The DASS program was featured on RBC

A laboratory research fellow Anna Kartasheva spoke on the program "Day. Main," dedicated to the issues of the relationship between technical and humanities education.

The upcoming reduction of 45,000 fee-paying places (13% of the total) at several universities was discussed in the "Day. Main" program. This reduction was announced by the Minister of Education and Science, Valery Falkov, for the next academic year. The reduction will affect such specialties as economics, management, public and municipal administration, and law [1].

Video: https://tv.rbc.ru/archive/den/694a7f312ae5960f8677a739

Today, the humanities are becoming a way to understand a complex world, a means of thinking and analyzing. Professions that add practical technical skills are emerging: UX researcher, communications analyst, and many others.

In today's world, professions that combine technical and humanities competencies are in high demand. A prime example is the Master's program in "Data Analytics and Social Statistics" at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Higher School of Economics, where students apply analytical methods to social science data.

According to data from the Main Information and Computing Center of MIREA [2], the number of students in Russia majoring in "Engineering, Technology, and Technical Sciences" is 31.44%. "Social Sciences" ranks second (29.33%). Just over 5.13% of students are in the humanities.  

If we divide all students into "humanities majors" and "technical majors" — and classify those studying social sciences and pedagogy as "humanities majors," and those studying mathematics and natural sciences as "technical majors" — then we find that there are slightly more humanities majors than technical majors: 47.95% versus 37.26%.



The program discussed the interplay between engineering and humanities knowledge, as well as strategies for developing modern engineering education. It's important to have a strong grasp of the subject area, the ability to create sustainable processes, resilient structures, and the ability to shape meaning — all of which are accomplished by both humanities and engineering majors, albeit in different ways. Furthermore, synchronizing the languages ​​spoken by representatives of different industries is crucial to better understand each other and collaborate in interdisciplinary teams.

[1] Russian universities will cut 45,000 fee-paying places in 2026. URL: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/8313848
[2] Characteristics of the higher education system in the Russian Federation. URL: https://monitoring.miccedu.ru/?m=vpo