The following issues are scheduled for discussion at Government Presidium meeting on June 23, 2008 :
1. The federal target programme Research and Professorial Staff of Innovation Russia for 2009-2013
The Programme aims to create conditions for the effective reproduction of a research and professorial staff, steady flow of young people into the field of science, education, and high technologies, and succession of generations in research and education.
With those aims in view, the Programme envisages the solution of the following interrelated problems:
- creating conditions for the improvement of the research and professorial staff, and effective incentives for work in the science field;
- establishing a system to promote a steady flow of young people into the field of science, education, and high technologies (the military-industrial complex, energy, aviation, space exploration, and other high technological industries of priority in Russia);
- establishing a system to rejuvenate the research and professorial staff.
Programme goals will be achieved through coordinated implementation of measures envisaged by the Programme, and interrelated in terms of deadlines, resources, and desired results, in the following fields:
- promotion of the inflow of young people into the field of science, education, and high technologies;
- its infrastructural support;
- investments to make the system of state training of the research and professorial staff viable.
Programme implementation, in 2009-2013, envisages one stage.
Capital investment in federal universities envisaged by the Programme will be accompanied by the elaboration and consideration of their developmental concept by the Government.
The following achievements are predicted to, by the end of 2013, demonstrate the social and economic effects of the Programme:
- improvement of the age pattern and qualifications of the personnel engaged in science, higher education, and high technologies; overcoming the negative trend of average age of the research staff (lowering the average age by 3-4 years); increase in the portion of top-qualification researchers by 2-4%, or by 8-16% over the present-day level; and increase in the portion of top-qualification professorial staff by 4-6%;
- the establishment of a multi-level system to promote the flow of young people into the field of science, education, and high technologies;
- upgrading research publications (enhancing Russia's portion of contributions to the leading world scientific journals by 1-1.5% of the whole);
- numerical increase in research and educational organisations drawing on the cutting-edge achievements of the leading world universities.
On the whole, Programme implementation will guarantee necessary reproduction of the research and professorial staff, accompanied by relative stabilisation of its numerical strength, and the steady flow of young people into the field of science, education and high technologies.
The Programme is aimed at attracting young people to science, education, and high technologies.
2. The federal target programme Social and Economic Development of Chechnya from 2008 to 2011
The Programme aims to create conditions for sustainable social and economic development in Chechnya.
It envisages construction, reconstruction, and restoration of housing and other municipal projects; the rehabilitation of health services, education, research, culture, social welfare, sports and fitness, transport, communications; the construction, medical, and timber industries; the agro-industrial complex, forestry, television and radio broadcasting, publishing and printing, and law enforcement; restoration of administrative buildings and private dwellings damaged during the settlement of the Chechen crisis; payment of back credits on previous private housing restoration and of overdue payments by the Chechen Government for the restoration works of 2006-2007.
The Government of the Chechen Republic draws thematic lists of relevant republican state and municipal property.
Subsidising the Government of the Chechen Republic to co-finance republican state and municipal property will comply with the priority list of federal budget subsidies to the Chechen Republic for its social and economic development from 2008 to 2011, supplemented to the Programme, and with agreements made by the principal disposers of federal budget's funds with the supreme state executive officer of the Chechen Republic.
The implementation of the Programme will, by 2012, guarantee comprehensive economic development of the Chechen Republic, create conditions for developing material production and the social sphere, promote employment, and help to increase real incomes of the population.
The Programme plans to double employment in the economy of the Chechen Republic by 2012, compared with 2006, and create no less than 95,000 new jobs-mainly in construction, agriculture, light and food industries, consumer services, health services, and education.
The implementation of the Programme will create a balanced social infrastructure by 2012, with an average of 13.2 square metres of housing per capita; 191.82 outpatient clinic visits per shift, 94.2 hospital beds and 34.5 doctors and 96.8 nurses per 10,000 people. An additional 18,026 school seats will allow 61.1% of pupils to attend classes in the first (morning) shift.
The Programme envisages a network of highways with improved paving to increase their density to 103.5 km per 1,000 sq km, and another 50,000 telephone numbers.
3. The Draft Federal Law On the Procedure of Establishment and Functioning of Federal Universities, Including Their Organisational and Legal Form, Management, Drawing Curricula, the Procedure and Effectiveness Criteria of Tuition, and the Ways of Integrating Tuition and Research.
The Ministry of Education has drafted a federal law to amend the Federal Law on Education, the Federal Law on Higher and Postgraduate Education, the Federal Law on Science, and the State Scientific and Technological Policy by introducing the category of "federal university", determining the procedure for their establishment, functioning, and management, and the ways to integrate research and education.
The draft law envisages institutional changes in the system of Russian higher professional education where it concerns the development of the network of federal universities endowed with special rights in educational innovation and economic and financial activities to guarantee sufficient and adequate personnel for the long-term development of the Russian Federation.
Federal universities will differ from other educational establishments by their managerial structure, amount of financing, and scope of academic freedoms.
Such differences include, in particular:
- A federal university is established as an autonomous entity by the Government of the Russian Federation following a relevant decision of the President of the Russian Federation;
- The rector of a federal university is not elected but appointed by the Government of the Russian Federation for a term no longer than 5 years;
- The post of federal university president is established on the instant of the university's establishment ;
- The formation of university councils of trustees is compulsory.
4. Submitting the Protocol on amending the Treaty on Creation of the Eurasian Economic Community of October 10, 2000 to the President of the Russian Federation for ratification
The Protocol on amending the Treaty on Creation of the Eurasian Economic Community of October 10, 2000 (hereafter, Protocol) was signed at the regular session of the Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Community of October 6, 2007, at the level of heads of state in Dushanbe.
The Protocol demands ratification in compliance with the Federal Law On the International Treaties of the Russian Federation.
The signing of the Protocol was necessitated by the formation of the legal basis of the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia within the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) in pursuance of the resolution of the Intergovernmental Council of the EurAsEC at the level of heads of state.
In compliance with the Protocol, the Intergovernmental Council, which is the supreme EurAsEC body, is at the same time vested with the functions of the supreme Customs Union body, with decisions on Customs Union formation and work done by members of the Intergovernmental Council of the EurAsEC that are also members of the Customs Union.
The contracting parties envisage within the Protocol framework the necessity to adopt a Statute determining the activities of the EurAsEC Intergovernmental Council as a supreme Customs Union body.
The Protocol also envisages extending the competence of the Community Court to spread it to the settlement of disputes within the Customs Union.
Amendments to the Treaty on Creation of the Eurasian Economic Community of October 10, 2000 stipulated by the Protocol will promote the establishment of an institutional basis for integration within the Customs Union.
Implementation of the Protocol will not entail additional costs for the federal budget.
5. The payment of the $425,500 non-recurrent target contribution of the Russian Federation to UNESCO in 2008 to fund the preparation of the global monitoring report "A Review of Approaches, Factors, and Assessment Indicators and Qualitative Improvement of Education in the Countries Benefitting from the Education for All Programme"
The G8 countries, UNESCO, the World Bank and other international organisations began implementing the Education for All Programme (hereafter, EFA Programme) in 2000. It aims to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (hereafter, MDGs) in the field of education-in particular, to guarantee general access to quality basic education in the developing countries through 2015.
The statement Education for Innovative Societies in the 21st Century, which the G8 Summit adopted in St Petersburg on July 16, 2006, confirms the pledge to actively cooperate in the interests of quality basic education in compliance with MDGs related to education and the implementation of the EFA Programme.
The quality of basic education is extremely topical, as demonstrated by a small qualitative improvement in human capital as ever more people are involved in basic education. Thus, the necessity to achieve the greatest possible effect in using international aid for economic growth and to combat poverty demands closer attention to the quality of basic education. Obviously, global efforts to guarantee general basic education should be complemented by measures to guarantee its quality-mainly in mathematics, natural sciences, and information technologies, as these are the education fields of the greatest importance to the contemporary economy.
The quality of basic education is regularly discussed in the EFA framework, as the present situation demands.
Russia decided to join the EFA Programme in 2006, when it held the G8 presidency. The Russian contribution to the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (hereafter, FTI) between 2006 and 2008 was $7.2 million. Russia co-chairs the EFA Steering Committee and pays special attention to the quality of basic education in developing countries. This Russian initiative is supported by EFA partners and received approval at their Cairo meeting in November 2006. Understanding was reached that education quality evaluation would become the focus of national educational reform plans.
On Russian initiative and under Russian leadership, the Cairo meeting established an ad hoc team for the improvement of basic education quality in developing countries. The United States, France, the Netherlands, UNESCO, and the World Bank are represented in it, along with Russia.
The principal goal of the team is developing the methods and indicators of education quality assessment to enhance the effectiveness of basic education, and drawing proposals to promote progress in improving educational achievements in the countries benefitting from the EFA Programme.
According to preliminary UNESCO evaluations, the overall cost amounts to $425,500, including research, translation of papers, and an expert seminar. More than that, it is intended to attract two or more Russian experts to UNESCO project implementation, in order to enhance the Russian experience and expert potential in assessing basic education quality:
- a UNESCO programme specialist on a year-long contract;
- a high level researcher on the assessment of educational processes and the description of available tuition improvement practice.
Taking into consideration Russia's role as initiator of the ad hoc team for the improvement of basic education quality in the developing countries within the EFA Fast Track Initiative, and the priority of said theme in compliance with the concept of Russian participation in assisting international development, it is proposed to make a non-recurrent target contribution of $425,500 to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 2008.
Moscow, June 20, 2008
* Press releases by the Department of Press Service and Information contain the materials submitted by the executive federal bodies for discussion by the Government of the Russian Federation.
