How the Role of Secondary Vocational Education is Changing in Russia: Vera Maltseva’s Report at the Nanjing University International Forum
In her presentation,Vera Maltseva provided a systematic analysis of the role of secondary vocational education in the educational trajectories of Russian youth. She demonstrated that over the past two decades, secondary vocational education has ceased to be a marginal or ‘auxiliary’ segment of the education system. Today, it stands as one of the key frontiers for institutional and social transformations, where the interests of the state, the labour market, and the students themselves intersect.
Particular attention was paid to the shift in educational trajectories. The choice made after the 9th grade is increasingly becoming a turning point that defines an individual’s future educational and career path. Against a backdrop of stabilised higher education enrolment and a rising demand for mid-level specialists, the secondary vocational education track is showing the most significant growth dynamics. Nevertheless, persistent social differentiation remains: parents’ level of education and academic performance continue to be heavily linked to the likelihood of a student choosing a college over a university.
A specific section of the speech was dedicated to the institutional model of secondary vocational education in Russia. The system continues to be characterised by a strong state-centric logic and a high proportion of government funding. However, recent years have seen attempts to transform this model—notably by strengthening the role of employers, developing dual education formats, and launching federal projects focused on practice-oriented training. At the same time, structural constraints remain, such as a ‘school-like’ teaching model and the limited industrial experience of a significant number of secondary vocational education teachers.
The report also highlighted that the growing popularity of secondary vocational education in Russia is driven by a combination of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors. On one hand, the selectivity of higher education is increasing, narrowing the opportunities for admission to mass programmes. On the other hand, college is increasingly viewed as a socially acceptable and economically rational choice for initial post-school education, particularly in IT, services, medicine, pedagogy, and the creative industries. Furthermore, the secondary vocational education system is becoming more heterogeneous: alongside mass-market colleges, a segment of selective programmes with high competition and high average admission scores is beginning to emerge.
Concluding her presentation, Vera Maltseva outlined the key challenges facing Russian secondary vocational education. These include the contradiction between the discourse of social inclusion and the requirements of high-tech training, the gap between labour market demands and the career aspirations of young people, and the need to reconsider whose interests the secondary vocational education system serves: the regulator, the employer, or the student. These questions set the agenda for future research and policy-making within the field of vocational education.