Belarusians are badly taught to think

While Belarusian government feel self-satisfied, people realize that the processes implemented in higher education do not improve its quality. The prove to this can be different informal structures which do not complete Belarusian higher education...

While Belarusian government feel self-satisfied, people realize that the processes implemented in higher education do not improve its quality. The prove to this can be different informal structures which do not complete Belarusian higher education system, but fill up the gaps in it.

Meeting Education Minister Sergey Maskevich on July, 24, Alexander Lukashenko pointed out that reforms in the education system were over: “If we need to bring something to perfection - it is always approved. … we have a regular system - it should be brushed up and we shouldn’t create constraints”, said the head of the state.

Lukashenko mentioned that if “we now move to fee-based education, we will eliminate lots of troupers from poor families and they will not enter universities. Does our country need such policy? No, it doesn’t! Therefore we should think of poorer social groups so that their children were not lost and could get educated in time. Me and you - we all are from there. And we shouldn’t forget this”.

The head of the state apparently meant that education shouldn’t be fee-based for everyone. But anyway higher education has become commercialized long time ago. Major part of students is not supported by the state, which means that they pay for their education. 

This year’s admission plan only proves this tendency. The plan was reduced for 14 thousand comparing to the previous year, reduction also affected the full-time course, its admission plan was reduced for 5.5 thousand, and the part-time course - for 9 thousand. In total universities will welcome 91.5 thousand students, and out of this number, only 24.4 thousand will study for free.

This year fee will grow essentially even in the US dollar equivalent.

As many specialists consider, the tendency of reducing the time of apprenticeship to 4 years is mainly explained by the intent of the government to economize. During the meeting with Maskevich, Lukashenko emphasized the importance of two goals: to reduce the time of apprenticeship and to make education more practice oriented.

The president explains: “Some subjects exist in the syllabus of our universities just to be passed by the students. They are absolutely useless and students will forget them as soon as the course finished. Probably, it’s better to remove them, or cut down, or have them as additional courses, like in school,  so that students have notion of them”.

At the  same time Lukashenko warned about the risk to be carried away by the enthusiasm to cut down: “There’s also a risk to over reduce: what if we have doctors who do not know history? They must also be citizens of their country. Here everything should be well-balanced”.

Judging by the reaction of Matskevich, the balance is still being worked out. Optimization of the time of apprenticeship will affect near 60% of professions, in particular from pedagogic, economic, and technical spheres. This year most universities have the admission for five-year apprenticeship.

Lukashenko highlighted that this by no means should deteriorate the quality of the higher education.

Meanwhile the experts say that the quality dissatisfies neither academic community, nor students.

Philologist, Doctor of Divinity Iryna Dubianetskaya emphasized that at the moment the sphere of education is fully controlled by the state, but “the level of education is deteriorating visibly”. According to the expert’s view, the current state of issues in Belarusian education can be full of obstacles and full of opportunities at the same time. “Current situation is unique”, says Dubianetskaya. “As it gives a number of opportunities, including such in the education branch”.

“The absurdous situation will end shortly”, supposes the expert. “Everything being created in the academic sphere, will become the basis of new processes in education. To this extent, in the countries where the tradition of university is well-established, it is very difficult to make changes. In modern Belarus it is possible to create an ideal university which can become the trend-setter in education. At the moment we are in such circumstances when we are not obliged to continue the existing traditions.” 

In respond to dissatisfying education quality in Belarus there were created several informal institutes which carry out educational programs. Thus Belarusian Collegium was started in 1998 as a forum for public lectures and discussions, and a place for intelligent and culture dialogue.

For two years Center for Social Innovations - Humanitarian Techniques Agency have been holding the series of seminar and lecture courses in the frame of the Flying University program. Tatsiana Vadalazhskaya, the program coordinator, points out: “Here intellectuals are trying to present an alternative to the traditional education in Belarusian universities”.

The program of Flying University will function next academic year as well. It will include introductive thematic and primary courses, intellectual’s workshops, public lectures of culture and public people and so on.

Flying University does not claim to give people occupation. We are rather aimed at developing mentality and engaging into discussions with intellectuals and scientists”, highlights Tatsiana Vadalazhskaya.

The expert adds that this is the conceptual alternative to Belarusian education. In the extent that Flying University emphasizes not educating and preparing specialists, but education in the sense of introduction to culture and thinking. It’s evident that the programs of the University will be particularly relevant because of cut down of humanitarian aspect in the Belarusian higher education.

“Creating the structure of the university, we are oriented on the fact that it should embody a megamachine of thinking, it should provide sufficient education to those who strive to be the national elite, it should also provide ideas, intellectual products which could assure development if the country and nation”.

Iryna Dubianetskaya points out that training to think is exactly what the traditional Belarusian education lacks, being mostly often just a transmitter of knowledge.

Meanwhile being autonomous from the state, academic activity in Belarus “looks amazing”, says political analyst Andrei Kazakevich.  This is due to the hypertrophied role of the state in all the spheres of social life, while in other countries the essential part of academic activity is beyond the competence of the state.

In the eye of Kazakevich, in Belarus there are quite a lot of representatives of academic society who have been excluded from it and now ready to work in informal structures. Kazakevich supposes, that in Belarus, among intellectuals there are lots of people who in fact were deprived of the right for occupation.  Not limited to that, it is due to the political context, like when a person can’t make a career in the university because he is engaged into politics and his views contradict the official mainstream.

Also in Belarusian academic society there are people who are not contended with rules and standards existing in “usual” Belarusian universities.

As Kazakevich supposes, “these people’s talents aren’t used efficiently, which causes losses for the whole country”

Informal academic structure like Flying University will help prevent marginalization of those academic society activists who can’t work in the sphere of the official education.