The Pashkus Readings conference held by the Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg University (GSOM SPbU) was opened by the meeting of the Federal Educational and Methodological Association (FUMO) in the field of higher education. Representatives of 98 universities from all over the country gathered at the Mikhailovskaya Dacha campus of Saint Petersburg University on April 26 to discuss current issues of development and implementation of economics and management educational programs.

Olga Dergunova, Deputy President and Chairman of VTB Bank Management Board, GSOM SPbU Director, personally greeted the participants and wished them productive work.

Alexander Auzan, representative of FUMO in the field of higher education, Dean of the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University, opened the meeting. According to him, FUMO in the field of higher education is now facing a serious challenge associated with the education reform — to determine the duration and content of economics and management educational programs.


"Based on the recent report of the Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery N. Falkov and the decision of the Russian Union of Rectors, the new education reform has started. I am excited about the evolutionary character of this reform: it doesn't break the system, we preserve the correspondence and succession of stages that we've been developing during the last twenty years and even longer: Master's, Bachelor's and Doctorate programs. The duration of training is determined by the kind of the discipline. We're speaking not only about general multidisciplinary training — it should also be practice-oriented. The duration of programs of our integrated group is under discussion. It seems that the basic higher education programs could last for 4 years, as before, the second block of focused higher education is a deeper industry staff training, professionalization with engagement of people from the industry, business and think tanks. There may be different solutions for management, economics and finance".

 

Elvira Zeletdinova, Vice-Rector for Teaching Methods of SPbU, addressed the participants with a welcoming speech. She spoke about the willingness of the Saint Petersburg State University to apply the new solutions and methods developed by FUMO in the field of higher education.

"We've been preparing for the FUMO meeting, we provided one of the best spaces in the university — the hybrid classroom at the Mikhailovskaya Dacha campus of SPbU, and we would like to take an opportunity to get the results of the organization's work first-hand. It is highly important for us to raise the issues of implementation of economics and management educational programs, which are going to be changed already in 2024. We are waiting for possible decisions on qualifications and duration of programs. Apart from that, I would like to draw your attention to the way economics is taught for other majors, that is, to the interrelation of disciplines — this aspect also requires special attention", — noticed Elvira Zeletdinova, Vice-Rector for Teaching Methods of SPbU.

During the plenary meeting, experts discussed the necessary steps for the implementation of basic higher education programs with award of several qualifications and the possibility of one-year Master's programs.

"FUMO provides methodological support and assists the work of our universities. Thus, one of the key tasks we're solving now, together with the Financial Markets Association "Council for Professional Qualifications Development", the National Agency for Qualifications Development, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Russia, is the creation of guidelines on the development and implementation of educational programs allowing students to get several qualifications. ESG and sustainable development are still on the agenda, and it is important for us to integrate these topics into the basic educational programs. One more issue that we're discussing again is the development of a general competence in the area of economic culture and financial literacy. Expert opinions are going to become a basis for methodological materials that universities will be able to use", — noticed Irina Teleshova, FUMO Academic Secretary, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Yuriy Blagov, Director of the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility of GSOM SPbU, spoke about the ESG agenda integration into the economics programs.

Digitalization of the learning environment became another major topic for discussion by the expert community. FUMO in the field of higher education with participation of SPbU professors created the task group "Hybrid Format Teaching Methods" to study the new format and develop guidelines on the implementation of hybrid learning in the country's universities.

 

"GSOM SPbU is a pioneer in the experiment of implementation of hybrid learning, development of hybrid classroom infrastructure and teaching methods for the new format. The methods have been developed for basic educational programs, but unexpectedly it appeared to be demanded by such an important segment as executive education programs, because it allows students to learn remotely. Technologization is an important part of the educational agenda", — noticed Olga Alkanova, Head of the Teaching Excellence Lab of GSOM SPbU.

At the end of the meeting, Yuriy Fedotov, Deputy Head of FUMO, Executive Director of the Graduate School of Management of SPbU, told the participants about the history of the Business School that is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

GALLERY