The Education System in Russia

In Russian, education is split up into compulsory basic education, which lasts nine years, and higher education. Students specialize in the last two years of high school and several electives are available. Private schools now exist. The literacy rate is 99%.

In 1994, new curriculum guidelines were introduced to encourage choice and innovation over the previous approaches to teaching, but many public schools are unable or unwilling to implement the reforms due to lack of money and clear local leadership.

Higher education is provided by public and non-public (non-State) accredited higher education institutions (HEIs). There are three levels of higher education: 1) incomplete higher education (2 years at least); 2) basic higher education (4 years) leading to the Bakalavr's degree, the first university level degree; 3) postgraduate higher education (total number of years of post-secondary education: 5-6 years or more).

There are 609 public HEIs and 206 accredited non-State HEIs in Russia; the Ministry of Education finances 315 public HEIs. The rest are financed by other Ministries or local authorities. There are about 3000 non-university level educational institutions - technikum, uchilische, college.