The experience of teaching public administration in Russia during the pandemic in 2020–2021
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/01447394221087885 |
| Published date | 01 March 2023 |
| Date | 01 March 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Teaching Public Administration
2023, Vol. 41(1) 82–98
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/01447394221087885
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The experience of teaching
public administration in Russia
during the pandemic in
2020–2021
Guliya K Nurlybaeva
Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russian Federation
Abstract
The main aim of the study was to analyze the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic both on
the public services and on public administration (PA) education, to find out how the
process of teaching of future public administrators had changed during the Pandemic and
how these changes could possibly influence the process of teaching public administrators
in future. The research methods included theoretical and analytical research methods, the
methodology of empirical research, and comparative research methods. The latest works
of PA scholars in the global context, the materials of the study provided by the teams of
teachers of the leading Russian universities concerning teaching experience during 2020,
and the latest data provided from the analysis carried out at the Institute for Social
Sciences of Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Adminis-
tration, Moscow, in the conditions of distant and mixed learning in 2020–2021, allowed
the author to give some practical advice to teachers and education managers concerning
the improvement of the educational programs for PA students regarding the new
conditions of the study. The main conclusion made on the results of the analysis is that
digitalization of teaching and learning process and organization of distant learning at the
time of the Covid-19 Pandemic should be considered to be the most important issues in
PA education which could be applied in PA education in future. The recommendations
concerned such aspects as the development of digital competencies of students, distant
regime implementation, new pedagogy and digital didactics, socialization of students,
internationalization and academic mobility of students, improving the qualifications of
teachers and university management teams, research work, and the development of
meta-competencies of future public servants.
Corresponding author:
Guliya K Nurlybaeva, English Language Department, Institute for Social Sciences at the Russian Presidential
Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Tovarishesky per. 19, Moscow 119571, Russian
Federation.
Email: goulya21@mail.ru
Keywords
Public administration, public administration students, Covid-19 pandemic, distant
learning, digitalization, professional competencies, educational and training programs,
recommendations for teachers and education managers
Introduction
In 2020–2021 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the whole world experienced significant
changes in many areas of life and work. In the context of the Covid-19 crisis, rapidly and
drastically changing circumstances for both decision-makers who must respond to sit-
uations that change on a daily, even hourly basis, and citizens who must adapt to new
situations in their private (e.g., health issues and closure of schools and universities) and
professional lives (e.g., distance work and change in business traveling) have made the
life of people more hard and unpredictable. Public administrations’work in all the
countries had also changed a lot. The circumstances in which public administrations
operate have also become unpredictable. Though the problems of public management in
the context of the global and local challenges of the modern socio-cultural environment
required changes in the systems of public administration in all the countries of the world
still before the pandemic (Popkova and Vodenin, 2020), in the epoch of Covid-19
Pandemic the central role of public administration in solving all the problems of all the
countries of the world has been still emphasized. However, in the epoch of the pandemic
past experiences and tasks could no more be used as a basis for new plans for better
implementation of public services, and in the era of new challenges faced by all the
countries of the world during the Covid-19 Pandemic, the development and moderni-
zation of the systems of public administration in all the countries of the world were even
more necessary than before. This modernization should concern the changes in the system
of the development of public management during the crisis, the choice of the legal regime
during it, the choice of quarantine measures and limitations in economic activity of the
citizens during the pandemic, the correction of the system of the executing of public
functions and obligatory requirements of the state. The good governance and unification
of efforts of all the governing bodies were also needed, and the good governance
principles should be applied to state management.
All the above-mentioned challenges required changes in public administration (PA)
education, which should take into account all the changes in public management both
before the Covid-19 epoch and also those initiated by the Covid-19 Pandemic. The impact
of the pandemic on the process of learning at PA faculties during the crisis and after it had
been analyzed based on the study of the latest literature on the problem and the experience
of the Institute for Social Sciences (the ISS) of the Russian Presidential Academy of
National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), Moscow, in the 2020–2021
year of study. The ISS of RANEPA was chosen to be an example of the fight with the
challenges brought about by the pandemic in the process of education of future public
administrators because it is considered to be the main institution of the Russian Federation
providing human resources for public management and public administration in the
Nurlybaeva 83
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