In June Kazan hosted the VII All-Russian Scientific and Methodological training seminar “Implementation of Fundamental Educational Programs of Higher Education in Accordance with New Requirements of the Legislation of the Russian Federation in the Sphere of Education”.
The event was organized by the Council for Islamic Education, the Russian Islamic Institute, and the Kazan Orthodox Theological Seminary with the support of the Foundation for the Support of Islamic Culture, Science and Education and the Scientific and Educational Theological Association (SETA).
The seminar was attended by Vice Rectors of Universities, Heads of Theology Departments, heads of educational programs in the field of theology, specialists of higher education programs and experts and candidate experts of SETA.
The organizers stated that the aim of the training seminar was to exchange experiences on best educational practices in the implementation of educational programs in theology. The seminar also addressed issues of the work of educational organizations and the implementation of educational programs in the context of the introduction of a new model of accreditation of educational activities from 1 March 2022.
The moderator and speaker at the plenary session was Rafik Mukhametshin, Chairman of the Islamic Education Council of Russia, Deputy Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan, member of the Strategic Vision Group “Russia - Islamic World”, Rector of the Russian Islamic Institute.
Welcoming speeches were made by President of the Scientific and Educational Theological Association, Rector of the All-Church Post-Graduate and Doctoral Studies Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokamsk (Moscow), Deputy Head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Education and Science, 2nd Class State Councilor of the Russian Federation Svetlana Kochetova, Head of Department for Cooperation with Religious Associations of the Department for Internal Policy of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Tatarstan Albert Dirzizov and others.
In his speech, Albert Dirzizov stressed the high demand for “a new generation of religious studies personnel”. “We need specialists who have both secular and religious education and who know how to navigate the current international situation”.
Rafik Mukhametshin noted that theology was becoming more and more relevant every year: “Only five or six years ago, there was a controversial attitude towards theology among Islamic Universities. Now the country’s biggest Islamic schools are implementing programs in this field. These are the Russian Islamic Institute, the Bolgarian Islamic Academy, Dagestan State University and Moscow Innovative University”.
He added that SETA comprised 77 institution of higher education, among which, apart from religious ones, there were also secular institutions where theology was implemented.
At the seminar, the participants discussed changes in educational legislation and talked about new trends in this sphere. Thus, Elena Grudeva, Head of the Department of Russian Philology and Applied Communications at Cherepovets State University, shared the experience of interaction between Cherepovets State University and local religious organizations. Ibragim Ibragimov, Director of the Institute of Theology and State-Confessional Relations of Pyatigorsk State University, also shared the experience of interaction between state universities and spiritual educational institutions of the North Caucasus Federal District in implementing programs in the field of “Islamic Theology”. Radik Yulbayev, Director of the Research Centre for Spiritual Development at the Bashkir State Pedagogical Institute, talked about the values of Islamic pedagogy in the educational process of secular and Muslim institutions.
One of the key topics of discussion was the new model of accreditation of educational activities, which was introduced on March 1, 2022, with amendments to the federal law “On Education in the Russian Federation”. The experts talked about the principles of the new model and the new mechanism of accreditation expertise.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
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