On the issue of a working model for modernizing the Unified State Exam to overcome inequality of access to higher education

Abstract

The study formulates approaches to determining inequality of access to higher education through regionally determined choice of subjects and Unified State Exam results. The dependence of the choice and results of the Unified State Exam on the quality of education and innovative development of regions is presented. Indicators of inequality are the distribution of students according to “success cohorts” when passing the Unified State Exam and the choice of subject by students to take, and the average score in the region. Quantitative characteristics of the choice of basic and specialized mathematics and other academic subjects by students in the regions are presented. The calculations used data from the entire population of applicants in 2019 and 2020; accordingly, the conclusions of the article relate to the period until 2021. The problem of increasing the efficiency of the Unified State Examination is objective and has matured before the political events associated with the departure from the Bologna system in 2022. It is noted that Olympiads and additional internal university tests are not an alternative to the Unified State Exam. Based on the goals of leveling regional inequality, a variant of the model for modernizing the Unified State Examination with an objective assessment procedure is proposed– a remote creative exam using the existing infrastructure of examination points and video communication. Due to the random assignment of tasks and assessing experts from different regions, universities, organizations, remote creative exam retains the advantages of the Unified State Exam, comparability of results is achieved, corruption and the possibility of “training” for certain types of answers are eliminated. A person assesses the exam results: a teacher at a general education organization or university, the head of a government agency or enterprise. The examination model includes the advantages of Olympiads and internal university examinations without their corruption-prone components. The article notes that any innovation in the field of final/entrance examinations must necessarily go through testing and experimentation with a gradual increase in coverage and adjustment of the applied methods and procedures based on the results of professional discussion.