On July 10, a meeting of the Russian Rectors Union was held in Moscow. KFU Rector Ilshat Gafurov took part in it.  

Ineffective universities

Dmitry Livanov, the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, again brought up the issue of closing private universities and branches of government universities that cannot provide adequate quality of education. ?If universities resist, we?ll use strict measures?, said the Minister, noticing that rectors are appointed by the Ministry of Education and Science.

It should be reminded that the Ministry monitored universities in autumn 2012 for the first time, and based on the results, 30 universities and 262 branches were declared ineffective and needed reorganization; in 2013 the monitoring revealed 373 ineffective educational institutions and branches, and besides 45 universities required optimization.

The same work will be done with the private institutes unable to provide high quality education. ?Termination of accreditation will be applied to private schools. They can educate students, or offer any other market product, but do not award a state-recognized diploma. We?ll use withdrawal of a license in cases when there is nothing else to do left,? said Dmitry Livanov.

He added that affiliated Federal Education and Science Supervision Agency that used to accredit all applying universities will no longer do it if there is no guarantee that they are able to provide high quality education.  

Many students will only get bachelor degree

It was also announced that many Russian universities will stick to the bachelor?s programme, Master?s and Postgraduate courses will be only left in the most prestigious universities.