Of public administration in Petrozavodsk

Ø 1) How long have you been studying at the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk? Where did you study before? Why did you decide to get higher education at the Karelian Branch?

The Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk offers training, retraining, and in-service training of civil and municipal employees, as well as seminars, consultations, information- and methodology services in the sphere of state and municipal administration. The Karelian Branch is part of the countrywide educational network of the Russian Academy of Public Administration.

The Karelian Branch was organized in Petrozavodsk in 1995 by the joint solution of the Government of the Republic of Karelia and the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Saint-Petersburg. In 2005, the Karelian Branch was included in the list of educational institutions of Russia which form the system of staff training, support and supervision of the bodies of local self-government. This system was organized by the Ministry of the Regional Development of the Russian Federation.

Administration of the Karelian Branch includes Director, First Deputy Director, Deputy Director on Finance and Economics, and Head of Scientific and Methodology Research Work Office.

The departments functioning at the Karelian Branch are: personnel department, professional skills improvement and retraining department, higher professional education department, scientific and methodology research work office, information and library center, international cooperation center, and municipal consulting center.

The Chairs of Economics and Finance, State and Municipal Administration, Law, the Humanities, and Foreign Languages operate within the Karelian Branch.

Higher professional education department conducts training according to programs of higher professional education on the following specializations: “State and Municipal Administration, ” “Finance and Credit, ” and “Law.”

Training on State and Municipal Administration is carried out on a full-time and part-time basis. Part-time program implies 3.5 years of training for graduates of professional colleges and 3 years of training for graduates of higher professional institutions. The diploma is granted in case of successful training.

The Department of Supplementary Education Programs offers programs of professional retraining which is a form of supplementary professional education for people who already hold a diploma of higher or secondary professional education. This form of education has been worked out by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation as a convenient, not costly and fast way to get additional higher education and master a new profession. The peculiarities mentioned above make professional retraining advantageously different from getting another higher education in a traditional way (which takes several years, costs much more and covers general knowledge subjects).

In-service courses help specialists to enhance their professional level and can be aimed at different audience: employees of state government bodies, employees of local self-government bodies, deputies of Legislation Meeting of the Republic of Karelia, deputies of representative bodies of local self-government bodies, executives of enterprises, agencies and organizations.

Subject and consultation seminars are one of the most advanced directions of the department activities. Usually, the seminars are conducted following the demand of state government bodies, local self-government bodies, enterprises and organizations. They cover the issues of accounting, taxation and labor legislation, as well as legal support of the activities of state and municipal employees and some other issues acute for the audience.

Distance learning is a new convenient form of professional retraining for state and municipal employees who enter their field.

Ø 2) Draw the scheme of the organizational hierarchy of the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk.

Ø 3) Make a list of key words to describe this higher education institution.

Ø 4) Compare the pros and cons of different training schemes provided by the Karelian Branch of the North-West Academy of Public Administration in Petrozavodsk.

Ø 5) Retell the text adding personal details to it.