In Russia, the current Bologna higher education system, including “bachelor” and “master” levels, will be abolished. Instead, a new two-tier model will be introduced. What is known about the updated higher education system and how it will affect students – in the material of Moscow Evening.
Changes in the education system
First Vice Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Science and Higher Education Ksenia Goryacheva speakCurrently at universities, instead of the “bachelor – master” formula, the following two-level model will be applied:
basic university education for a period of four to six years (depending on the major); Specialized higher education lasts from one to three years, which will become an updated form of the master's degree.
The press service of the Ministry of Education and Science noted that Russia's leading universities will begin transitioning to the new system in the 2026–2027 academic year. Students who have started studying before the start of the project will continue to study in the programs in which they are already participating. However, there is still no information from open sources about what will happen to graduates who have completed a bachelor's degree and are planning to enroll in a master's degree.
“A major transition to the new system is planned for the 2027–2028 academic year and will affect all universities in the country, regardless of their faculty affiliation and form of ownership,” the press service added.
A pilot project to reform higher education in Russia was launched in 2023. Participants in the program then included MAI, NUST MISIS, Moscow State Pedagogical University, Kant Baltic Federal University, St. Petersburg Mining University. Petersburg and TSU. The new system implies:
basic university education;
specialized higher education (master's degree, residency and assistant-internship);
professional higher education (postgraduate studies).
The project also introduces changes in admission regulations to master's programs. Previously, students could not apply for a publicly funded master's program after graduating from a major. Now this ban will no longer exist: graduates of any basic program will be able to participate in competition for funding, and graduate school will become a separate level of professional education.
Goryacheva explains that these changes are due to the demands of the labor market, which conflict with the education system. A student must undergo training for four to six years, and during this time, when he graduates from university, his skills may not be recognized.
“Employers are forced to retrain employees in their companies, because training programs at universities are not always flexible and do not have time to update,” she said.
The new higher education model will allow universities to build training programs that meet the real needs of the labor market without losing their fundamental nature.
According to the decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated January 22, 2026, in the school year 2026–2027 – 2029–2030, new participants in the pilot project will be:
FEFU;
MGPU;
MSTU I. Bauman;
Mitch;
RNIMU is named after. Pirogov;
giantTH MIT;
SPbGMTU;
StGAU;
Tyum State University;
UrFU;
SFU.
In November 2025, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Dmitry Afanasyev said that 2027 will be the year of transition for universities to a new higher education model. Some media have reported that the new project will begin implementation on September 1, 2026, but for now we are only talking about universities that have become participants in the program and are included in the decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated January 22, 2026.
What will the transition to the “new old” system look like?
Nikolai Sukhov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Professor at the Institute of Oriental and African Studies at the Higher School of Economics of the National Research University, in a conversation with Vechernaya Moscow, noted that the “pre-Bologna” system of higher education was very good: one studied, received a major and then went to graduate school.
— The Bologna system in our country was created to meet Western standards and it works. Experts note that whether it is good or bad largely depends on the university where it is used.
Changing the current education system, currently being implemented as a pilot project, but expected to be widespread by 2027, will lead to the introduction of new programs and concepts.
“This means that in the next few years we will have to face a transition period. As I remember, the transition from the old educational system to the Bologna educational system was very painful. Perhaps the transition to the “new old” system will be no less painful, the professor believes.
He added that it is theoretically possible, “on paper,” to create a new curriculum corresponding to the new education system.
“Curriculums are rewritten almost every year and everything can be rearranged and rewritten to suit new conditions. It can be said that university teachers are well “trained” on this issue, because even in the old education system, curriculum requirements change every year. I am sure that everything “on paper” will be fine. But how this actually happens depends on the capabilities, energy and resources. of each specific educational institution”, Sukhov concluded.
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