Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

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Licensing is an identification of the facilities, financial support and resources including
information ones of educational institutions to meet the state requirements. The aim of
licensing is to establish the right of HEI to deliver educational services. State accreditation
is the establishment of equivalency between the content, level, and quality of the
education offered and the requirements set by the State Educational Standards. The state
accreditation grants to the HEI the right of awarding state degrees and issuing state
standard documents of higher education. State accreditation establishes the status of
higher educational institution. For the time being new criteria for the state accreditation of
the new Federal and National research universities are being developed.
Professional accreditation focuses on the assessment of the content and quality of
particular HEI’s educational programmes. In accordance with the Federal Law “On
Education”, professional accreditation is the responsibility of public professional
organizations. The Russian Association for Engineering Education (RAEE) is responsible
for professional accreditation of educational programmes in engineering and technology.
The RAEE Accreditation Centre was established in 2002. In 2004, the Agreement between
the Federal Education and Science Supervision Service and the RAEE was signed. The
Parties agreed to integration aimed at improving the quality of engineering education for
the Russian economy due to updating and developing the national systems of professional
accreditation of HEI’s educational programmes.
From 2003 to 2011 more than 160 engineering programmes in Russian Technical
Universities were accredited by the RAEE Accreditation Centre. The list of accredited
programmes is available on the RAEE web-site: http://www.ac-raee.ru/eng/reestr.php
and on the ENAEE web-site: www.enaee.eu/eur-ace/eur-ace_accredited_programs.htm.
The RAEE Criteria for Engineering Programmes Accreditation
The system of higher education in Russia, which joined the Bologna Process in 2003, has
been undergoing transformations for more than 20 years. At present, Russia is entering a
new stage of higher education system modernisation caused by development and
introduction of the new Federal Educational Standards of the third generation and mass
transition to two-cycle system of higher education: First Cycle Degree (FCD) - Bachelor (4
years) and Second Cycle Degree (SCD) - Master (2 years). This system still includes 5-year
educational programmes of Specialists’ training (integrated programmes leading to SCD)
in a number of fields. Thus, there are likely to be considerable changes in Russian system
of engineering education, i.e. reduction of the study period at the university by one year
(transition from 5-year Specialists’ programmes of to 4-year Bachelors’ programmes in
majority of fields), which is being the subject of many debates.
The RAEE cooperates with Russian Government, HEIs and industry in developing criteria
for professional accreditation of engineering programmes corresponding to lines of
modernization of higher education system. At the national scale the RAEE principal aim is
to enhance the quality of programmes in engineering and technology through their
external evaluation. At the global scale the RAEE strives for international recognition of
the accredited programmes and graduates qualifications (Chuchalin et al, 2008).
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011