One of the most important events that occurred during the trip to Moscow is the visit to the Moscow International Salon of Education 2021 (MMSE 2021). What kind of salon is this and what is its importance?
The Moscow International Salon of Education is the largest event in the field of education which is the largest exhibition of new educational technologies in the country (Russia). Since 2014, from year to year, this event gathers thousands of participants and guests from hundreds of cities in Russia and from other countries. This year the exhibition was held from October 6 to 8 and it was held both offline and online, with the help of broadcasting everything that is happening on a specially designated digital communication platform “MMSE.Connect”. In just 3 days of the MMSE’s work, more than 250 sessions were held as part of the business program.
Among the speakers were very important persons in the field of personality education: Natalia Bocharova (Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation), Grigory Gurov (Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation), Tatiana Vasilyeva (Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation), Mikhail Kotyukov (Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation), Vladimir Gurba (Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Southern Federal District), Aleksander Sergeyev (President of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and many others. From this list alone, it is already possible to understand at what level this event is taking place. The event was also attended by heads of federal and regional executive authorities, business representatives, rectors of metropolitan and regional universities and colleges, teachers and directors of public and private educational institutions, middle and high school pupils, applicants and students.
The Association of Private Schools of Russia also took an active part in the event. Today, the Russian government puts private education on the same level as public education and greatly encourages the development of the private sector in Russia at the expense of the presidential grants fund. They have reasons for this. By the way, the only girl who received 400 points on the Unified State Exam studied at a private school in Rostov-on-Don, and there were only three students with the highest scores.
One of the most important topics of discussion during this event was the hybrid form of education, where the online form does not replace but rather complements the traditional form of education. This topic, of course, is particularly relevant in connection with the still hot situation with COVID-19. And after all, it was thanks to the pandemic (yes, oddly enough, but you can also find advantages in this) that the whole world switched to online education, and this form of education began to develop at an unthinkable speed, opening up opportunities that had never been thought of before. And now, when the world is already gradually beginning to recover from the lockdown, it cannot be denied that online learning is not only a way out in a difficult situation, “in extreme cases”, a backup option, if you want, but already a necessity, and also convenience and expansion of opportunities in the field of education. And that online learning is not a replacement for the traditional way of obtaining knowledge but just an addition, the part of one whole. And in addition to online learning, virtual reality technologies are becoming more and more popular now. About 300 virtual laboratories in chemistry, physics and biology were presented at the exhibition. Today 3-D glasses are not only in cinemas!
