons of opportunity leads to the fact that by the beginning of the 2000s, Dagestan students increasingly go to universities in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other economically developed subjects of Russia, and also master training programs in other countries . Thus, in 2000, for the first time, second-year students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages ​​of the Dagestan State University, under the program of academic exchange of students, were sent to study in Germany for 1 year. During this year, students from Makhachkala lived in the host families of Germany and studied in universities of the country. It should be noted that all of them have successfully integrated into German society and today continue their often-scientific activities in the territory of this country, and some, extending the boundaries of socialization, entered international marriages.

Further, DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) allowed a number of graduate students and university teachers of the republic as part of the Russian-German programs “Mikhail Lomonosov” and “Immanuel Kant, funded on a parity basis together with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation to participate in the implementation of research projects in the field of natural and technical sciences (M. Lomonosov) and the humanities, social, legal and economic sciences (I. Kant) in the scientific centers of Germany (News ...).

The results of the study showed that similar and other programs and projects are typical not only for Germany, enough Dagestani migrant students and prospective scientists’ study and engage in scientific research in the United States, England, Japan, France, Turkey and several other countries.

Conclusion

According to the data obtained in the course of the study, in 1980–2009, the migration activity of the population of the Republic of Dagestan increased significantly. The number of internal displacements only increased almost 4 times, and a higher migration activity of rural residents was noted compared to urban ones. This circumstance is largely due to lower incomes of the rural population, which tends to the cities of the republic and beyond its borders to industrial areas concentrated mainly in the European part of Russia, as well as to Tyumen and other regions of Siberia and the Far East, to foreign countries. Migration to study at universities, in order to stay permanently in economically more developed regions of Russia and other countries of the world, qualified specialists, young people with a high level of education lead to a weakening of the scientific, creative, economic potential of Dagestan. Not only builders, bricklayers, carpenters, but also highly intellectual personnel, first experts in the field of modern technologies, programmers, doctors, specialists in the natural sciences, scientists of the humanities, are leaving. And many of them, leaving for temporary work, often remain permanently. Consequently, the “hand drain” and “brain drain” are mainly irrevocable, which becomes a brake on the further development of the republic, does not allow to take these resources into account in programs for planning the economic and cultural growth of the region, contributes to a decrease in the general intellectual level of the population, and even lumpenization of some parts of it.

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28 December 2019

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Khalilova*, A., Lysenko, Y., Gebekov, G., & Hajiyeva, Z. (2019). Education And Science - One Of The Vectors Of Migration Of Dagestanis. In D. Karim-Sultanovich Bataev, S. Aidievich Gapurov, A. Dogievich Osmaev, V. Khumaidovich Akaev, L. Musaevna Idigova, M. Rukmanovich Ovhadov, A. Ruslanovich Salgiriev, & M. Muslamovna Betilmerzaeva (Eds.), Social and Cultural Transformations in the Context of Modern Globalism, vol 76. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 1575-1582). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.12.04.214