Higher education, the final stage of preparation for professional work, should be supported by the integration processes, aimed to ensure a good start for a specialist. MSU efforts to introduce such effective practice are discussed. In particular, each student has an opportunity to take additional interfaculty interdisciplinary courses of leading university lecturers and scientists. Industrial businesses may take active part in the process, providing personal support and professional guidance to students of Russian universities, shaping the future employees "educational portfolio". It is most important for female students, with their less than 25% share on so called engineering and technical faculties.

1. Integration of basic University programs as a key factor
for successful start of a professional career.
Nikolay V. Zelikin
Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), Moscow, RUSSIA
The integration processes, aimed to ensure a good start for a specialist, should support higher
education, as the final stage of preparation for professional work. It is highly important for industrial,
scientific and engineering areas, where the research or design objects and corresponding scientific or
engineering tools and methods are very complex and need specific interdisciplinary approach. Each
student should be given an opportunity to select courses from different faculties, of specific
appropriate levels, both from the budget programs (free) or as a paid additional training. Wider
practice is needed of personal support and professional guidance of undergraduates and graduate
students, with direct and active business participation in shaping the future employees' "educational
portfolio", which be put as "individual graduate program" with technical and financial support from the
employer.
MSU initiated a wide range of interfaculty and interdisciplinary courses aimed to provide
students a broader choice of additional knowledge, both for those who wish to add to standard
curriculum and for those who are concerned with near future, when everyone needs to find a job,
based on freshly attained knowledge. If we consider a common job finding procedure for university
graduate in current Russia, we will soon discover it is rather spontaneous and uncertain one. First,
one needs to make a critical choice very fast, finding and applying for available vacancies. Secondly,
there is a blank resume problem. Lastly, the most common situation is when a candidate is judged by
his or her general qualities only. There is almost nothing job-specific in such hiring process. Then, as
a rule, every novice has to get familiar with a lot of new material, and gain others in a work group
without professional guidance and support. The main idea of pre-graduation educational programs
integration is to close the specific knowledge gaps in a highly professional university environment.
Leading lecturers of all 40 MSU faculties deliver more than 150 interfaculty courses, attended
by 10000 students each semester. Average course covers 24-30 academic hours. Some courses are
delivered online. Number of courses and their popularity varies by faculties and subject areas.
The available statistics of a 3-year IFC development shows that girls in many cases are more
practically minded, choosing courses that could help them to enter jobs market, while boys, who are
initially surer of themselves, often choose less practical ones.

2. IFC popularity by Faculties | Preference by Gender (http://mfk.msu.ru/ )
We see MSU IFC program as a good starting point of completely new process, which helps
young people to find his or her natural inclination, to start some final adjustment and preparation to a
consciously chosen specific job field.
However, IFC program gives only a brief example of measures and steps to prepare both
university graduates and employers to meet in a smooth and effective way. Business enterprises and
government organizations should be more active and constructive in seeking the best-prepared and
most interested graduates. The spontaneous processes should give way to more organized ones.
It would be unreasonable to assume that education is the sole enabler for industrial renovation
of severely ruined and disbalanced economy. Conversely, the center of educational motivation lies in
industries demand itself. Wide education and free choice of graduates are well suited for balanced
labor market. Even so, there is strong case for integration of higher education and business, when the
employer is actively looking for the best talents and enthusiasts for him/herself, providing support and
guidance to shorten transition period. Personal stipends, education loans refunds and undergraduate
research support are strong stimuli. Timely exposure to specific corporate culture helps to prepare to
teamwork. The mutual awareness and cooperation between students, educators and business
representatives are key factors for successful professional development.