Strategic Planning Of The Development Of Higher Pedagogical Education In Russia

Abstract

The article examines the ways of strategic development of pedagogical universities in Russia. The strategic development program of the Russian regional university should be linked, on the one hand, with the national development goals of the Russian Federation, with the Strategy of Scientific and Technological and the Strategy of socio-economic Development of the Russian Federation, and on the other – with the Strategy of socio-economic development of the subject of the Russian Federation, on the territory of which this university is located. The concept of the Development Strategy of the Chechen State Pedagogical University (ChSPU) for the period up to 2035 provides for three scenarios of possible development, as well as the development of interrelated three Programs of strategic development of the ChSPU, each for a five-year period. At the same time, the output parameters of the first Program are the input parameters for the next one. Pedagogical universities in Russia need a Development Strategy for a period of 12 years or more, ensuring the leveling of problems and stagnation in the field of pedagogical education; the implementation of the Strategy of ChSPU-2035 will require, on the one hand, the harmonious use of Russian and global pedagogical educational approaches to the development of pedagogical education in the Chechen Republic, and on the other – further development the established traditions of ChSPU in the field of pedagogical higher education.

Keywords:

Introduction

The modern state is obliged to pay constant attention to the real incomes of the population and the level of education of citizens, otherwise sooner or later the question of its sovereignty will be on the agenda. In the conditions of digitalization of public relations, the problems of employment of the population directly related to education, and above all higher education, are becoming more acute. Russian higher pedagogical education today is also in a state of transformation caused by serious problems of further development of the Russian economy and social sphere due to trade wars, economic sanctions, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other threats. All this has a negative impact on Russian education, and first of all pedagogical.

Meanwhile, new models of higher education and trends in teacher education are emerging both abroad (Beckingham, 2019; Santhiram, 2016) and in modern Russia (Sergeeva & Obrevko, 2019; Tysyachin & Mikhailov, 2017). At the same time, the strategic development of the university education system is of great socio-economic importance and relevance for the modern state (Kettunen, 2010). Especially during the transformation of the prevailing stereotypes in almost all spheres of life, including higher pedagogical education.

Today, Russian pedagogical education is in a state of certain transformations.

Problem Statement

In Russia, the problem of strategic planning for the higher pedagogical education has developed, and recently has become more acute. Russian universities, including pedagogical ones, are currently forming and implementing strategic development programs. The fact is that the University's Development Strategy and the University's Strategic Development Program are different strategic planning tools. The first tool sets goals for the development of the university for a long-term period – 12 years or more, and reveals ways to achieve them, considering possible risks (random events in the future), hence the scenario approach (development of three scenarios or more) to the formation of a Development Strategy. The second tool, the Strategic Development Program of the University, is a specific roadmap or a list of specific measures that ensure the solution of specific tasks to achieve tactical goals within a shorter period – no more than 6 years, and only within one (basic) scenario of the Development Strategy. And most importantly, within the framework of one Program, it is impossible to achieve a strategic goal – the formation of a.

Research Questions

Each region of the Russian Federation is experiencing certain internal problems, in particular the current demographic state and its prospects in the medium and long term. So, in the Chechen Republic, if we proceed from the demographic forecast for 2035, the population of the region will be 2 million people (the Government of the Chechen Republic, 2021), which will thereby aggravate the already difficult situation in the field of teacher education. Nevertheless, almost every pedagogical university in Russia today has the goal of becoming a(Romashin, 2019).

Today, the teacher has a key role in the educational process. The modern state and society, proceeding from this, should pay more attention to the training of pedagogical personnel – both in terms of the formation of pedagogical competencies and personal factors of the formation of a modern teacher. Therefore, every Russian university, regardless of the profile of personnel training, needs a clear picture of the future – both in terms of goals and objectives, and in terms of opportunities and resources. All this requires the transformation of the existing approach in the strategic planning of the development of Russian universities, and above all, pedagogical ones.

The status of a teacher has been significantly devalued in Russian universities, especially in regional ones, and the presence of a scientific degree and academic title sometimes does not guarantee the quality of teaching disciplines and the development of university science. Apparently, new criteria for the potential capabilities of scientific and pedagogical staff (SPS) are needed. For example, such as the Hirsch index, and this criterion should be applied both to full-time SPS and external part-timers. Otherwise, regional universities are deprived of the opportunity to attract more professional SPS in the format of external part-time.

In modern conditions, regional universities face several problems that hinder the breakthrough into the status of the. These include the increasing competition for development resources with other Russian pedagogical universities. Secondly, there is a shortage of highly qualified and motivated SPS. Thirdly, the lack of a university campus that would meet the most modern requirements.

Purpose of the Study

In these conditions, medium- and long–term strategic planning of the development of education at all levels – both preschool and school (primary, general and secondary), as well as secondary special and higher education becomes especially relevant. And this, in turn, requires a special attitude to higher pedagogical education, without which it is impossible to revive specialized secondary (vocational), as well as secondary, general and primary education in the country. All this influenced the choice of the research goal – the development of solutions regarding the established practice ofin modern Russia.

There are principles, tools, and methods of strategic planning for the development of public legal entities and economic entities, including universities (Tsakaev, 2021). In addition, there are various tools and methods for assessing the quality of education – foreign (Riahi & Riahi, 2018) and domestic (Sergeeva & Obrevko, 2019). Their use, of course, expands the quality of assessment for all considered scenarios of the implementation of the Development Strategy of the Russian Pedagogical University. The issues of strategic planning of the pedagogical university development based on the assessment and analysis of the quality of higher pedagogical education are the subject of this study.

The Chechen State Pedagogical University, hereinafter referred to as ChSPU, was chosen as the object of the study.

Research Methods

In this study, various methods of expert assessments were used, including comparison, analogies and foresight. Thus, the comparison method made it possible to compare the parameters of the Socio-economic Development Strategy of the Chechen Republic for the period 2021-2035 with the indicators of the Strategic Development Program of the ChSPU for 2021-2024. The method of analogies made it possible to compare the structure of the Program of strategic development of ChSPU with similar documents of other pedagogical and other universities in Russia and to identify a certain pattern in their construction. Foresight allowed us to substantiate and propose the missing link in the strategic planning of the development of universities, in particular pedagogical universities.

Findings

In the ChSPU Strategic Development Program for the period 2021-2024, in its new edition (ChSPU, 2021), many problems are noted. Firstly, there is a shortage of settled personnel. Secondly, there is a gap between the supply and demand of the regional labor market, in terms of teaching staff – a shortage of foreign language teachers, etc. Thirdly, the lack of tools and methods for forecasting the staffing of the region. Fourth, there is a shortage of places in the dormitory for students. Fifth, the lack of a high-quality material and technical base. Sixth, there is a shortage of places of industrial practice of the project type. This list can be continued, but this list of problems also testifies to the current difficult situation in the field of teacher training in the Chechen Republic.

The main problem of the Program (ChSPU, 2021) is the creation of the. All the activities of the Program are implemented through this technopark, and it is mentioned in the text 122 times, which indicates the vulnerability of the Program itself. But the question is different – there is no ChSPU Development Strategy itself – from where and where is ChSPU moving in this time cycle? What problems and how are they solved during this period? For example, the text notes that 21 thousand teaching staff work in schools in the Chechen Republic, and less than half of them have higher education. At the same time, most of them are over the age of 40 (ChSPU, 2021). In addition, there are no quantitative estimates of the state for 2021 and 2024 for this parameter. Moreover, there is no decoding of the provision of teaching staff in the disciplines – mathematics, physics, history, Russian and national languages, etc.

The developers of the Program (ChSPU, 2021) may object here too – there is a special section in the Program that outlines the goal of ChSPU's strategic development – to ensure the transition from an to a new(including from small centers to large hubs providing integrated education). But the whole question is – how to ensure the transition to the declared landmark – the? Unfortunately, the 32 events announced in the Program do not provide this. The question is – where are the indicators of such a transition?

The questions to the Program (ChSPU, 2021) are the following:

1. How many ChSPU Bachelor's and Master's degree programs have public and international accreditation as of September 1, 2021? And how much will they have on September 1, 2022, on September 1, 2023 and on September 1, 2024? Please do not confuse it with state accreditation.

2. How many ChSPU Bachelor's and Master's degree programs have international accreditation as of September 1, 2021? And how much will they have on September 1, 2022, on September 1, 2023 and on September 1, 2024? Without these statistics, it is impossible to diagnose the internationalization of pedagogical educational activities of ChSPU

3. How many bachelor's and master's degree programs of ChSPU provide for the teaching of disciplines in foreign languages with the involvement of foreign scientific and pedagogical workers during 2021–2024? And by year? Without such indicators, it is impossible to ensure a real improvement in the quality of pedagogical education, according to the international standards of the Bologna System, etc., in ChSPU.

4. How many ChSPU students are interning at foreign universities as of September 1, 2021? How many will there be by September 1, 2024? This is one of the indicators of ChSPU's international integration into the international educational community.

5. The Program notes that as of 2021, only 25 people with doctor degree work at ChSPU, but it is not noted how many should have been on this date. Another question arises: how many of them have the appropriate basic education? And what will be the picture as of September 1, 2024? Will the picture improve or worsen?

This list of issues could be continued, but the essence of these issues is already clear – the adopted Program (ChSPU, 2021) does not create the dynamics of the real movement of ChSPU to the status of, and as a result leads to a further lag of ChSPU from other pedagogical universities of the country, including neighboring regions of the North Caucasus Federal District. This is also evidenced by the fact that, according to the analysis of the effectiveness of the Program (ChSPU, 2021), out of 117 indicators, the planned indicators were not achieved for 25 indicators, that is, the Program (ChSPU, 2021) for 2021 was not fulfilled by 22.2 % (ChSPU, 2022). If this dynamic persists in the next three years of the Program, then the result is obvious – not fulfilling the stated Program guidelines. Therefore, in our opinion, the "ChSPU-2035 Development Strategy" is the way to solve the problems of ChSPU's transition to the status of "university of the future". The goal of the Development Strategy of ChSPU-2035 should be the sustainable effective development of ChSPU as a pedagogical university of the classical type for the needs of the Chechen Republic, the regions of the North Caucasus Federal District of the Russian Federation and the whole of modern Russia. Designing the appearance of ChSPU by 2035 and defining new development goals and priorities, its team should focus on federal legal acts, including legislation on strategic planning (State Duma of the Russian Federation, 2014). In addition, the ChSPU should focus on the Strategy of Socio-economic Development of the Chechen Republic until 2035 (Government of the Chechen Republic, 2021) and the Unified Concept of Spiritual and Moral Education and Development of the younger Generation of the Chechen Republic (Head of the Chechen Republic, 2013). All this testifies to the need to form a Strategy for the development of ChSPU for a long-term period, implemented at least within the framework of three consecutive interconnected five-year Programs for the strategic development of ChSPU.

The Program is designed for only 4 years, namely for 2021–2024. For ChSPU, it is proposed to develop a Development Strategy for the period up to 2035 – further, the Development Strategy of ChSPU-2035, that is, covering at least three similar programs. Thus, according to critical assessments of the long-term socio-economic development of the Chechen Republic (Tsakaev & Saidov, 2020), the Development Strategy of ChSPU-2035 should provide for at least three implementation scenarios, namely:

• pessimistic (probability of implementation – up to 40 %) – pedagogical university, which does not have an independent perspective;
• basic (most likely – more than 50 %) – independent pedagogical university of the regional level);
• optimistic (the probability of implementation is less than 10 %) – a university that is included in the second category of national universities, according to the rating of socio-economic, pedagogical and law universities (Univer Expert, 2020).

To become by 2035 ChSPU should:

1) function on the basis of simultaneous development of pedagogical education, university science and interaction with society.

2) have an innovation ecosystem, which includes: the center for innovative development of pedagogical education; the center for commercialization of technologies for the creation and implementation of educational programs; student business incubator; small innovative enterprises for the commercialization of the developments of university scientists; socially useful volunteer movement of students.

3) have advanced laboratory equipment, a developed system of academic mobility and support for scientists, and a teaching staff conducting fundamental and applied research in the field of science and education, should be able to ensure the growing position of ChSPU among Russian pedagogical universities in terms of scientific activity.

4) have all levels of pedagogical education, aimed at the development of fundamental knowledge by the graduate and the formation of his creative skills as a teacher.

5) have a large center for the training of highly qualified teaching staff for the Chechen Republic and the regions of the North Caucasus Federal District of the Russian Federation, which allows to implement educational programs of bachelor's, specialty, master's, postgraduate and additional professional education.

6) have a creative staff and a personnel policy based on the creation of a motivation system and a policy of careful attitude to personnel. The policy of gender equality, tolerance and multiculturalism should be the basis for working with staff;

7) be socially responsible, providing socially useful activities of students, and where graduate training should not only bring the light of knowledge, but also has a positive impact on the moral atmosphere in society;

8) aim at developing participation in international projects and in international events for the development of pedagogical education, and the appearance of foreign students should also be noticeable among those studying at ChSPU;

9) have a full-fledged campus based on modern technologies, including social ones, providing a comfortable living environment for students and research and teaching staff;

10) have the center of cultural and spiritual life, ensuring the dissemination of knowledge among the population of the Chechen Republic.

Achieving such a level of development of ChSPU is based on the traditional and new directions of socio-economic development of the Chechen Republic. First of all, the priority areas should be both broad areas of scientific and educational, and innovative activities of ChSPU. This will require joining the efforts of ChSPU with partner organizations both within the framework of bilateral cooperation and multilateral consortia.

At the same time, priority should be given to areas in which ChSPU has significant reserves, namely:

a) in teacher education: student-centered learning; lifelong learning; learning using online forms of educational programs, distance learning technologies and e-learning platforms.

b) in youth policy and educational work: the development of a system of civic education and the development of the volunteer movement; the introduction of a personal approach to the education of students, support for talented youth and the formation of a corporate culture among students; ensuring the possibility of implementing individualized development trajectories considering the abilities of each student.

c) in the management of the university: development of the university management system based on the principles of a project-oriented university, and providing the opportunity to participate in scientific, educational and innovative associations (clusters); development and optimization of the internal structure of the university to ensure the solution of new major tasks of higher pedagogical education; development of the personnel motivation system, ensuring the attraction and retention of highly qualified personnel (scientific and pedagogical, administrative and administrative and educational support workers); digital transformation of the university management system.

d) in the internationalization of the university: sending students to complete their studies at foreign universities; mastering double degree programs with foreign universities; participation in international projects in the field of pedagogical education, science and innovation; entering into a system of partnerships and networking with the world's leading scientific and educational centers and corporations, participation in international scientific and educational consortia; involvement of leading scientists and teachers of foreign universities in educational programs; teaching Russian and Chechen languages, and promoting them in the world educational space; transition to educational programs in foreign languages, taking into account scientific and educational priorities and trends of the market of Russian and international education; development of an open online education system aimed at the Russian and world markets of educational services.

The achievement of the declared level of development of ChSPU is based on both the development of traditional and new directions of socio-economic development of the Chechen Republic for the period up to 2035 (Tsakaev, 2021).

Conclusion

The priority areas of the ChSPU – 2035 Development Strategy should be broad areas of scientific, educational, and innovative activities of ChSPU. This will require joining the efforts of ChSPU with partner organizations both within the framework of bilateral cooperation and multilateral consortia.

The main results of the implementation of the ChSPU-2035 Development Strategy should be: increasing the contribution of ChSPU to the socio-economic development of the Chechen Republic; strengthening the position of ChSPU as a developing pedagogical university in Russia, competitive in the Russian educational space; development of a comfortable internal university environment for the implementation of competitive pedagogical educational activities of ChSPU.

Conceptually, the Development Strategy of ChSPU-2035 should provide for the stages of implementation based on a step-by-step interrelated development of the Program of strategic development of ChSPU for the period 2021–2025, the Program of strategic development of ChSPU for the period 2026–2030 and the Program of strategic development of ChSPU for the period 2031–2035. If a decision is made to develop a Development Strategy for ChSPU-2035, it is necessary to return to the Program to finalize it, considering comments on the fact of implementation for 2021, and extending the period until 2025 inclusive, that is, to increase the 4-year period by 5 years.

Pedagogical universities in Russia need a development strategy for a period of 12 years or more, ensuring the leveling of problems and stagnation in the field of pedagogical education.

The implementation of the ChSPU-2035 Strategy will require the harmonious use of Russian and global pedagogical educational approaches to the development of pedagogical education in the Chechen Republic, as well as the further development of the established traditions of ChSPU in the field of pedagogical higher education.

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