Global Challenges and Problems of Russian
Engineering Education Modernization*
Julia N. Ziyatdinova
Artem N. Bezrukov
Department of Foreign Languages for Professional
Communication
Kazan National Research Technological University
Kazan, Russian Federation
uliziat@yandex.ru
International Affairs
Kazan National Research Technological University
Kazan, Russian Federation
artem-bezrukov@rambler.ru
Peter N. Osipov
Department of Engineering Pedagogics and Psychology of
Higher Professional Education
Kazan National Research Technological University
Kazan, Russian Federation
posipov@rambler.ru
The world wide trends of globalization and integration lead to
certain challenges which have an impact on national systems of
education. The answer to globalization challenges is
internationalization of education, which is inevitable. However,
there are a number of problems to be solved which go along with
global challenges in engineering education. Although having
global dimension, these problems are country-specific and the
proper positioning of a country in the global education market is
the necessary prerequisite for its successful and sustainable
modernization. The paper deals with the problems of engineering
education modernization in Russian national research
universities under globalization challenges focusing on its place
in the global community. Historical analysis of Russian
engineering education development in the global context has been
carried out to track its modernization challenges. A positioning
approach is applied to the modernization of engineering
education in Russia focusing on how different world regions can
contribute to solve its modernization problems in the context of
global challenges. Europe and Asia have been selected as the
reference regions with Germany and Vietnam as the reference
countries. Specific recommendations are given for each listed
modernization problem of Russian engineering education.
Keywords — global challenges, internationalization,
modernization, engineering education, Vietnam, Germany
I. INTRODUCTION
The global challenges should be taken into account when
starting reforms in the national systems of education so as to
keep them at an internationally competitive level. The analysis
of global challenges allows for the following classification:
- innovative challenge related to economic, industrial,
technological and informational problems;
- environmental challenge related to ecological problems, and
creating a safe planet for sustainable development of the
society;
- migration challenge related to global movements of
population in the 21st century resulting in new ethnic
The research was funded by Russian Foundation for Humanities grant
“Development and Implementation of a Network Interaction Model for
Regional Universities of Vietnam and Russia for Internationalization
of Engineering Education”, project #15-26-09001.
compositions of countries and continents; in the context of
education this challenge appears in academic mobility growth.
The paper deals with the problems of engineering education
modernization in Russian national research universities under
globalization challenges focusing on its positioning in the
global community with the distribution of engineering
education modernization challenges over different world
regions. The representatives of Asia-Pacific (Vietnam) and
European (Germany) countries are taken for the analysis. The
experience of Kazan National Research Technological
University (KNRTU) in internationalization is give for
reference.
II. IMAGE OF AN ENGINEER FACING GLOBAL CHALLENGES
Global challenges can be dealt with only through the system
of internationalized education [1] when global problems are
solved through pedagogical efforts which are obvious for
engineering education aiming at training competitive
professionals [2,3].
The analysis of a competitive engineer profile shows the
following necessary characteristics:
- 'planetary thinking' based on universal human values, such as
trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, good
citizenship manifested through intercultural competence;
- capability for self-directed development, learning and career
choice so as to reach professional excellence in global
multicultural environment through constant self-directed
work.
- readiness for innovative activities which means introducing
innovative processes into the education system itself to
provide professional competency of the engineering graduates
[4,5].
A competitive engineering specialist can graduate only from a
competitive research university of an innovative character. In
Russia, there is a network of 29 leading research universities;
most of them focus on engineering as the main areas of
education and research. This project of the Ministry of
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Proceedings of 2015 International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL)
Education and Science started in 2008, and now, after several
years, we can analyze the results of this modernization policy
in the context of development of relationship of Russian
engineering universities with their partners in selected world
regions.
III. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF RUSSIAN ENGINEERING
EDUCATION CHALLENGES
Before the analysis of Russian engineering education
modernization challenges and appropriate solutions it is useful
to apply historical approach [6] and track the place of Russia
in the global scientific and education community helping to
understand the priorities of the internationalization strategy.
Then it is necessary to analyze the modern state of Russian
engineering education in the global context.
Russian Engineering education history dates back to the 18th
Century when Peter the Great, the first Russian emperor sent
young representatives of noble families to Europe to master
various engineering qualifications. Integration with Europe in
education and science (especially with Germany) persisted
throughout 18th and 19th Centuries. Russian engineering
education was represented by colleges and institutes at
universities and its level was sufficiently high. The challenge
of education modernization was solved via invitations of
European scientists and engineers as professors to Russian
universities as well as by sending Russian students to
European universities.
Soviet Union era of the XXth Century changed the priorities of
Russian engineering education. Strong partnership with AsiaPacific countries, such as China and Vietnam, resulted in
focusing on incoming academic mobility in engineering
education. Chinese and Vietnamese students studied at
Russian engineering universities to further contribute their
engineering expertise to the industrial projects in their
countries (also supported by the Soviet Union). At the same
time, Russian natural science achievements as well as
engineering developments, especially in chemical engineering
and aircraft industries were of high interest by their colleagues
in Europe and America.
The decay of Soviet Union and the start of modern Russian
history was the kickback for intensive outgoing academic
mobility of Russian engineering scientists and students to
North America and Europe [7]. Russian engineering education
became opened to the world, however, that time was the
period when engineers and engineering educators actually
realized that Russian engineering education, previously
isolated from leading world trends in this area, required
modernization.
IV. POSITIONING APPROACH TO MODERNIZATION OF RUSSIAN
ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Russian engineering education has therefore historical
orientation on both East and West but in different aspects of
engineering education activities. Europe and then North
America have been the world regions providing top class
engineering researchers and educators to Russia. Their
engineering universities have been the centers for modern
engineering training for Russian students as well as
experienced engineers.
It should be emphasized in this respect that insufficient
attention in literature is paid at another outreach of Russian
engineering education activities: Asia-Pacific region.
Throughout the Soviet part of the XXth Century, students from
such countries as Vietnam and China received engineering
education degrees at Soviet universities. Vietnam is of
particular interest here, because it has both the community of
Russian-speaking graduates of Soviet universities, while the
linguistic component is highly important for successful
internationalization [8,9], as well as joint long-lasting
industrial projects requiring sustainable engineering education
support and the foundation for project-based learning [10].
To summarize historical overview, globalization of Russian
engineering education is characterized by two major directions
of outreach:
- North America and Europe: outdoor-oriented global
integration, meaning that these world regions offer modern
engineering education services to Russian engineers. Such
services are provided by Western engineering universities or
guest lecturers visiting Russia.
- Asia-Pacific region, represented by China, Vietnam etc.:
Russia is quite competitive in providing engineering education
services to these countries and has good potential there for
internationalizing its engineering education activities as a
provider of academic services.
All the said above allows us to define additional globalization
challenge, which directly relates to engineering education: a
positioning challenge related to the proper position of a
national system of engineering education in the global
education market.
As any country has certain peculiarities in its national system
of engineering education, its global outreach will be specific
with internationalization priorities related to different world
countries according to their historical, economical and
political background.
Thus, we can form the following approach in this paper.
Firstly, globalization challenges stipulate that modernization
of Russian engineering education may and should be
discussed within the framework of its internationalization: in
other words, be global to be modern, if you are isolated, you
will stay behind. Secondly, historical background makes it
possible to properly position Russian engineering education in
the world: to use its strong points to assist modernization and
to overcome its weak points so the modernization process will
not be hindered. Thirdly, it is offered that engineering
education modernization challenges can be successfully faced
by specified outreach to the partners in selected world regions.
Each modernization challenge is therefore offered to be best
addressed not by focusing on best practices of a single world
region but by finding solutions through partnerships in
different world regions (America, Europe and Asia).
Germany and Vietnam are selected as the typical
representatives of Russia’s dual outreach to narrow the
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20-24 September 2015, Florence, Italy
Proceedings of 2015 International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL)
analysis. The selection criteria were the following: Germany
has good history as a provider of expertise for Russia in
engineering education and science. At the same time, it is an
excellent representative of modern engineering education
system. On the other hand, Vietnam has sustainable demand
for Russian engineering education services and industrial
projects. It should be noted that other countries could also be
selected (USA, China, Great Britain etc.), so Vietnam and
Germany is not only one possible selection but an offered pair
of countries to mark the idea of Russia’s dual outreach in
internationalization.
V. MODERNIZATION CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS FROM
SPECIFIED GLOBAL OUTREACH
The analysis of Russian national research engineering
universities development shows a number of problems to be
dealt with [11]. These problems are offered to be solved in the
context of Russia’s dual orientation to East and West (with
Germany and Vietnam taken as the model countries). The
related experience of Kazan National Research Technological
University (a representative of the Russian engineering
education system) is discussed to give an idea of existing best
practices and outcomes.
1. Unlike other international universities, curricula at Russian
universities are developed in accordance with the standards
developed and approved by the Ministry of Education and
Science. Thus, all study programs all over the country are
typical. However, the national research status universities
received a special right to develop their own curricula and
study plans for master degree programs. This is a unique
opportunity to get in the same trend with international
universities, and to use all the existing capacities of the
universities. Unfortunately, the problem is that national
research universities have used very little of this chance, and
this is a gap to be filled.
This modernization challenge can be solved both with the
specifics of East and West: a new focused curricula can be
developed to adapt to the existing top class study programs in
Germany and develop modernized dual degree programs. On
the other hand, agreements between Russia and Vietnam allow
attracting many students from Vietnam and offer them modern
engineering education services based on collaboration with
Germany. Kazan National Research Technological University
has, for example, dual degree programs with University of
Merseburg in Germany. It resulted in developing modern
curricula in chemical engineering and the experience is further
used for offering modern engineering education curricula to
the Vietnamese students.
2. National research universities have a great potential for
applied research to solve very exactly specified problems of
industrial companies. Unfortunately, due to different
circumstances, very little of this potential is used. The
universities have problems in getting in close touch with
industry, and the research they are doing is not always
demanded by industry. This is another problem of Russian
research universities.
Western (and especially German) technologies are popular
among Russian industrial companies and applied research in
Russian universities must be high enough to be competitive
with German industrial achievements. This is a long way and
the intermediate solution can be the training engineers for
German companies in Russia which is actually done by
KNRTU together with its German partners. On the other hand,
Vietnam and other Asian countries are in high demand for
Russian industrial solutions and Russian university’s applied
research will meet there less obstacles to be implemented as
proved by joint industrial projects between Russian and
Vietnam in chemical and power engineering.
3. The current trend in engineering education is networking,
when curricula are developed in cooperation with partner
organizations, and some of the courses are provided by
practitioners. This approach is to be introduced as a necessary
prerequisite for any engineering program, and this problem
has to be solved.
While networking of a Russian university in Germany may be
limited at the first stage to such forms as participation in
university consortia and such foundations as DAAD, Asia
(such as Vietnam) will offer broader networking options. An
example is the representative office of KNRTU in Vietnamese
Viet Tri University allowing networking not only with other
universities but as well with industrial companies and even
government agencies.
4. Open access to teaching and learning materials has become
a ‘must’ for the majority of international universities. Russian
research universities, unfortunately, are still keeping lots of
materials closed even in the Russian language; access to these
materials in English is an important task to be fulfilled.
This is a trend to follow after European (such as German)
universities to then offer it to Asian (Vietnamese) students.
5. Traditionally, Russian scholars and scientists publish their
research results in the Russian journals in the Russian
language. There is a large network of such journals, some of
them are of a very high reputation, and foreign publishing
houses translate them into English. However, this is more of
an exception than a rule, and many scholars who are very
distinguished in this country, are absolutely unknown abroad.
German colleagues of KNRTU scientists allow them to be
integrated into the global scientific community by the mean of
joint publications in the European journals, so this challenge is
best solved today by collaboration with the European and not
Asian partners. Russian global outreach in publications is
mostly North America and Europe-oriented. Russian
universities can themselves invite Vietnamese scientists for
joint publications in English.
6. There is a small number of Russian faculty who participate
in global conferences abroad and have a personal membership
in international professional societies. The last years, however,
see a significant improvement of this problem.
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Proceedings of 2015 International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL)
Russian scientists have become desirable guests in European
professional societies. On the other hand, good reputation and
strong image of Russian scientists in Asia (Vietnam) is an
underestimated resource for the modernization of engineering
education by providing visiting lectures and research activities
to the Vietnamese pedagogical and research community. For
example, KNRTU has been sending guest lecturers in polymer
engineering and innovative engineering to Vietnam for over a
year already using the resources of its representative office
and this activity is only at the start of gaining its popularity.
7. The international image is an important characteristic of any
university. Unfortunately, Russian universities started to
participate in different international ranking only in the last
few years, there is still a long way to go starting with creating
constantly working web-sites of the universities in foreign
languages.
The academic rankings are truly de-regionalized and
universal. To gain the scores for high rankings, however, a
university needs to follow many important indicators, such as
reputation, academic mobility, publications, foreign students
etc. Considering Germany and Vietnam as the selected
reference countries, the image of a Russian university among
German scientists is indispensible for gaining high reputation
in QS or THE rankings. Vietnam partners, on the other hand,
can make a contribution to the number of international students
and academic mobility considered in these rankings as quite
important.
VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Thus, Russian engineering education faces the problems of
modernization stipulated by global challenges. These
problems are based on historical peculiarities of Russian
engineering educations and the proposed solutions can be
summarized around the following actions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
improving engineering education programs by
introducing social competences and networking
opportunities in the curricula;
enhancement of the implementation of applied research
by stronger partnership with international industrial
companies;
developing new forms and methods for collaboration
with industry by using networking mechanisms;
providing open access to multilingual teaching materials;
focusing on publications in English with international
colleagues for good citations;
providing professional development programs for
engineering faculty both is their professional fields and
in education techniques in countries of good partnership;
building an international image of Russian universities.
The demonstrated example of Kazan National Research
Technological University reveals that there is certain progress
in solving these problems by applying sustainable and
multidirectional internationalization strategy.
A positioning approach is a useful tool for finding appropriate
solutions for engineering education modernization problems
through focused internationalization efforts in selected world
regions. The demonstrated examples of Kazan National
Research Technological University collaboration with
Germany and Vietnam in engineering education can be
applied to other countries and to solution of other possible
problems of engineering education modernization in a
diversified and therefore more efficient manner.
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20-24 September 2015, Florence, Italy
Proceedings of 2015 International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL)