Academic Rights of Students in Russia and Abroad (USA, European Union)

The article presents the results of a comparative analysis of the composition of academic rights of students in Russia, the United States and the European Union countries, their legislative regulation and practice of implementation in universities. The following conclusions were made: (1) the wording of the rights, their thematic groups in Russia and abroad have significant differences, despite the fact that upon the entry into the Bologna process, the relevant changes were made to the Federal law and by-laws of RF; (2) there have not been created conditions in the higher education system of Russia for the implementation of students' academic rights in accordance with the principles and objectives of the Bologna process, in particular, the right to design and implement an individual learning trajectory, students' participation in creating of the content of education, usage of ECTS to transfer from one university to another, implementation of "short bachelor programs", recognition of the previous non-formal and informal level of education, involvement of students in the process of assessment of the quality of education at all stages, priority of the results of international accreditation of educational programs when making government decisions towards a university, etc.; (3) in the Russian educational system, many universities, despite the possibility established by the Federal Law, do not provide students with additional academic rights, while outside Russia it widespread to give students so-called "contract" rights, which are granted to a student in accordance with an educational contract and university code (eg Student Rights, Responsibilities and Code ...); (4) compared to foreign students, Russian students are less active in exercising and defending their academic rights. To improve the current situation, it is proposed to make changes to the current legislation of the Russian Federation regarding clarification, additions and expansion of the legal status of participants in the educational process, to deliver responsibilities through creation and compliance with regulatory, economic and organizational conditions and mechanisms for the implementation of academic rights of students in universities, to enter into academic regulations and regulatory documents of universities additional academic rights similar to those in the United States and the countries of the European Union; to bring into this process associations of higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation, including student associations to monitor, implement and lobby the students' academic rights; to encourage students to be active in exercising their academic rights during their study at the university.