A working meeting of the Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov together with the rectors of universities participating in the pilot project was held at the government of the Russian Federation. They summed up the results of the admissions campaign and discussed key tasks for the 2026/2027 academic year. TSU rector Eduard Galazhinskiy shared the results of the introduction of a new education system at Tomsk State University and presented a knowledge base on a new model of higher education, which is planned to be implemented at Russian universities.
A pilot project for the transition to a new model of higher education has been implemented by the decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin from 2023. TSU entered the top six universities who piloted the project and introduced a new model into the educational process. Today, 17 universities are already participating in the pilot project. The new system provides for a combination of fundamentality, practice orientation and flexibility of educational programs.
The head of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov emphasized the importance of informing applicants, students, their families and university partners about the content and results of the pilot project.
- We see that the new model of higher education is quite interesting for applicants and employers. Now our task is not only to ensure the high-quality implementation of the pilot project. It is important to build communication with students, their families, all university partners. It is clear and understandable to talk about new educational programs, their content, academic and professional trajectories of students, further opportunities for graduates, - said Valery Falkov.
Photo by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation
According to the results of this year admissions campaign, more than 63 thousand students, including 41 thousand first-year students, were admitted on state-funded basic and specialized higher education programs at universities participating in the pilot. More than 750 thousand applications were submitted for 320 areas of training. Nine out of 17 universities enrolled student dully to pilot educational programs, the admission targets were fulfilled by 99.7%. The competition for state-funded places on pilot programs amounted to 18 people per place.
For TSU, the admission campaign was the first year of a complete transition to the pilot model. One of the tools of the admission campaign at TSU this year was artificial intelligence and analytics technologies. The university has updated the hotline software, expanded the call center staff and launched an AI assistant on social networks. Thanks to this, the staff of the admission committee promptly receive information about the applicant and can apply an individual approach in communication. For school graduates, in turn, it is easier to understand the terms, forms of training, areas of training and other topics.
Photo by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation
- The interest of applicants in the educational programs of the new model is really growing, which is confirmed by the 100% fulfillment of TSU admission targets and an increase in the average USE score. Now the key task for us is to inform every employee of the university about the details of the transition to a new model of higher education. For this, we developed a knowledge base and an AI consultant for the new model, and organized advanced training of teachers, - said Eduard Galazhinskiy.
The meeting also discussed the tasks of universities for the next academic year. For TSU, one of the key areas will be the scaling of the pilot within the university. A database on the new model and an advisory tool are now being created that will allow teachers to receive the necessary information about the principles and mechanisms of transition.
Another area will be the development of interaction with employers and work with talented applicants. Eduard Galazhinskiy noted the need to take into account the peculiarities of regional universities and maintain opportunities to attract talented school graduates to them.
