New Tools for Increasing the Practice-Orientedness of Russian Universities: The Market for Checklists

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of weak integration of Russian universities into the real economy. This is one of the most pressing problems of the Russian university system. The purpose of the article is to develop a specialized pilot checklist "Towards business: a model for integrating higher education and the real sector of the economy" and to demonstrate the prospects for its use in regional universities. The general hypothesis of the research is to test the feasibility of creating and using such checklists to help Russian universities in restructuring their organizational models in the direction of strengthening practice orientation. It is shown that at present the market for a new information and analytical product – checklists – is in its infancy and is evolving in several directions. Firstly, it becomes more complicated: the number of constituent documents increases, the number of questions increases, etc. Secondly, the forms of their implementation are being improved: chargeable, bonus, free, by subscription, with an additional package, etc. Thirdly, different algorithms for their application appear: straightforward replication of a standard document, provision of a checklist with subsequent in-depth research and recommendations in relation to a specific customer, the possibility of choosing an additional service for expert assessment, creation and implementation of mobile applications for prompt updating of checklists, and etc. All of this allows the new methodological tool to find application in the higher education system. The article examines some typical examples of the new trend emerging in Spain, Croatia, Great Britain, the USA and Russia, as well as pan-European and Latin American initiatives. The methodology of the author's checklist "Towards business" is based on taking into account the world experience of integrating universities and enterprises in a compact form: an instruction document and a cover note. There have not yet been effective prototypes of the developed checklist in Russia. Cases of using the pilot checklist for reorganizing the model of work of universities in the Kamchatka Territory, the Republic of Dagestan and the Lipetsk Region confirm the general hypothesis of the article.