Processes of globalization and internationalization of higher education play an important part in modern social-economic context of developing educational systems. Academic mobility is a useful tool of integrating Russia into international educational and scientific space.
According to the definition by European Council, academic mobility is training, teaching, carrying out researches abroad, and after it a tutor or a researcher returns to his basic educational institution [8]. Besides, analysis of the recent documents of European space of higher education allows us outline institutional mobility and mobility of programmes and people [9].
In 2013 National fund of Staff Training presented the results of systematizing and evaluating mechanisms of collaboration between Russia and foreign countries in order to develop academic mobility: regulative basis, tools, and practices [6].
The analysis of international agreements shows that distribution of bilateral agreements is majorly represented by agreements on acknowledging graduation documents, scientific-technical collaboration, and also collaboration in field of science, culture, education, and sports [1].
The greatest number of bilateral agreements refers to countries of European Union, CIS, and Africa. Basic platforms of Russian international collaboration on science and education are the following organizations and unions: EU, Council of CIS state leaders, Antarctic Council, Council of Baltic states, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Council of The Barents-Euro Arctic Region, EurAsEC, BRICS, ASEAN, APEC, BSEC.
Majority of the agreements is directed towards realization of physical exchange of scientists, researchers, students, aspirants, and tutors. Besides, modern priorities of developing academic mobility are not reflected sufficiently in the corresponding national documents and international agreements. Most international agreements have been concluded before 1999 (moreover, 30 % of them – before 1992), and this fact does not imply solution of urgent problems.
Only 6 % of them implement joint programmes and projects in the area of education, science, culture. Only 6,2 % of international pacts are directed towards carrying out combined researches and training staff in prior sectors of economy. The least number of agreements implies scientific-technical collaboration in the area of processing natural recourses, oil-and-gas industry, electronics and machine building, textile and light industry, aerospace technologies.
According to researches, «leak of minds» is present in all sectors, but most of all is affects prior directions of industry (space technologies, applied and theoretic physics, chemical technologies, biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, mathematics, and programming) [4]. Branch strategies and programmes aren’t completely directed towards integration into international research and educational space, not all of them cover problems, prior regions, and applied areas of international collaboration [3, 6].
We should outline that Russia plays the part of «state partner» in most programmes, and it does not allow our country to lobby our national interests, select prior research directions, and adjust target indexes.
Russian programmes of education development are mostly directed towards proving for incoming students’ mobility, and also outgoing mobility of tutors, students, and aspirants. Organizing educational camps at the foundation of higher educational institutions is an example of realizing these principles [2]. In this case, educational system becomes a key institute of social-cultural adaptation, decrease in risks of social safety of a whole region.
As the Center of sociological researches by the Ministry of education and science of RF shows, the number of international students of both full- and part-time education forms increases in Russian institutions every year [3]. Changes in specialization choice have happened, though interest towards studying engineering-technical, medical, and human-social subjects has remained.
Russian state grants for foreign students are majorly issued for countries of CIS, Asia, Africa, and Close East, and less frequently – for countries of Latin America, Eastern-European and Balkan countries, countries of Western Europe and Baltics, and also states of Northern Europe. Academic exchanges and joint scientific researches are especially necessary with countries that lead in innovation areas: EU, the USA and Canada, Japan, Korean Republic.
We should outline that within exchange programmes that are carries out during summer and winter vacations, participants can not only solve problems that lay within their educational trajectory (studying a language, forming and developing professional skills), but also obtain skills of international communication.
A program of an educational camp includes training and immersion into a cultural environment in order to assist adaptation, it provides for a complete and quick overcoming of negative consequences of «cultural shock», passing identity crisis. Facilitating a potential of educational environment of an institution allows one to introduce methodology of cross-cultural orientation and integration in terms of foreign culture (cultural assimilators, trainings, educational programmes of intercultural education), thus forming an atmosphere of tolerance within an institution, overcoming xenophobia and alienation, increasing intercultural competence of all participants of educational process.
Enriching of behavior repertory of participants takes place while mastering an educational camp programme, it allows them to interact with residents efficiently. It implies means of overcoming stress, self-regulation, and improving one’s functional condition; developing communicative skills in order to overcome language gap and master verbal and nonverbal ways of behavior; realizing differences of cultural dimensions in order to improve comprehension between cultures [5]. A single perspective of participant’s way of life is an important measure of integrating into a society, training for professional activity in a foreign environment [7].
At the same time, not only foreign guests need to adapt to educational environment and features of hosting side, but local students and tutors also need to adapt to presence of foreigners.
The problem of programme succession, acknowledging graduation documents becomes acute between domestic and foreign institutions. Coordinating programmes of carrying out summer camps can lead to introducing obtained competences into the training process (for example, taking language practice in Russian).
A similar practice is being successfully implemented in Artem branch of Federal state budget organization of higher professional education «Vladivostok state university of economy and service» as a part of the signed agrements on collaboration with Yanbian state university (Yanji, China) and International School of Business «Sol Bridge» (Woosong University, Daejeon, South Korea). The institutions exchange students while realizing the programme of educational camp during summer and winter vacation. Nowadays a work on creating cultural centers at the foundation of education environment of institutions is carried out.
While passing probations, students not only study foreign languages in audiences, but also experience culture of nations via immersing into a different cultural environment (theatres, folklore, chorus singing, excursions). An early project and review concert are presented in the end, thus students demonstrate what they have mastered during their visit to a foreign country.
All in all, academic mobility provides for the development of human potential and highly-technological sectors, increase in global competitiveness of basic branches of industry, forming a positive image of Russia, popularization of Russian language and culture, and also protection of rights and interests of Russian citizens and their compatriots who live abroad, consolidation of Russian diaspora [2].
Russia follows basic trends of developing internationalization of higher education and academic mobility: internal regulations of Russian Federation outlines such priorities as increase in academic mobility, fortifying relations with foreign educational and scientific organizations, broadening initiatives on developing network partnerships between different Russian and foreign organizations, active usage of distant and continuous forms of education. However, Russia falls behind the developed countries according to a number of indexes, and it points out the necessity to activate academic mobility.
It is necessary to refresh the basis of international agreements, direct them towards collaboration in those sectors of industry that are prior in Russia [3, 6], improve the existing and create new tools of academic mobility, intercultural communication.
Apart from forming normative field, mechanisms and tools of realizing academic mobility, it is no less important to create regulative, infrastructural, social-economic, and other conditions of developing international collaboration in the area of education and science, attracting foreign students and scientists to study and work in Russian institutions and scientific organizations.
The work was submitted to the International Scientific Conference «Science and education in contemporary Russia», Moscow, November, 13-15, 2013, сame to the editorial office on 04.12.2013.