Russian President-elect Dmitry Medvedev proposed to the Ministry of Education and Science and the Russian Academy of Science to establish a network of federal universities. Medvedev brought forward his proposal at a joint meeting of the guardian councils of the Siberian and Southern Federal Universities on Thursday.
"We value the experience gained by these two universities, because we think about the future and it's likely that decisions will be made in the near future on creating a whole network of federal universities - new separate education complexes," Medvedev said.
"Such documents are in the works, and will talk about it toda
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y," the president-elect said.
He said government bodies, such as the Ministry of Education and Science and the Russian Academy of Sciences might be co-founders of these federal universities.
"The funding - both budget money and state grants, as well as the money contributed by commercial organizations which will use goal-oriented capital, should make groundwork for the operation of such education institutions in the future," he said.
After the establishment of the Southern and Siberian Federal Universities, a number of regional leaders called for creating similar institutions in their provinces.
For example, Primorye Territory governor Sergei Darkin proposed to established the Pacific Federal University on the basis of the Far Eastern State University.
Medvedev drew the attention of the Siberian and Southern Federal Universities to the necessity of an effective use of funds. They should bear in mind that budget support will not last for ever, he said.
"Today, considerable funds are allocated for two federal universities. This year, it is planned to spend 4.7 billion roubles; and regions and business should join the funding," he went ton to say.
These two universities should receive international accreditation for a number of their education programs by 2015.
"The main results for us are not the reports on lecture opportunities, expenditure, or appearance of bright students or good teachers invited from aboard, but the reports that part of the programs of these universities may receive international accreditation at least by the year 2015," Medvedev said.
He is hoping that these two universities will be able to take leading positions in intentional ratings in a number of subjects.
"This is what the integrated indicator of the activities of the two new universities should look like," Medvedev said.
Russian President-elect Dmitry Medvedev proposed to the Ministry of Education and Science and the Russian Academy of Science to establish a network of federal universities. Medvedev brought forward his proposal at a joint meeting of the guardian councils of the Siberian and Southern Federal Universities on Thursday.
