Russian-French cooperation in the field of education: difficulties and prospects

Abstract

The article is a development of the author's speech at the section ‘Trianon Dialogue: Russian-French Cooperation in the Sphere of Education' organized by the Institute of Public Administration and Civil Service within the framework of the Gaidar Forum 2018. The article presents an analysis of the state of the Russian-French cooperation in the field of higher education, provides statistics on the development of the bilateral interaction. The author cites data that testifies to the rapid development of the educational services market throughout the world. Education is becoming one of the components of the geopolitical positioning of the countries, and in addition, a significant sector of the economy. It is noted that Russia has concluded the largest number of joint educational programs with France. Extensive experience in the implementation of such programs allows the author to analyze the ‘bottlenecks' of cooperation and suggest possible ways to overcome them. In particular, it is emphasized that both Russian and French colleagues pay more attention to joint master's programs, explaining such a choice by better language training of older students and their higher motivation. The author suggests to answer the question: How will the well-prepared and motivated students of the master's degree appear, if they do not get the corresponding education in the bachelor's degree? It is noted that today cooperation with foreign colleagues is carried out, mainly, by forces and due to the enthusiasm of the universities themselves, and such activities necessarily require state participation and coordination while maintaining the independence of universities.