How to choose the college of your dreams: a guide for applicants
Miscellaneous / / July 12, 2022
Why go to college
You can enter a technical school or college after the 9th and after the 11th grade - about 60% of Russian ninth graders chooseAbout 60% of Russian schoolchildren choose colleges after grade 9 / Information Center of the Government of Moscow secondary vocational education. Studying in such institutions helps to master knowledge in practice, get to know the profession better and quickly understand whether it suits the student or not. You don’t have to spend time and a lot of money on paying for a university - college education is much cheaper.
The curriculum includes not only highly specialized subjects, but also general ones, so the quality of education will not suffer. And after graduation, you can easily go to university, sometimes skipping one or two courses, and work in parallel - after all, there is already a profession.
Colleges teach a huge number of specialists - mechanics, seamstresses, railway workers and metallurgists. And here you can get the profession of a jeweler, marketer, confectioner, photographer, and even an IT specialist.
How to find the right college
1. Check educational programs
Make a list of majors you are interested in and then find out which colleges have them. You can check the list of programs on the websites of educational institutions. Pay attention to the conditions of admission: for admission to many colleges, only the average score of the certificate is taken into account, but sometimes it is required to pass an internal competition. For example, in creative specialties, you need to confirm your skills in drawing and painting. And if you want to learn to be a firefighter, you have to pass the standards for physical training.
Check if there are budget places in your specialty and how much paid education will cost. Find out what support the college provides - for example, if you are moving from another city, you will need a hostel. Choose 3-4 technical schools or colleges that fit the criteria that are important to you. It is better to always have a fallback option - if there is a high competition in one educational institution, there will be a chance to enroll in another.
It is easy to quickly find a cool college with the right educational program on the website yaprof.rf. You can filter educational institutions there not only by the name of the specialty, but also by region and employers who take their graduates to work.
The purpose of the federal projectprofessionalism» — the creation of educational and industrial clusters throughout Russia in priority sectors of the economy, including aircraft manufacturing, metallurgy and light industry. In 2022, they plan to open 70 such centers, and by 2024 - 210. Education in the colleges included in this project will be held in more than 100 specialties and updated programs with an enhanced practical part. The formation of clusters is already supported by more than 250 colleges and 200 Russian companies, including large state corporations: they not only help provide a base for skills development, but also act as potential employers. Apply to participating colleges "professionalism", you can until August 15.
Select College2. Make sure you have a license and state accreditation
The license gives the college and technical school the right to conduct educational activities, and accreditation confirms that the quality of the study programs meets state standards. This means that after training the student will receive a state diploma. You can check if the college has the necessary documents on its website or in the registries licensesConsolidated Register of Licenses / Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science and accredited educational institutionsRegister of organizations engaged in educational activities for state-accredited educational programs / Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science Rosobrnadzor.
If the educational institution has not received accreditation, the issued diploma may be invalidated. In addition, the college will not have the right to provide statutory benefits to students. For example, full-time students will not receive a military draft deferral.
3. "Meet" the teachers
Not literally, but also through the site. Find out who teaches at the educational institution, and look at the qualifications of the teaching staff - how long the mentors have, whether they have diplomas and certificates.
College teachers must have higher education. In addition, teachers obligedArticle 48 Duties and responsibilities of teachers improve their professional level - for example, in advanced training courses. This helps to regularly update knowledge on the subject and use relevant teaching methods.
4. Read reviews
See what they write about the college in general, about the chosen program or teachers. The opinion of graduates will help to make a first impression and roughly understand how pleasant and useful it will be for you to study. Only you need to read not one comment, but at least 10 - so that it doesn’t turn out that you saw the only angry review from a negligent student who was simply too lazy to go to class.
It is also useful to go to the social networks of the college - here you can find interesting stories about successful graduates or the achievements of current students. See what students write under the publications, and feel free to chat with the authors of the comments. Ask how the lectures and practical classes go, what materials are available for preparing for exams, how grades are given, whether the level of teaching is satisfactory. Of course, the impressions of each person are subjective, but still they will help to paint the big picture.
5. Go to an open day
This way you can get more information about the college directly from faculty and leaders. Find out what the passing score was last year, whether you can count on benefits upon admission, how much paid tuition costs. Pay attention to wording. Common phrases like “Our students do internships in large companies” are a reason to ask a clarifying question with which specific enterprises the college cooperates.
And it’s also worth looking around and checking how things are with the material and technical base. Ask to tell about the equipment that is in the educational institution, or better, look into the classrooms and workshops yourself. It seems like a small thing, but it should be comfortable within the walls of the college - after all, you have to spend several years here.
Equipping colleges with modern equipment for practical lessons is one of the tasks of the national project "Education", which started in 2019. During this time, more than 2,000 high-tech workshops have been equipped in Russian colleges and technical schools. By 2024 their number are planning increase to 5,000.
Practical training in real industries will help you hone really important skills and approach the job search stage with relevant experience. Program "professionalism» will increase the employment of college graduates up to 85% and involve the employer as much as possible in the management and educational process of the college.
Learn by doing6. Explore connections with universities
The cooperation of the college with the university will be useful even for students who do not plan to continue their education at the university. Usually such links give access to the materials of the university library, and in the diploma of secondary vocational education will be the name of the parent educational institution - this can increase the status document.
In college, lectures are often given by the same specialists as in high school. This means that you will get the experience of communicating with university teachers and will be able to “try on” their requirements. If you decide to continue your education, you can discuss the nuances of preparation and clarify what benefits will be upon admission. Yes, and studying at a university with specialists with whom you have already dealt is easier than getting to know new ones.