Integration of high school and university mathematical education as a means of preparing school leavers to universities

The recent years are marked by the widening gap between school mathematical education and admission requirements for applicants of natural sciences divisions. Authors of the article suppose, this is due to present-day peculiarities of unified state examination in mathematics, along with abridging the number of hours of algebra and geometry in school. In addition, there is a negative impact from the demographic decline: the number of prospective applicants has been halved in the last decade. The authors propose a form of integration of high schools and higher education institutions in a form of innovative sub-division of a university, the School of mathematics and computing science. This, to some extent, may be able to solve the aforementioned problem by optimising the transition of students from high school to university. The key difference from the physical and mathematical schools or centres for gifted children is that instead of removing the best students from educational institutions, thereby reducing the educational level of these institutions, there is collaboration with the teaching staff in public schools, leading to improvement of the quality of educational environment. Another important difference is that the school of mathematics and computational science is not funded governmentally. In this article the authors present the experience of successful creating and two-year long work of school mathematics and computational science affiliated to Ogarev Mordovia State University. Alumni of the school were able to enroll in high-ranked Russian universities such as MIPT, MEPhI, Bauman MSTU and others. The paper offers the answers to some fundamental questions that arise in the organisation and implementation of this kind of sub-divisions of universities.