Accreditation monitoring as a tool for assessing compliance with accredited indicators of educational programs of higher education.

Druzhinin Andrei ORCID: 0000-0002-1033-2012 Candidate of Science, Senior Lecturer, Department of General and Russian Church History and Canon Law, St. Tikhon's Orthodox University 127051, Russia, Moscow, Moscow, Likhov Lane, 6 building 1 andr.pstbi@gmail.com Other publications by this author

Introduction.State accreditation of educational activities in the post-Soviet period of professional education development has taken the place of one of the main mechanisms for assessing the quality of educational programs from the position of the state.

 At the same time, the confirmation of the quality of educational services provided within the framework of accreditation examinations has become one of the drivers of the development of a specific educational direction in educational institutions of higher education (OO HE). The presence of state accreditation largely determines the attractiveness of the direction from the point of view of applicants. On the one hand, applicants are attracted by the right of students enrolled in accredited programs to defer military service [Federal Law No. 53-FZ of March 28, 1998 "On Military Duty and Military Service" (with amendments and additions). Article 24, paragraph 2.], on the other hand, the availability of places funded from the federal budget due to the possibility of participating in a competition for the allocation of budget places [Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 15, 2021 N 1750 "On Approval of the Rules for Establishing Admission Control Figures for professions to organizations engaged in educational activities, specialties and areas of training and (or) enlarged groups of professions, specialties and areas of training for training in educational programs of secondary vocational and higher education, as well as groups of scientific specialties and (or) scientific specialties for training in programs of training of scientific and scientific-pedagogical personnel in graduate school (adjunct) at the expense of budget allocations of the federal budget and the invalidation of certain acts of the Government of the Russian Federation"], as well as the right to issue a document on education and qualifications of a standard established by the state [Federal Law No. 273-FZ of December 29, 2012 "On Education in the Russian Federation" (with amendments and additions)].

However, the procedure of passing periodic accreditation examinations represented costs both for the financial and economic component of the public educational institution as a whole, and due to an increase in the non-core load on the teaching staff, its middle administrative link. Often, it was they who bore the burden of correcting the accumulated shortcomings in the educational, methodological and personnel support of educational programs.

Like any legal reality, the procedure and principles of state recognition of the quality of education in the framework of state accreditation procedures. Recent changes have introduced new concepts and principles into the procedure of state accreditation of educational activities. For the first time, such a concept as accreditation monitoring is introduced, radically changing both the subject of state accreditation and its principles. The purpose of the article is to assess to what extent new realities can affect the reduction of the costs of public education, for which the provisions of a set of normative legal acts defining a new paradigm of state accreditation in the conditions of accreditation monitoring are analyzed.

Analysis of the scientific development of the topic.The contiguity of the methods of state regulation of educational activities in the legislation of the Russian Federation leads to the fact that the issues of regulatory regulation of state accreditation are touched upon in works that have not only quality control of education as the main subject of research, but also state control (supervision) in general.

So, among them we can single out those that study the state regulation of educational activities ^{[1, 19]}, control and supervisory functions of state bodies in the field of education ^{[8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 17]}, mechanisms of law enforcement in assessing the quality of education and the effectiveness of educational organizations ^{[4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 18, 20]}. A number of studies touch upon the subject in the context of the implementation of the "Regulatory Guillotine" principle in the lawmaking of the Russian Federation ^{[9, 11, 16]}. However, at the moment there are still few studies devoted to state accreditation of educational activities in the new realities, which determines the relevance and scientific novelty of the article.

In many ways, this is due to the fact that the changes that came into force, although they had a long period of development and public discussion, and only now can we begin to talk about their legal effect. In one of the main and regularly updated monographs edited by G. T. Alimov ^[8], the system of state regulation of education is considered, including outdated functions: federal state quality control, licensing control. However, the first results of the "regulatory guillotine" process in educational law are described. The discussions on various public platforms on further transformations of the control system, which paved the way for the introduction of accreditation monitoring, are considered.In many ways, other domestic studies also investigate the legal reality that developed before the entry into force of new regulatory legal acts.

At the same time, despite the clear separation in Russian legislation of control and supervisory activities in the field of education as a state function and state accreditation as a public service, these studies note that the actual practice of law enforcement allows us to understand accreditation as another control measure. In this regard, for example, R. R. Alkhamov ^[9] speaks about the historical conditionality of the introduction of the state accreditation procedure within the post-Soviet realities of the forced transition to a market economy and the need for its actualization. At the same time, within the framework of similar procedures in foreign law, researchers note the role of the state as one of the quality certifiers, and not a control and supervisory authority ^{[1, 2, 4]}.Thus, the scientific novelty of the study consists in considering both a phenomenon new to research - accreditation monitoring – and its role in the new model of state accreditation.

The main part.In accordance with the theses of the state program of the Russian Federation "Development of Education", the Government of the Russian Federation states that at the moment "there is an integral system of procedures and mechanisms for assessing the quality of education implemented at the federal and regional levels, including procedures for state regulation of educational activities" [Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 26, 2017 N 1642 "On approval of the state program Of the Russian Federation "Development of education".

]. At the same time, according to Article 90 No. 273-FZ "On Education in the Russian Federation": "2. The state regulation of educational activities includes:

1) licensing of educational activities;

2) state accreditation of educational activities;

3) state control (supervision) in the field of education".

It is the procedure of state accreditation that during 2020 was devoted to the close attention of the relevant federal executive authorities (FOIV). By the spring of 2021, draft amendments to No. 273-FZ "On Education in the Russian Federation" were finally published. Thus, Federal Law No. 170-FZ of June 11, 2021 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in Connection with the Adoption of the Federal Law "On State Control (Supervision) and Municipal Control in the Russian Federation"". Despite the shift in emphasis towards state control (supervision), Federal Law No. 170-FZ also introduces fundamental changes to Articles 92 and 97 No. 273-FZ "On Education in the Russian Federation", where the concept of "Accreditation monitoring" is introduced into the legal field for the first time.

The importance of monitoring as a tool for assessing compliance with accreditation indicators is determined by the global changes that occurred in the system of state accreditation in 2021 and 2022. All adopted amendments come into force on March 1, 2022 [Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of January 14, 2022 No. 3 "On Approval of the Regulations on State Accreditation of Educational Activities and on Invalidation of Certain Acts of the Government of the Russian Federation and a Separate provision of the Act of the Government of the Russian Federation"].

This concept does not have its own definition and is mentioned in the context of monitoring of the education system by the federal executive authority as follows: "within the framework of monitoring in the education system, accreditation monitoring is carried out, the subject of which is systematic standardized monitoring of the implementation of accreditation indicators by organizations engaged in educational activities" [paragraph 3, Article 97 of December 29, 2012 No. 273-Federal Law "On Education of the Russian Federation"].

Based on the analysis of regulatory legal acts, it is possible to characterize the main theses of the novels that are important for educational institutions of higher education.

Firstly, the subject of state accreditation has changed. If earlier it was an examination of the main educational programs for compliance with the requirements of federal state educational standards in terms of a) their content, b) the quality of training of students, now the accreditation examination considers the compliance of the quality of training with the criteria approved in the list of accreditation indicators. Everything concerning the content of the educational program and its compliance with the requirements of the federal state educational standards of higher education to their content, structure and learning outcomes is now subject to federal state control (supervision).

Secondly, there was a decoupling of the state accreditation procedure from federal state educational standards. This does not mean that the requirements of federal state educational standards are becoming, it's just that now it is checked only within the framework of federal state control (supervision), as a result of which the main educational program may also be deprived of accreditation for non-compliance with federal state educational standards.

Thirdly, the state accreditation for the main educational programs that have such at the time of March 1, 2022, becomes indefinite. Thus, it is necessary to pass the accreditation examination of the main educational programs only in two cases: in case of accreditation of new programs or in case of deprivation of state accreditation.

In turn, the separation of the objectives of accreditation monitoring and the approval of a different number of accreditation indicators for each of them allows us to talk about clarifying the concepts of state function and public service within the framework of state regulation of educational activities. Thus, accreditation monitoring for the purposes of federal state control (supervision) and as an element of the annual monitoring of the education system [Accreditation indicators for educational programs of higher education, approved by order of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation dated November 25, 2021 N 1094] separates those criteria that are not characteristic of the procedure of state accreditation as a state education quality assurance services.

The studied normative legal acts show that accredited public organizations receive a number of advantages. Instead of the practice common in educational institutions of higher education - resource mobilization once every 6 years - a new procedure is introduced that contributes to the continuous maintenance and improvement of the quality of education - accreditation monitoring for higher and secondary vocational education programs [see: Federal Law No. 170-FZ of June 11, 2021. Order of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation dated November 25, 2021 N 1094]. It is obvious that for those educational institutions of higher education where a permanent quality management system is implemented and functioning, not much changes – there is only a need to tighten up those moments that "sag" according to the monitoring criteria. Otherwise, the technical educational organization of higher education should rebuild its system of assessing the quality of education, learn to live in new conditions, or lose state accreditation.

The continuity and consistency of the approach to quality management in the new conditions are due to the fact that there will be practically no new procedures for accreditation monitoring that require interaction between the administration and the supervisory authority. Most of the information and information for the accreditation monitoring procedure will be taken into account within the framework of existing solutions.

Among them: the official website of the organization on the Internet, information obtained as a result of interdepartmental interaction of state authorities, statistical reports of organizations engaged in educational activities, information from federal information systems, the results of monitoring of the education system of the Russian Federation in the field of education.The output of methodological recommendations on the application of accreditation indicators [Letter of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation dated February 28, 2022 N MN-5/339 "On the direction of methodological recommendations"], although not constituting a regulatory legal act, but providing explanations on controversial points, provided great assistance in the desire of educational organizations of higher education to comply with the set quality bar from the FOIV.

Conclusion.

Thus, the analysis of legislative innovations in terms of assessing the quality of education within the framework of state accreditation of educational activities allows us to characterize the legal impact of transformations on the educational system in Russia. Thus, it can be noted both the improvement of administrative and legal procedures for state accreditation, and possible economic benefits as a result of adequate law enforcement practice. Firstly, accreditation monitoring becomes the condition that allows in practice to carry out the transition of administrative procedures in the field of education from comprehensive supervision to a risk-oriented approach, which in turn shifts the focus from documentary inspections of educational institutions to prevention and maintenance of the quality of educational programs. This, in turn, allows the new model of state accreditation of educational activities to more closely match the definition of a public service. Secondly, there is an obvious reduction in the bureaucratic burden on the management bodies of the public educational institution and the teaching staff, which allows us to focus directly on improving the quality of education. In this case, the annual accreditation monitoring acts as an incentive to the development of a quality control system in the NGO and as one of the sources for self-reflection. Thirdly, the emphasis in the accreditation monitoring indicators on internal and external independent assessment of the quality of education suggests an increased role of public control over law enforcement practice. At the same time, taking into account the possible expansion of the list of accreditation indicators, it is recommended that organizations regularly monitor projects for making changes to monitoring criteria and participate in their public discussion.