Completion of graduate school is what gives. Exams and tests. Forms of education in graduate school

The system of multilevel education, which implies obtaining bachelor's and master's degrees, was introduced in our country more than 15 years ago. The debate over the effectiveness and necessity of such educational practice continues to this day. However, almost 200 Russian universities are currently training masters in more than 100 different directions, and their number is constantly growing. What is a master's degree and who needs it?

According to the 1992 Law "On Education" and numerous decrees of the Ministry of Education (and before that of the State Committee for Higher Education), Master's degree can be called the third level of higher education. It is preceded by a bachelor's degree and complete higher education.

The bachelor receives a basic higher education, without any narrow specialization. As a rule, the term of study in a bachelor's degree is 4 years, after which you can immediately start looking for a job. If your goal is a master's degree, then the bachelor's degree of the corresponding university is the best "starting point".

Full higher education implies training for 5 years, after which, after passing state exams and defending your thesis, you become a specialist or a certified specialist. Actually, such training existed in Soviet universities and exists in most Russian universities to this day, although the specialty, apparently, is gradually becoming a thing of the past.

Both the bachelor's degree and the specialist's degree are considered higher education, therefore, they allow you to enter the master's degree. We will answer a number of questions related to obtaining a master's degree.

Who should be looking for a master's degree?

Previously, those who decided to devote themselves to an academic career - research and scientific-pedagogical activity or work in the field of science-intensive technologies - went primarily to the magistracy.

Today, this feature of the magistracy is preserved in most universities, but every year there are more and more master's programs with a clear practical focus and narrower specialization. We can say that with an increasingly clear transition to the "bachelor - master" system, the first becomes a source of basic knowledge without specialization, and the second just gives more practical and narrow knowledge in the chosen field.

What is the duration and content of the master's program?

The duration of the program is two years. Upon admission, it is necessary to present a bachelor's degree, either a certified specialist or a specialist. In the first two cases, the candidate is eligible for free education(first higher), in the third - only paid (second higher). The master's program includes two components of approximately equal volume - educational and research. Accordingly, upon its completion, it is necessary, firstly, to pass exams, and secondly, to submit a research work: a master's thesis.

Paid or free?

If earlier it was possible to enroll for free only in the master's program of “one's own” university, that is, the one in which the candidate graduated from the bachelor's or specialty degree, then for several years this situation has changed: it is possible to enroll in the budgetary department in another university as well.

For those who have chosen a scientific career, we note that the master's degree is an excellent preparation for entering graduate school with the prospect of obtaining a PhD degree. During his studies in the magistracy, the future graduate student gets used to independent scientific work... At the same time, the magistracy in no way replaces or duplicates the latter, since, unlike the postgraduate study, the academic part of the program is no less important for the master's training than the research component.

Postgraduate studies

Postgraduate studies are the path of the future candidate of sciences.

The candidate's degree is achieved by defending a thesis after studying for up to 3 years in full-time postgraduate studies (or up to 4 years in part-time postgraduate studies). During this time, it is necessary to prepare several scientific publications and pass 3 candidate exams - usually philosophy, a foreign language and a specialty exam. In addition, you will have the opportunity (or even the responsibility) to teach seminars and take exams - which is important if you are interested in teaching.

As mentioned above, a master's degree can help you on your way to graduate status. In addition, it is necessary to study well, write scientific articles, speak at university conferences. The determining factor is the opinion of the academic council of the university and your scientific adviser about you.

In addition to universities, postgraduate studies exist at various research institutes. The admission of postgraduate students to research institutes is an order of magnitude lower than to postgraduate studies at educational institutions: annually, over 100 thousand applicants enter postgraduate studies, while scientific institutes accept about 17,000 postgraduates a year. Thus, the advantages of postgraduate studies at research institutes include a lower level of competition for vacancies. Surely, research workers teach at your university - you can agree with them about practice, and in the future - about admission to graduate school at the research institute.

Obtaining a Ph.D. degree takes place by defending a thesis in front of a dissertation council. After re-check work (this time by the Higher Attestation Commission - VAK) and with a positive decision of the commission, the applicant receives the coveted "crust" of the candidate of sciences.

Few facts:

The level of proficiency in a foreign language should allow the future candidate of sciences to translate one page of typewritten text close to the text in 1 hour.
For the most part, postgraduate studies are free, but there are also paid ones - especially at non-state universities and in economic specialties.
Full-time postgraduate students are granted a three-year deferral from the army; Candidates of Science are not subject to conscription.
If your Ph.D. is not your main goal, you can complete your PhD studies without defending your dissertation. In this case, you will be issued with a postgraduate diploma and candidate exams.
The analogue of postgraduate studies in military educational institutions will be called adjunct, and in medical ones - residency.
A candidate of sciences can apply for a doctorate degree through admission to doctoral studies, preparation and defense of a doctoral dissertation.
Obtaining an academic degree is possible in the form of an application. In this case, the passing of exams and the defense of the dissertation takes place without interruption from the main place of work; applicants do not enter postgraduate or doctoral studies.

Actual question: what will a PhD in the labor market give you if you are not going to teach? So, when should you consider defending your dissertation:

If you work in the field of high technology. A Ph.D. in medical, biological, physical and mathematical and other natural sciences guarantees an advantage when hiring highly qualified specialists. This applies not only to work in Russia, but also abroad.
If you want to become a senior executive in Russia. In the West, domestic personnel with a degree in the humanities (economics, jurisprudence, sociology) are valued much lower than "natural scientists". In the vacancies of our enterprises, one can often find the desirability of having an academic degree - so the decision to defend a thesis for a future leading lawyer or financial director is strategically justified.

Change is coming

In 2015, new standards for master's and postgraduate studies should come into force, which will seriously tighten the requirements for accrediting such programs in universities and research institutes. Under these changes, many universities will lose the right to offer master's and postgraduate programs. The vacated places will be redistributed in favor of the country's leading universities, which will be able to meet all the requirements for these programs. Moreover, these will be not only metropolitan universities, since the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation plans to provide major regional universities with master's and postgraduate studies.

Postgraduate studies - what is it? What is it for? Many young people who are studying at the university or are just going to enroll are interested in such questions. What is it? Postgraduate study is the main form of training highly qualified personnel. Previously, this was considered the lot of the minority. It was possible to enter it only by special direction from the institute where the specialist with a diploma worked.

The applicant had to learn what postgraduate study was, having passed a series of entrance exams in the specialty, philosophy and foreign language, as well as passing the qualifying competition.

The same features remain today. There is only one exception: any graduate of a higher educational institution who has a penchant for scientific and research activities and who seeks to fully realize himself in scientific research can enroll there. What is graduate school and why is it needed? This is a form of education, the purpose of which is to train highly qualified personnel for educational institutions and other scientific institutions, as well as for those social spheres where one cannot do without science.

Education

So your goal is graduate school. What it is is now clear. How is the training conducted? There are two forms - part-time and full-time. The full-time study period is three years. The correspondence course lasts a year longer. The organization of the learning process has many serious differences from organizational forms in higher educational institutions. Of course, there are also lectures, seminars and exams, but much less hours are allocated for such classes in comparison with what students must do independently as their research activities. What is Graduate School? In fact, learning here is more individual than collective.

For the entire period of study, an individual plan is drawn up for each graduate student, which contains all the main types of work, their terms, as well as the results of implementation. According to his own plan, a person every year must report to a special meeting of the scientific laboratory or department at which he studies. The results of such a discussion make it possible to transfer it to the next academic year.

Each graduate student during his studies must pass three compulsory exams: in his specialty, history and philosophy, as well as in a foreign language. In order for students to successfully pass the candidate exams, the educational institution arranges additional classes. Such conditions are set by postgraduate studies. What is a Candidate Exam? after passing which, a person receives the title

supervisor

This person is the main person for the graduate student. The scientific advisor is usually someone who is the leading scientist in his field. Typically, this is either a professor. The supervisor helps the graduate student to choose the topic of his Ph.D. thesis. Together they plan and advise on all major research questions for the graduate student.

Ph.D. thesis

This is the main test that postgraduate studies pose to young scientists. What is a PhD thesis? It differs from or what is defended in a special dissertation council, which includes scientists in specific fields who are authorities. It is worth noting that it can be organized both at the institution where the training takes place directly, and at another scientific or educational institution.

Field of activity of the graduate student

After successful completion and defense of the candidate's dissertation, the postgraduate student is awarded the title of candidate of sciences. Now he may well take a high-paying position in any organization or institution in the profile that he has chosen for himself.

Thus, if a person decides to associate life with research activities, he is interested in what postgraduate and master's programs are. There is a choice before him. To become a candidate of sciences, you need to complete postgraduate studies, defending the degree will become a stepping stone on the way to the status of a graduate student.

Often, when we meet a person who enrolled in graduate school, there is a desire to ask him one single question: "Why?" What made a person make such a decision? If it was necessary to describe graduate school in three words, then “long”, “useless” and “low paid” would be ideal. Most people see no point in going to graduate school and dedicating their lives to science in order to get a degree. But there are students who, after graduating from the university, decide to go through postgraduate studies. In today's article we will talk about why people go to graduate school and what opportunities it opens up for them.

In fact, there are many reasons that push people to go to graduate school. Next, we will highlight four main ones.

First reason

Most of the students go to graduate school in order to achieve a candidate's degree as a result. The candidate's degree is the final stage of postgraduate studies. If you think that only those who strongly love to study go to graduate school, then you are mistaken. In fact, 90% of graduate students just need an appropriate grade on their resume, which will be a big advantage when looking for a high-paying job. As practice shows, candidates of science have a lot of bonuses and privileges. A person with a candidate's degree can count on a decent position and a high salary. In addition, PhDs climb the career ladder faster. Considering all these points, then entering graduate school no longer seems so meaningless.

But not everything is as cloudless as it might seem at first. Enough to bring one small example to refute all the benefits mentioned above. Let's imagine the following situation: you become a Ph.D. in the field of information technologies... According to the current legislation, a person who has received a candidate's degree in this field cannot count on a salary increase of more than 30%. Fortunately, this limitation is irrelevant for other disciplines.

For comparison, an ordinary fourth-year student who studies at the Faculty of Information Technology and is fluent in several programming languages has a good chance of finding a job and getting a higher salary than a graduate student who cannot even count on a normal increase. So is it worth going to graduate school? The answer to this question again does not seem so unambiguous.

If we consider this issue more globally, then in developed countries, candidates of science are considered very important people and are highly regarded by employers. For some reason, many believe that all PhDs work in such large corporations as Google and Microsoft, but this is not entirely true. For example, in the United States, holders of an advanced degree consider work in scientific institutes and research stations. This approach is a bit unusual for our mentality, but it also has a right to exist.

The second reason

As a result of recent statistical surveys, it was found that many people go to graduate school to continue the family tradition. Often, the relatives of future graduate students already work at the department, and this gives them a slight advantage in admission.

Third reason

A person who has completed a full course of study in graduate school is armed with a large array of theoretical knowledge. But the problem is that this knowledge is not fixed in practice in any way. It turns out that a candidate of sciences already at a fairly conscious age will have to adapt to the application of theoretical knowledge. In turn, people who received an ordinary diploma of higher education already in full hone their skills and get decent money for it.

This does not mean that the theory is absolutely useless. It is just as important to the specialist as the practice. It's just that theoretical knowledge should always be consolidated in practice, and graduate school, unfortunately, does not create the necessary conditions for this. No matter how harsh it sounds, graduate school slows down human development in the workplace.

Fourth reason

Postgraduate studies - great option for people who have tons of ideas, but they don't know how to implement them. In graduate school, ideal conditions have been created for the implementation of ideas and their further promotion.

It is worth noting that in order to defend a thesis, a graduate student must submit all published works that he wrote during his postgraduate studies. This item is required. It turns out that a person can implement his ideas, write about it, and then use these articles in the process of defending a dissertation.

Fifth reason

Some people go to graduate school to be able to engage in teaching activities. So they can earn extra money and raise their social status. In addition, a future candidate of sciences can make a lot of new acquaintances and gain valuable experience as a result of communication with colleagues.

Everyone must decide for himself whether or not he should go to graduate school. It is important to take into account not only the advantages, but also the obvious disadvantages of this venture. We hope that our article has become useful for you, and that you have received answers to all your questions.

The training is drawing to a close, and you are looking at some of your classmates with genuine surprise. Why did they decide to go to graduate school? After all, freedom - here it is, is already on the doorstep! Meanwhile, they know a little more than you do. Let's fill this small gap and find out why go to graduate school.

What gives and who needs graduate school?

The main goal of postgraduate studies is to obtain the most in-depth knowledge within the chosen topic, to scrupulously study problems in the chosen direction. And sometimes postgraduate studies are about making a discovery. It all depends on your own aspirations and beliefs.

Many people think that the only plus of the whole event lies only in the fact that graduate school gives a respite from the army. Well, of course, you can't argue with that - it is! But there are other pluses of graduate school:

Cons of graduate school

As we said earlier, studying in graduate school has not only advantages, but also disadvantages.

When you get tired of "learning"

The first is a rather long way to the final goal. In addition to your regular university education, you will have to long time study in graduate school, and then - successfully defend a Ph.D. thesis. And all this time you will need to go to all the same classes, sit hours in libraries, study and conduct various studies, work through the problems studied down to the smallest detail, and then also pass the candidate exams.

All this can get pretty boring even before graduation, which is why not many have enough strength and desire to continue this "hell" after university. But if you have already decided on this, then finally. We recommend reading about.

And here is one more moment (for some pleasant, for others unpleasant) of what education in graduate school gives: in addition to all the aforementioned types of activities, a graduate student will have to conduct seminars or practical exercises with students.

However, if your planned activity is in no way connected with the world of science, which you do not have to know, what the postgraduate study gives in employment in real life... Sometimes it is enough for students to find out whether postgraduate study gives a respite from the army in order to go there to study. And in this case, they will quickly come to your aid - they will take on all the burdens academic activity, and all the merits will remain with you.

In graduate school, which is the next stage in the comprehension of science, it is customary to distinguish several stages of training. This time allotted for postgraduate studies should be used as rationally and reasonably as possible, i.e. so that in order to have time to learn educational material good enough and at the same time worthy to defend a thesis.

Many start their postgraduate studies immediately after graduation and immediately face certain difficulties inherent in this period of study. Naturally, young scientists, especially graduate students of the humanities and natural sciences, often resort to simple recommendations in order to most effectively use the years of study in order to expand and deepen knowledge in their field.

First year of study. Usually, after entering graduate school, future scientists are lost, not knowing where to start their studies. It should be borne in mind that in graduate school, as in a university, time will be running out and therefore we must try not to waste time or waste it, but get down to business right away. The first step is to attend classes in philosophy and a foreign language, if such an opportunity is provided by the educational institution chosen by the graduate student. This is necessary condition not only to increase the level of their erudition and general education, but also for successful preparation and passing exams in the above-mentioned disciplines in order to obtain a Ph.D. degree.

The completed course in philosophy gives the graduate student the opportunity to further deepen his knowledge and better understand not only the directions of modern philosophy, but also literature, art, politics, the structure of society, especially spirituality different countries... The study of a foreign language will provide an irreplaceable service in reading the works of foreign authors on the specialty of interest to the graduate student. Reading these works in the original will help you better understand the subject under study. Even with poor knowledge of a foreign language, reading sources foreign literature it will become easier over time, because soon a graduate student will surely discover an infinite number of terms and constructions similar to their main language. It will be easiest for him to read works written by non-native speakers, for example, Spaniards or Chinese in English, since they write in a simple, accessible and understandable way, without any sophisticated phrases and complex words. Many educational institutions also teach courses in psychology and pedagogy. Listening to the above courses is necessary both for further teaching practice, and to deepen their knowledge.

It must be borne in mind that people with academic degree have high authority and are considered to be highly intelligent. Many people take their opinion into account, and therefore a graduate student should try to meet such a high mark over the years of study in order to have authority. It is necessary to study while there is time, strength and opportunity, because after graduating from graduate school, a young scientist loses this chance mainly due to his employment. Then you will have to study on your own, sometimes teaching others at the same time, but getting a graduate student of education is hardly anyone's interest.

By regularly attending classes, the graduate student will have the opportunity to pass the candidate exams. But this is not enough for writing a dissertation. In the first year of study, it is necessary to start organizing scientific research, since obtaining a candidate's degree also involves writing a candidate's work. Therefore, having enrolled a graduate student in graduate school, the university appoints him a supervisor from among doctors of sciences or professors. The topic of the candidate dissertation is approved by the Department or the Faculty Council until December 31 of the year of admission. Together with the supervisor, the graduate student develops an individual work plan, fills in title page plan, explanatory note regarding the choice of topic and fills in the plan for the first year of study. After the approval of the plan at the meeting of the department, the graduate student is under the careful attention of the professor, i.e. scientific advisor, organizing and directing Scientific research a graduate student who supervises and is responsible for the implementation of the individual plan.

It is most correct to try to pass exams in philosophy and a foreign language at the end of the first academic year, because then the graduate student is unlikely to find free time to devote to re-attendance of classes in these disciplines. In addition, the graduate student will no longer have a great desire to attend lectures without the group of graduate students who once made up his company. If a graduate student wants to take the exam, then he must submit an appropriate statement of his intention to graduate school.

Young scientists may not even dream of relaxing, because at the end of each year of study, they are obliged to make a report on the work done during the year at a meeting of the department. To do this, they need to submit to graduate school an already prepared and approved report.

In order to report on the work done at the meeting of the department, you must first take care of its organization. In graduate school, no one will care what internal reasons the department was unable to hold meetings. (If the academic year ends in December, then it is necessary to start submitting the report in November. Consequently, a meeting of the department will be held in October, and it is necessary to start organizing its convocation in September, that is, immediately after the graduate student leaves vacation.)

The second year of postgraduate studies is mainly devoted to the continuation of the corresponding experiment, the collection and primary processing of data, as well as a deeper analysis of the work carried out at this stage of training. Intermediate stages of work here are research, results, discussion (analysis) of results, conclusions. It is better to design and present each intermediate stage of the work as a scientific article.

Such a presentation of the intermediate work done can subsequently help the graduate student in writing the text of the dissertation. It can also appear important experience in presenting the data obtained during the study of the material.

A feature of the second year of study is that it becomes the main one both in the number of conferences where the graduate student reports his results, and in the number of his publications based on the work done. Another feature of the second year of study is the teaching practice that graduate students undergo. During teaching practice, they perform the work of a teacher at the department, which is 40-50 academic hours. The positive aspect is that in the second half of the second year of study, a graduate student, thanks to practice, will more easily pass the candidate exam in his specialty. The end of the second year implies the completion of the experimental part of the work, or, in extreme cases, the main part of it.

The third year of study is characterized by the fact that at this stage you will have to complete the experiment if the work on its completion was not completed in advance. You must also have time to spend final processing data, their analysis, and then draw conclusions. The third year is significant in that it was at this time that the graduate student wrote the lion's share of the text of his dissertation. It is more expedient to spend the beginning of the year on completing the writing of Chapter 3 ("Research Results"), thorough editing of the text of the chapter and drawing up with figures, tables, diagrams. To write Chapter 4 ("Discussion of Results"), you will have to use the knowledge gained in the process of studying the relevant literature in the specialty. The purpose of Chapter 4 is to conduct theoretical analysis of the data. Chapter 1 provides an overview and / or analysis of the literature used. You can start writing chapter 1 much earlier (in the summer after the end of the second year, in the first year of school, or at the same time as chapters 3 and 4).

As for the conclusions of the work, they must be formulated clearly, concretely, but succinctly. They should logically proceed from the results of the research. Approximately 5-8 conclusions are enough for a Ph.D. thesis, however, it is natural that the number of real conclusions will exceed the number of conclusions drawn in the thesis. It should be noted that one should not rush to formulate this part of the dissertation, since the final version of the conclusions can be written only as a result of numerous changes in the edition.

While writing his humble dissertation, a graduate student should not worry about the fame of a scientist who has left an indelible mark on science. Only time will tell how successful his Ph.D. dissertation has become.