Educational and career strategies of senior students at russian higher education institutions

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No. 8 (82), 2014 Author: S.Roshchin, V.Rudakov The transformation from the elite to mass higher education in Russia which took place in the 2000s is a serious challenge for the whole system of professional education. The “mass” character of higher education leads to such problems as an overall decrease of education “quality”, lowering of the value of higher education from the viewpoint of employers as a “signal” of employee’s high productivity, structural disproportions on the labor market related with an excessive supply of employees having formally a high qualification level, inefficiency in budget spending. Those changes exert a substantial influence on the behavior of various economic agents: students of higher education institutions and their parents, employers, heads of higher education institutions, representatives of the state authorities engaged in managing the system of higher education in Russia.

The transformation from the elite to mass higher education in Russia which took place in the 2000s is a serious challenge for the whole system of professional education. The “mass” character of higher education leads to such problems as an overall decrease of education “quality”, lowering of the value of higher education from the viewpoint of employers as a “signal” of employee’s high productivity, structural disproportions on the labor market related with an excessive supply of employees having formally a high qualification level, inefficiency in budget spending. Those changes exert a substantial influence on the behavior of various economic agents: students of higher education institutions and their parents, employers, heads of higher education institutions, representatives of the state authorities engaged in managing the system of higher education in Russia.

This information bulletin presents the outcomes of senior students survey conducted within the framework of the project “Monitoring of Education Markets and Organizations”. The purpose of the survey lies in studying of the educational and career trajectories of higher education senior students and their economic behavior related with the strategies of combining study and work.

           
       The study consists of three large sections:

According to outcomes of the monitoring, the educational strategy of the youths is to enter a prestigious higher education institution to a speciality that enables getting a highly paid profession. The lowering of the educational load at senior courses and a high level of financial dependence on parents impels a mass of students (65% of the surveyed senior students) to enter the labor market with the purpose of obtaining additional earnings and acquiring work experience. The male students are more likely to combine study and work than the female counterparts; their earnings are 20% higher than female student earnings while the female students are more likely to continue education at higher levels of educational programs comparing with male students.

On average, students begin to combine study and work from the third year of study at university, and they work, on average, 26 hours per week and earn about 19 thousand roubles per month, their job is often formal. Such situation confirms the mass character of the phenomenon and success of combining study and work by students. It proves that the educational process at senior courses in a number of universities is inefficient.

Under conditions of mass higher education the significance of formal education (a diploma of higher education) decreases and the significance of work experience, from employers’ viewpoint, increases. Thus, the condition that an employee has a diploma of a higher education is necessary but not sufficient for getting a highly qualified job, while a work experience is becoming an important competitive advantage. Under such conditions the majority of senior students would rather acquire a work experience than study at higher levels of educational programs. About 17% of respondents intend to enter Master’s programs. Given this, most skeptical in respect of Master’s courses are students enrolled in specialist’s programs, while a considerable proportion of students enrolled in Bachelor’s courses are planning to study at Master’s courses. The respondents are willing to continue studies at higher levels of educational programs (Master’s or postgraduate courses) only on condition that there is no payment for study and there exists a possibility of combining study and work. Furthermore students do not take an active part in research activities of university and more oriented towards practical work related with future job. About 10% of respondents are intended to enter postgraduate courses. Their main motivation is the wish to be involved in teaching or research activities, as well as the fact that having a scientific degree is prestigious. At the same time one would notice some gender differences: the female students would rather appreciate the educational component of postgraduate courses while the male students – the prestige of a scientific degree, possibility of obtaining useful contacts and acquaintances and deferment of military service.

The main channel of senior student job search is the Internet. At the same time the informal contacts (friends, relatives) are also a significant way of seeking a job, particularly for students of regional universities. The respondents on the whole are optimistic as far as the demand for them on the labor market is concerned. Given this the representatives of medical and pedagogical specialities indicate that, in spite of the existing demand, they can hardly rely on a high salary. Most optimistic wage expectations are common for students major in law, mathematics and computer sciences that can be partially explained by their high wages while combining study and work.

A certain gender segregation between educational specialities remains: technical and mathematical specialities are occupied by male students. The specialities that are more “humanitarian”, particularly those related with pedagogics, design, culturology, foreign languages are occupied by female students. On the whole, the female students prevail at senior courses of higher education institutions (63%).

A peculiar socio-demographic situation is caused by high level of economic dependence of senior students in Russia on their parents: over half of the respondents live together with their parents; transfers within a household are the main source of income for senior students; 85% of respondents are not married, including civil marriages. Considering this, we can conclude, that senior students make a decision concerning their educational and career strategies not independently but to a great extent under the influence of parents. Students from households having a higher income are more likely to study at prestigious specialities and at elite universities that can potentially provide them a higher income in future.  

Prepared by V.Rudakov.