The Impact of International Accreditation and Rankings on the Transformation of Higher Education System in RF

• Author: Sergey Zapryagaev
• Pages: 34-47

European Integration - Realities and Perspectives. Proceedings 2015

34

The Impact of International Accreditation and Rankings on the

Transformation of Higher Education System in RF

Sergey Zapryagaev1

Abstract: The problem of quality of modern higher education is the subject of research in the public academic and

administrative environments. Accreditation and rating are considered as the tools to assess national systems of higher

education. In this case, the rating associated usually with superlative characteristic, but the accred itation meets only

the minimum requirements. In this paper the impact of these tools discusses o n the example of Russian universities.

The conclusion of the work is the assertion of the need to develop a new form of quality accreditation in the form of

international accreditation. International accreditation allows universities to achieve superlative quality based on a set

of estimated parameters, as opposed to an integrated, faceless rankings parameter.

Keywords: quality assurance; educational institution; performance

1. Introduction

Traditionally, the national systems of higher education have their own procedures and criteria for

licensing and accreditation of educational activities. Typically, these criteria reflect the accumulated

traditions in higher education (HE). These criteria reflect the national view to the conceptual tools and

technologies implementing the necessary procedures. At the same time, there are the education

systems, that only recently were addressed to the licensing and other methods of assessing of the

educational institution performance. The processes of globalization have led to the emergence of the

new mechanisms to get right the educational activities and to the assess quality of educational process.

Determination of funding priorities have an incentive process for certain areas of education on the

base of external value.

Various forms of accreditation and rating have become as real prioritization process in many

countries. These processes determine the new forms of activity in universities. Universities are

investing financial resources to ensure work in these areas. These financial resources do not support

the educational process or the research directly. The problem of the finance optimization must be

solved to ensure all aspects of activity are supported. Typically, the university is not able to cover fully

all the costs due to the absence of adequate financial resources. Finding a balance is based on the

understanding of the role and the cost of accreditation or rating. Obviously, the burden of these

1 Professor, PhD, Voronezh State University, Russia, Address: University pl.1, Voronezh, Russia, 394006, Tel.:

+79036529105, Corresponding author: zsa@main.vsu.ru.