University Admissions Aligned with Labor Market Needs – HSE

From September 1, 2026, Russian education will begin a phased transition to an updated model. This process began in 2022, after the head of the Ministry of Education and Science Valery Falkov announced the abandonment of the two-level Bologna system (bachelor’s degree + master’s degree) and the transition to a system based on the interests of the national economy and the students themselves.

The new model of higher education provides for three levels. This is a basic higher education, in more familiar terms – a bachelor’s degree or a specialty degree (4-6 years depending on the direction). Specialized higher education, which will include a master’s degree, residency and assistantship-internship (1–3 years). Professional education, or graduate school (1–3 years), is allocated to a separate level. Vedomosti provides expert opinions.

Education is becoming an element of the state’s economic strategy, says Evgeny Terentyev, director of the Institute of Education at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.

Transformations in medical training have attracted the most attention this year. From March 2026, graduates of specialized universities and colleges will undergo training under the guidance of a mentor in clinics providing assistance as part of compulsory health insurance. Its duration will depend on the specialty of the physician. We are talking about students enrolled in medical and pharmaceutical education programs, regardless of the budgetary or commercial form of education. The graduate independently chooses both the region and the place of work.

Doctors will be able to receive periodic specialist accreditation and get a job in a private clinic only after completing mentoring. Mandatory service has not yet affected another specialty in short supply in Russia—teachers. From September 1, 2026, they must take the Unified State Exam in a subject that the applicant plans to teach at school in the future.

“It is possible that similar approaches will develop in teacher education, but analytics show that we are not talking about an absolute personnel shortage in the teaching profession, but about existing imbalances,” says Terentyev.

For example, by 2030, the share of mathematics and physics teachers over 60 years of age in Russian schools will reach one third of the total number of teachers in these subjects.

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