Specifics and Stages of Reforms of the Russian Postgraduate School; Специфика и этапы реформирования российской аспирантуры

The article analyzes the key regulatory documents of the Russian postgraduate school since its creation in 1925, characterizes the features of the organization of Russian and Soviet postgraduate studies, identifies historical parallels and patterns, causes and prerequisites for periodic reforms. Attention is drawn to the conditionality of postgraduate reforms by foreign policy and internal socio-economic factors. The present research aims to determine the specifics of the organization of the Russian postgraduate school, the strategy and tactics of training scientific and pedagogical personnel in Russia, to identify and characterize the main stages of postgraduate school reform. The main stages of the development and reform of Russian postgraduate studies in the Soviet and post–Soviet periods are highlighted. The normative features of these stages are identified as a result of the implementation of state policy in the current period – focusing on a scientific or educational component in the training of scientific-pedagogical staff within the framework of the general, historically defined, positioning of postgraduate studies as both a scientific and educational organization. The normative correlation of individual stages was revealed and the prerequisite for permanent reform of the training programs for scientific and scientific-pedagogical personnel was determined in the USSR/Russia. The author substantiates as such a prerequisite the initially established model of Russian postgraduate studies. The author defines it as a “two-circuit” one, which includes university postgraduate studies, focused mainly on a broad educational (competence-based) approach, and highly specialized postgraduate studies in scientific research organizations. The reasons for the implementation of the two-circuit model, which were set in the early Soviet period, are established. The two-circuit model’s positive and problematic features in the Russian postgraduate school are revealed. The results of the study can be used to develop a strategy for training highly qualified personnel both in Russia and abroad. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.