Credential Templates, The Former USSR and the Russian Federation

Types of Institutions Offering Higher Vocational Education in the Former USSR
Institutions of higher vocational education in the former USSR were known as
Specialised Secondary Education Institutions (Средние специальные учебные заведения
ССУЗ, Srednie spetzial'nye uchebnye zavedeniya/SSUZ). They fell into three main categories:
1.) tehnikum,
2.) uchilishche, and
3.) college (since 1989).
1.) The tehnikum (техникум) was for technical and business fields.
2.) The uchilishche (училище) offered programs for a range of skilled non-technical
occupations, such as preschool and primary school teaching, nursing, etc. 1
3.) The college (колледж, kolledzh) emerged in 1989. Colleges were created to educate
highly trained specialists for the type of work previously entrusted to university-level graduates.
As of 1990, 12 tehnikum were upgraded to colleges. (For more information on colleges, see the
section on Higher Vocational Education in the Russian Federation.)
Admission to SSUZ was by entrance examinations that tested the knowledge of the
curriculum of lower secondary or upper secondary education, depending on the mode of entry.
Entry into a college was the most competitive out of all the types of SSUZ.
Diploma of Higher Vocational Education in the Former USSR
Students who successfully completed their course at a SSUZ were awarded the Diploma
of Higher Vocational Education (Диплом об окончании среднего специального
образования, Diplom ob okonchanii srednego spetzial'nogo obrazovaniya, also Диплом о
среднем специальном образовании, Diplom o srednem spetsialnom obrazavanii). This
credential was also known as the Diploma of Technician, Diploma of Nurse, Diploma of
Feldscher, etc. The Diploma was awarded by the Examination Commission, which was also
referred to as the Attestation or Qualification Commission.
1 Some uchilishche are institutions of higher education. See the Chapter on Higher Educaton.
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