Russian Federation

The Russian Approach to Validation

The general definition of validation that is equivalent to the Russian term “признание” is most commonly used in legal acts pertaining to validation of education abroad and subsequent recognition of the relevant documents (high school transcripts and other documents proving successful completion of the secondary school). In Russia two levels of validation are outlined: academic validation (recognition of documents on education) and professional validation (that allows the applicant to work in the RF). Hence, the general definition of the term “validation” is borrowed from the Order of the Ministry of Education of the RF as of April 14, 2009 #128:

• Validation of equivalence of the documents on education is performed on the basis of international agreements regulating issues of validation and equivalence of the documents of education and having legal effect of the territory of the Russian Federation, Education Law of the Russian Federation and the present
• Validation of equivalence of documents on education is performed by the Federal Service of Supervision in the sphere of education and science upon the application of the document bearer.

There are several VNIL initiatives in the Russian Federation, but no overall, comprehensive VNIL system implemented yet.

VPL in Higher Education

There is no overall VNIL strategy in the Russian Federation yet, but efforts were made during the EU-project VALERU to provide a methodological basis to develop a common validation strategy for the Russian Federation. There are some higher education institutions, like Tula State Pedagogical University (TSPU), who are offering validation procedures, e.g. for language courses taken outside the formal education system or other non-formal learning experiences.