Dmitry Medvedev noted that the situation in education has improved in recent years due to a number of documents that have been adopted, in particular, the laws on autonomous institutions, the National Final School Exam, the transition to a two-tier model of higher education and the launch of innovative enterprises based at universities. The country has created regional and interregional modern resource centres and renewed the logistics and information base at a significant number of leading universities.
The President underlined that the principle of co-financing has great importance for the development of higher education and urged the business community to participate in co-financing programmes because it is the responsibility of business to define the need for future professionals. To accomplish this, it is essential to complete the development of professional standards, establish a system of compulsory public and professional evaluation and supply the market with highly qualified professionals for whom there is real demand by employers and who are prepared to participate in the modernisation of the economy. In order to reorient higher education to the needs of promising industries it is also vital to create regional and sectoral forecasts for staffing requirements.
Dmitry Medvedev urged the participants to pay special attention to the efficiency of public spending on education. It is crucial that education takes into account the real needs of economic modernisation.
President Medvedev also pointed to the importance of using the international cooperation experience. According to the President, it is important to develop a system of training specialists at the best educational establishments abroad by using internships and student exchanges, as well as inviting leading academics from around the world to do research in Russia on long-term contracts.
Mr Medvedev congratulated the participants of the meeting on the 10th anniversary of the State Council establishment.