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With the heartfelt gratitude and the deep respect
towards the “parents” of international educational
cooperation between Novgorod State University
(Russia) and Dortmund University (Germany)
After working as PhD students in the framework of
the “Promotionskolleg: Wissensmanagement und
Selbstorganisation im Kontext hochschulischer Lehr-
und Lernprozesse” at the Center for Research on
Higher Education and Faculty Development of the
University of Dortmund for several months we would
like to share some of our experiences and thoughts.
We, that is to say, Gerasimova Julia (Thesis “Teaching
staff consulting as a factor of school development”,
Novgorod State University), Pevzner Vitaliy (Thesis
“Pedagogical Potential of Student Self-Government in
the Modern University”, Novgorod State University).
Of course it is worth noting that education abroad is
rather a normal phenomenon, nowadays. Thousands
of students, postgraduates, scholars and scientists
fi nd their way to the other countries in order to
advance educational level, to conduct a research, to
get acquainted with different cultural customs and
national values. At the present writing, so called
Bologna process is gathering strength, forming
common European educational space and erasing
universities’ boundaries.
An outstanding example of international cooperation
examples is the educational partnership between
Russian Federation and Germany. Social institutions such
as Goethe’s Cultural centre in Moscow, German Academic
Exchange Service (DAAD), and numerous projects
between universities (Velikiy Novgorod - Dortmund,
Velikiy Novgorod - Bielefeld, Rostov-on-Don - Dortmund
and so on) vastly extend cultural and educational
exchange possibilities between those two countries.
Due to the longstanding amicable contacts between
universities of Velikiy Novgorod and Dortmund we
were afforded (in the framework of Alexander Herzen
program) an opportunity to become PhD students
in Germany. That happened shortly after starting
the Russian “Aspirantura”(postgraduate school).
That gave us a unique possibility to study western
experience and the bibliographical resources related
to our research topic.
Probably it is in a scholars’ blood to analyze, to
classify, and to make different comparisons. To us as
two young researchers this quality is also inherent.
However, we would like to refrain from arid, detailed
differentiation with fi gures and percentage, but to
deliver our thoughts, impressions, our personal
perception of the “Promotionskolleg” as it is organized
at the Center for Research on Higher Education and
Faculty Development of the University in Dortmund and
to give some information of the educational process in
Russian “Aspirantura”
To begin with: Who are postgraduate students? In
Germany as well as in Russia those people can be
divided into two categories. The fi rst one is yesterday’s
higher school students, who have erewhile graduated
from the university and have a great interest in
research activities. And the second one is students,
for whom the dissertation would be the next essential
step of professional career (headmasters, teachers,
psychologists, offi cials, businessmen and etc.)
The access requirements in Russia are the following:
supervision agreement with one of the professors,
successful examination pass (philosophy, foreign
language, and speciality exam- pedagogies in our case),
and suffi cient scholastic and studying achievements.
Notwithstanding the apparent ease of scholastic
guidance search, it could be not that simple. The point
is that in today’s actual market conditions not many
professors are interested in mentoring postgraduate
students. On the one hand, a successful mentoring
process requires time and responsibility, while on the
other hand, lack of governmental fi nancial support
prevents scholars from mentoring a big number of
students. Anyway, after fruitful negotiations with one’s
future academic supervisor one has to surmount one
more obstacle - exams. And only after passing the
exams a commission decides whether to accept or
refuse one’s application for the “Aspirantura” according
to the shown results.
In Russia PhD students are obliged to attend special
courses – so called “higher education school pedagogics”,
where such problems as educational work, logic, structure
and creation of dissertation, development of the research
self-refl ectiveness ability are trained. Those courses
include 3 modules and as a rule attended by students
during the fi rst year of “Aspirantura”(sometimes during
the second year).Moreover, 3 year Russian postgraduate
school implies philosophy, foreign language and pedagogy
qualifying examinations for the degree (in Russia they are
called “doctoral minimum” exams). In this case the only
difference between these exams and entrance testings is
the requirement for the deeper knowledge of the subject.
During “Aspirantura” the PhD students are obliged to
PhD Studies in Russia: The Aspirantura
Julia Gerasimova, Vitaliy Pevzner
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publish academic articles on the topic of their research.
The strict rule says: the number of publications should
be not less than three. After successful accomplishment
of those steps the way to the thesis “Defence”
(presentation) is open. We should mention that the
process of “Defence” in Russia include two stages. The
fi rst one is the presentation at the sub-faculty meeting
(in our case it is the chair of pedagogics) - it is called
“Predefense” (as the result an author/ess may do some
amendments, get prepared for potential questions). As
a matter of fact the goal of the fi rst stage is not only to
edit the content of a thesis, but also to prepare a PhD
student for the second stage - actual DEFENCE in front
of so called dissertational counsel. The “Defence” itself
is a public event, the relatives, friends of the researcher,
people who are just interested in the discussed topic
are admitted. Usually the banquet is offered after the
presentation.
After the “Defence” is being done a decision of the
counsel is sent to Moscow to the “supreme attestation
commission”, which makes the fi nal judgment about
conferring the degree of the PhD. In Russia this degree
is called – “candidate of scholastics” or “candidate of
science”) But there are certain cases when a researcher
must personally go to the Russian capital in order to
clarify the questions and to remove the doubts,
which could occur among the members of Moscow
commission. Then PhD student expects a letter from
Moscow, which should enclose a formal confi rmation
of a given degree. The PhD certifi cate is presented by
the university rector at the university senate.
Both in Russia and Germany an academic degree is
not only a formal recognition of one’s achievements,
but also a personal, professional development,
which opens vast opportunities in the world of higher
education. There is no doubt, that apart from numerous
advantages one can detect some disadvantages in
Russian and German postgraduate schools. Despite
this fact academic education is valuable and useful.
It is not that easy to fi nd one’s specifi c profi le as a
young academic and thirst for knowledge, eagerness
for the life-long learning not just ends in themselves
but build one’s personal identity. As one Old Russian
proverb says: “The one who seeks, always fi nds”. The
higher education allows one to fi nd oneself and to gain
self-fulfi lment through teaching and participating in
local research projects, as well as in the international
cooperation’s programmes.
Our participation in the Herzen program widely
infl uenced our researches. Very useful and interesting
we found the consultations made by Prof. Dr. Dr.
hc. Johannes Wildt. The rich library stocks served
as a base for the deep theoretical analysis. The
workshops organized within Promotionsstudium were
very informative and interesting. In the framework
of student movements and self-government study
there were taken interviews which represented the
unique material for our empirical research. There were
developed friendly contacts with the leaders of German
student movement, which resulted into elaboration of
the exchange project between Russian and German
student activists.
In the framework of research “Teaching staff consulting
as a factor of school development” very useful was the
collaboration with colleagues from School Development
Institute (Institut fuer Schulentwicklungsforchung).
Theoretical materials and professional consultations
given by Nils Berkemeyer’s as well as interview with
Uwe Lehmpfuhl were very important in the context of
School Development research.
Our stay in Germany gave us also rare opportunities
to get acquainted with many other PhD students from
all over the world, to share opinions concerning our
researches, to learn different cultures, ways of living
and thinking.
Because an academic occupation is both challenging
and exiting, we wish everyone who is diligently working
in this sphere the patience required to be successful,
in order to make a contribution to society and their
country’s development.
These months in HDZ will stay in our memories vividly
for a long time and we are once more thankful to the
people, who surrounded and supported us, who gave
us new ideas and new research perspectives. That is
what we call the dialogue of the cultures, international
educational cooperation.
Interesting facts:
1. According to the sociological research, 40 per cent
of the people, who are learning German as a foreign
language, live in Russia.
2. Germany is in the fi rst three countries by the number
of foreign students studying at the higher education
institutions. (www.daad.ru, www.herzen.spb.ru,
Leben und Studieren in Deutschland. Hinweise und
Informationen für ausländische Studierende an
deutschen Hochschulen. DAAD, 2002).
Julia Gerasimova und Vitaliy Pevzner aus Nowgorod,
Bilinguale Fakultät für Pädagogik und Psychologie,
Stipendiaten des DAAD im Alexander-Herzen-Programm,
Gäste des Promotionskollegs am HDZ