Education As Universal Tendency Of The Present

Abstract

The article analyses the term "education" taking into consideration the universalism concept. Anthropological, philosophical and sociological approaches to the category "universaliya" are regarded and these social institute transformations depending on existential characteristics are depicted. The authors emphasize the following tendencies of this universaliya: integration of domestic education into the world system, realization of continuous education process, internationalization of higher education, its modernization, interconditionality of education in a global scale. It is accentuated that the globalization processes determine the rapid development of multimedia, network technology and satellite communications, contributing to the formation of global information space and the process of modernization of education. The article reveals the importance of higher education internationalization, which implies its diversification; the unification of curricula and Russian students training at foreign universities; dissemination and strengthening of regional universities; improvement of the quality of education and research by universities participation in the international educational space, etc. Internationalization promotes the accessibility of higher education, the universalization of knowledge, the establishment of the internatial qonuality standards. The authors emphasize the factor of the international activity as one of the most important components of higher education internationalization, the main form of which is students’ mobility. In conclusion, the article presents the thesis that we can observe cyclicity and bifurcations in the evolution of education, and at the same time we can see that the educational system, like other universals, has the regularized nature.

Keywords: Universaliyaeducationdevelopmentglobaltrendsculture

Introduction

In the conditions of active international contacts, Russian state education integration into the world system it is hard to underestimate a role of education institute. Stages of social development, cultural and economic factors, confessional peculiarities – all these and many other things promoted transformations of this social institute.

Nowadays people all over the world pay a great attention to lifelong education with high speed of knowledge enhancement and to new technologies. Lifelong education becomes an important indicator of technological development of states and of social progress, but the implementation of lifelong education process is impossible without cross-cultural communications. Thus it is possible to talk about the concepts of education, forms and methods of considerable enhancement. We can’t deny the fact of great opportunities emergence for knowledge acquisition. Relations between students and teachers, interaction of students and educational resources have changed affected the development of the institute of education. The use of modern techniques and complexes have created the conditions for fast process development and its quality growth.

Problem Statement

For any society the most important thing is its inclusiveness in world processes, openness and transparency of its culture in different periods of its development. It is caused mainly by the level of culture and education. The present stage of social development is characterized by the informatization process since the Internet forms a global information space. Globalization is manifested in many aspects, including interpenetration of cultures reflected at the level of cultural universalia. Education is one of the modern culture universalias, and development tendencies are inherent to it, as well as to other universalias. Scientists sometimes connect the concept of "universalia" with something dogmatic, medieval, alien to dynamics. But in recent years this concept has received a new understanding, which we are going to study in this article.

Research Questions

So, what is important for the analysis of separate universalia, in a particular education? It is not the similarity of various cultures and social communities content, but the similarity in classification – allocation of the general bases. We will address the content of the universalia "education".

Education as an universalia of culture functions in various eras and civilizations, in the course of knowledge acquisition there is a fixing and broadcast of sociohistorical experience. In the history of civilizations education was transformed considerably, it depended on the extent of society development, on the level of culture, religious aspects, institutes of power, on specifics of this or that formation and many other reasons.

Purpose of the Study

Life-long education becomes an important indicator of technological development of the states and social progress. With respect thereto it is possible to talk about considerable enhancement of concepts of education, forms and methods of management. Nowadays the modern educational technologies applied in the system of lifelong education include the use of digital, video and audio technologies, satellite radio and television, computer multimedia technologies, technology of artificial intelligence, the Internet and communication technologies, technologies of virtual modeling of reality and a number of others.

Globalization of higher education assumes processes of transformation at this social institute under the influence of tendencies in economic, social, cultural, political and technogenic and ecological spheres and in their integration into a world education system. Thus, globalization processes in many respects determine upgrade of Russian higher education which is an objective process since activities of old institutes do not correspond to the time requirements and challenges of globalization as a context and a factor of information society any more.

Thus, the purpose of the study is to show the importance of educational universalia in social progress.

Research Methods

The main method used in this article is the dialectics that is understood as consideration of a subject in its historical development, in connection with other objects. This method is combined with logical analysis, synthesis and comparison, and a number of additional methods: theoretical analysis, analysis of documents, secondary analysis of data.

Globalization and modernization of education are the processes caused by tendencies of a new era of social development. Preserving the best traditions of Russian education is one of the major tasks today, at the same time in system of the higher school perhaps reasonable combination of the traditions and challenges caused by globalization is possible. Connection of Russian education with world process, considering international experience, its achievements – all this, plus traditions of history, literature and spirituality allows to talk about national identity of the system of Russian education – process of knowledge transfer, education of the personality, forming of ethical principles. These characteristics remain also at present. Thus, now multimedia, network and satellite communication technologies are enhanced very quickly and play an important role in modernization of education. All countries face the problem of the integration in accordance with democratic principles. In addition to these processes, we have the information and globalization occurring due to mass people's access to ICT, leading to a blurring of cultural, spatial and temporal boundaries (Castells, Kiseleva, 2016).

The global market of the higher education became one of globalization and technologies growth signs. Absolutely different opportunities arise for cooperation between students, and also between scientific and educational institutions around the world. Diplomas, certificates, degrees can be received now, without being trained in traditional sense of this concept. A number of the competing institutes and companies appear today in the world educational market where knowledge and training are received by anyone willing. Internet and software have become the norm in modern society, provide an opportunity to learn languages (Kononova, 2013).

Today modernization processes in education systems of the different countries have much in common. Bologna Process sets the task of cultural, economic and educational integration. Education system modernization is characterized by specifics of mechanisms and the principles of training (modular, remote, online), other organizations (virtual universities, international, corporate higher education institutions) appear.

Internationalization of the higher education assumes its diversification and growth of financial inflow by means of increase in number of foreign students; standardization of curricula and training of the Russian students in foreign higher education institutions; distribution and strengthening of regional higher education institutions positions; improvement of education and research quality by higher education institutions participation in international educational space, etc.

The international activities is the most traditional component of the higher education internationalization. Process of the international factor systematic integration into education and research shall be non-stop.

Student mobility becomes the main form of the higher education internationalization. For the last 40 years rates increase in flows of the students crossing borders to receive higher education have exceeded growth rates of the higher education.

Findings

Globalization and modernization of education are inevitable processes. Market makes critical influence on the sphere of education. But it is very important being innovative without losing the essence of the process, metaphorically speaking “not to toss the baby out with the bath water”.

Mentioned before phenomena will have the further development as the growth of intercultural, economic, political communications is an objective process.

The history of development of education in Russia appears on one hand one of the most paradoxical phenomena of the Russian world, but on the other – quite a logical and important its component. Amazing is the speed of development of education in Russia.

An important peculiarity of Russia’s education is its connection with the world process. Russia has always turned to international and European experience borrowing its achievements. These are a German-pattern university, a primary education system based on its Austrian model, a French system of female education, British Lancasterian schools, antique lyceums. But borrowed foreign forms were soon filled with national content, and final Russian product had a very faint semblance with the original and very often excelled it. Those who teach today at higher schools received their education at Soviet period and remember that system with gratitude. Thus the speculations about the national originality of Russian system of education being absent are absurd. No matter how much simplified became the understanding of basic terms, a traditional notion of education as complicated process, including passing knowledge, upbringing of an individual, formation of moral principles, remains (Pavlovskaya, 2003).

Unique features of Russian education are the following: individual approach, close teacher-student contact; availability of famous schools of pedagogy and methodology.

Conclusion

Universalias of culture that include education do not presuppose the content being the same or an urge to make it the same. Sometimes we can observe either haste in borrowing the experience of the others, or vice versa – strictly negative attitude to it. Dialectics of single and common is in their non-existance without each other. Common is what inherent to many other phenomena. Modern education with all intensive globalization processes must at the same time preserve best national traditions. Common denominator of culture “is the most abstract, the most common quality present in any local component. Correspondingly, this local acts not like an emanation of global integrity, but as being defined and defining this integrity”, write V.S. Stepin (Solovyev, 2007). It can be attributed to such universalia as education.

We can single out common characteristics, inherent to education as a universalia of culture. It combines features, typical for different national educational institutions. Education of each national culture is specific, it depends on space-temporal characteristics (Zakharova, 2015).In different historical epochs, different national cultures its content was different. Both recurrence and bifurcation can be noticed in the evolution of education. At the same time the development of the system of education as well as other universalias has a well-ordered character.

Acknowledgments

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

References

• Castells, M., Kiseleva, E. (2016). Russia and the network society: an analytical study Retrieved from http://www.rus-lib.ru/book/30/eko/02/02-1/023-052.html.
• Kononova, T. M. (2013). The Role of Internet technologies in lifelong education: history, traditions and processes of modernization / T. M. Kononova, O. M. Goreva, Izvestiya Vuzov. Sociology. Economy. Policy. No. 4. P. 93-95.
• Pavlovskaya, V. A. (2003). Education in Russia: history and traditions. Monography. Moscow: OLMA-Press.
• Solovyev, A.V. (2007). Introduction to the issues of e-learning : textbook. Samara : Publishing house SSAU.
• Zakharova, L. N. (2015). New universalism: the monography. Tyumen: RIC TSIC.