Features of higher technical education development in Siberia in the second half of the 1960s.

Abstract

The author of the article explores the features of the development of higher technical education in Siberia in the second half of the 1960s. The study is based on documentary materials of Siberian archives, including those first introduced into scientific discourse, and periodical press. Special attention is paid to the characteristics of the network of educational institutions. The author's classification of universities by main groups is presented. By the beginning of the period under review, the training of engineers in the region was conducted in polytechnic, sectoral, agricultural institutes, as well as in universities. Giving specific examples, the author came to a conclusion that it was large universities that were more economically profitable than small ones. The article analyzes in detail the changes that occurred in the correlation of forms of education - full-time, part-time and distance learning. It is noted that, in the described period for Siberia, the economic benefit of on-the-job training was that it allowed enterprises to consolidate specialists. No less important for the state in those years was the fulfillment of the social task associated with the creation of a classless society in the USSR. The study showed that many part-time and distance learning students were workers or workers' children. Their higher education increased the social mobility of society, helped to overcome significant differences between mental and physical labor. At the same time, according to the author, part-time and distance learning as educational forms had a negative side - a low quality of training: course repetition, a large dropout rate, longer study. The changes in the structure of faculties and specialties of the higher technical school of Siberia were identified and analyzed. It is noted that these changes reflected the line of the country's leadership to accelerate the scientific and technological progress and assumed the release of specialists taking into account the requirements of the production of the time. The article shows the activities of the leading technical institutes of the region: Tomsk Polytechnic, Novosibirsk Electrotechnical, Siberian Metallurgical and others. During the period under review, great attention was paid to both increasing the number of students and improving their lives, expanding the material base of educational institutions. Specific examples are given. The author comes to a conclusion that the development of higher technical education in Siberia in the second half of the 1960s, despite certain systemic difficulties, was progressive and continuous. This significantly increased the training of engineers for the national economy as a whole and its eastern regions, in particular.