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HERBHigher Education in Russia and Beyond The Mechanisms of Admission to Universities and the Accessibility of Higher Education ISSUE 1(26) SPRING 2021 Dear colleagues, This issue studies national admission systems to higher education and how the existing institutional framework is related to indicators of accessibility. There are various models of the transition from secondary to higher education, and institutional structure of the educational system largely determines educational policy, and also shapes the applicant’s expectations for higher education. The student selection is associated with the general accessibility of higher education. We start with the cases of post-Soviet countries, which had a common institutional legacy, experienced common problems, and transformed their admission systems to standardized exams as a response to the new challenges. Next, we focus on the admission system in Russia in more detail by describing the advantages of the Unified State Examination (USE), discussing Olympiads as the alternative way of admission to higher education, and considering the mechanisms of inequality under the standardized admission system. Two interesting international cases complete this issue. We study the experience of China, which is making the transition to a knowledge economy and is an active player in the international academic sector. The second case is Poland, which experienced the same political and economic processes as the majority of the post-Soviet countries, and where reforms in higher education were affected by these transformations. The articles have been prepared by experts in the field of higher education: academic researchers and practitioners who administer national university admission systems. This combination allows us to consider the issues of admission to universities from various angles. Wishing you pleasant reading, Guest editor Ilya Prakhov (Ph.D, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Institutional Studies, HSE University) Pushkin reading his poem at the Lyceum Cover: exam on the 8thHigher of EducationJanuary in1815 Russia and Beyond / №1(26) / Spring 2021 2 by Ilya RepinMorning by Tatyana Yablonskaya National Research University Higher School of Economics National Research University Higher School of Economics 97 research centers and 32 international laboratories, is the largest center of socio-economic studies and which are involved in fundamental and applied research. one of the top-ranked higher education institutions in Higher education studies are one of the University’s key Eastern Europe. The University efficiently carries out priorities. According to recent QS World University fundamental and applied research projects in such fields Ranking, HSE is now among the top 150 universities in as computer science, management, sociology, political the subject of “Education”. This research field consolidates science, philosophy, international relations, mathematics, intellectual efforts of several research groups, whose Oriental studies, and journalism, which all come together work fully complies highest world standards. Experts in on grounds of basic principles of modern economics. HSE economics, sociology, psychology and management from professors and researchers contribute to the elaboration Russia and other countries work together on comparative of social and economic reforms in Russia as experts. The projects. The main research spheres include: analysis of University transmits up-to-date economic knowledge to global and Russian higher education system development, the government, business community and civil society transformation of the academic profession, effective through system analysis and complex interdisciplinary contract in higher education, developing educational research. Higher School of Economics incorporates standards and HEI evaluation models, etc. Center for Institutional Studies The Center for Institutional Studies (CInSt) is one of HSE success during their studies at universities, the issue of University’s research centers. It focuses on fundamental student employment and combining of study and work. and applied interdisciplinary research in the field of We also study the expected and actual returns to education institutional analysis of the economics and sociology of and labour market outcomes of university graduates science and higher education. CInSt is integrated into depending on educational factors and strategies of school- international higher education research networks and to-work transition with particular attention to gender cooperates with foreign experts through joint comparative issues. Research on university graduates is conducted in projects that cover the issues of higher education collaboration with other research centers, including The development and education policy. As part of our long- Laboratory for Labour Market Studies at HSE University, term cooperation with the Boston College Center for Center for Research in Higher Education Policies of the International Higher Education, CInSt has taken up the University of Porto, and Ghent University. publication of the Russian version of the “International The results of the research are published in leading Higher Education” newsletter. educational journals, such as Higher Education, Higher One of the main research areas of CInSt is the study Education Quarterly, Urban Education, International of applicant and student strategies related to higher Journal of Educational Development, European Journal education and the link between education and the labour of Education, Journal of Education and Work, Journal of market. Our studies analyze the issues that applicants Higher and Further Education, Tertiary Education and face during the admission process, the factors of student Management and other outlets. 3 Higher Education in Russia and Beyond / №1(26) / Spring 2021 Contents HERB Issue 1(26) Spring 2021 The Mechanisms of Admission to Universities and the Accessibility of Higher Education University Admission Systems in Post-Soviet Countries 6 Polina Bugakova Admission Systems in Post-Soviet Countries: a Shared Past, Common Problems, Different Solutions 8 Mariam Orkodashvili Admission to Higher Education in Georgia 9 Kaire Põder, Monika Siiraki The Estonian Mechanism of Admission to Universities and the Accessibility of Higher Education 11 Maleika Abbaszade, Natiq Aliyev, Oleg Shelaginov The University Admission System in Azerbaijan 14 Kali Abdiyev The Mechanism of Admission to Universities and the Accessibility of Higher Education in Kazakhstan 16 Arsen Baghdasaryan The University Admission System in Armenia and the Consequences of the Introduction of Unified Exams Higher Education in Russia and Beyond / №1(26) / Spring 2021 4 Russia: Admission to University and Accessibility of Higher Education 18 Ilya Prakhov The Unified State Examination: The Russian Experience in Standardizing the Admission System 19 Danil Fedorovykh Olympiads: Attracting Top Talents in a Non-Standard Way 21 Ilya Prakhov The Accessibility of Higher Education in Russia: Sources and Mechanisms of Inequality University Admissions from an International Perspective 22 Hu Yiyun, Liu Baocun The Mechanisms of Admission to Higher Education Institutions and the Accessibility of Higher Education under the New National College Entrance Examination in China 24 Dominik Antonowicz, Krzysztof Wasielewski Poland's Higher Education Admission Process after the Political Transformation in 1989 Reading List 5 Higher Education in Russia and Beyond / №1(26) / Spring 2021 outlying regions, lack of transparency and high subjectivity. Admission Systems in Post- The Soviet system did not give correct data about the quality of education. Facing these problems, almost all post-Soviet Soviet Countries: a Shared countries decided to introduce standardized exams at the Past, Common Problems, beginning of the 2000s [1]. Unified exams decreased cor- ruption through making the system more transparent and Different Solutions objective, and standardized tests increased the accessibility of higher education regardless of socio-economic status [2]. Overall, post-Soviet countries are characterized by a low Polina Bugakova level of institutional educational autonomy as the admis- sion procedure, in most cases, is based on the results of Research Assistant: Center for Institutional Studies, standardized examinations which are developed by a spe- HSE university (Moscow, Russia) cialized central body. For example, universities in Kyr- [email protected] gyzstan can only form a request, on the basis of which the orders of the Ministry of Education will be formulated and Introduction and the framework unified exams will be developed. Applicants in Tajikistan are selected on the basis of a unified exam which is also Today, there is a wide range of university admission sys- developed by a specialized central body. The situation tems. The way admission rules are established, the way ap- in Armenia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine are similar, where plicants are admitted to universities and student financial standardized exams are used. In these countries university support impact the accessibility of higher education. Ad- independence manifests itself only through the entrance mission rules can be determined centrally by the respon- tests which are developed by universities only for the ad- sible body or they can be established by universities inde- mission to fine arts or sport programs. pendently, and the more independent the universities, the more autonomous the educational system. Autonomous
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