EDUCATION FOR A DIPLOMAT: WHAT IS TO BE DONE AND WHAT EXISTS

Abstract

The diplomat's situation is contradictory: a diplomat is an office employee and must obey the heads; at the same time Russian diplomat is a plenipotentiary of Russia in some other country. A diplomat must be ready to discharge its duties sensibly and responsibly. This duality makes a diplomat to be broad-minded capable to defend interests of Russia on the international arena. As a rule university entrants don't understand these difficulties. They enter MGIMO being guided by pragmatic considerations according to the ideals of consumerism which are imposed on the youth via mass media. The teaching staff must bring up students to respect substantial thinking and to think in concepts. The world-outlook grounding must be in the core of the diplomat's education. But the higher education reform does not solve this problem. The Bologna system undermines the very basis of the higher education as a qualitatively new level of specialists training. The teaching staff is put in a conflict position: as MGIMO employees they must fulfill the requirements of the Ministry of Education although they provide the further formalization of studies; but knowledge of students prompts to lecturers how baneful such practice is. Cardinal changes of the education policy are required. The studies including individual and group working with students must be in the center of all university working. Such working takes much more time and strength. So it must be highly paid for regardless of the formal showings. Working-out of the quantitative and qualitative indexes must be mainly the matter of association of scholars and lecturers instead of functionaries. For the present our state represents the interests rather of the officials than of the ordinary citizens.

Keywords

• diplomat
• office employee
• self-dependence thinking
• ability to decide
• national interest
• ideology of consumerism
• education reform
• formalization
• education policy