On specifics of double degree undergraduate programmes at the Russian State University of Tourism and Service

Globalization, which is one of the major lines of development in the sphere of education, requires that a common education space be created and different systems of education be made compatible. Russian HE institutions improve academic mobility through developing double degree programmes in partnership with non-Russian HE institutions, which brings to the fore such issues as a joint curriculum development, and alignment of core curricula of partner-HE-institutions though content cross-pollination. The article deals with the approaches to double degree undergraduate programme as developed by the Russian State University of Tourism and Service (Moscow) for the Bachelor in Management programme and the International Business School (Budapest) for the BA in Business Studies. In the article, the authors identify the key components of the double degree programme as jointly developed by the Russian State University of Tourism and Service and the International Business School: the specifics of the curricula and syllabi of the two institutions, the procedure of credit transfer, the content of the teaching materials of the disciplines involved, formative, summative, and final academic assessments. The authors emphasize the difference in the workload of the disciplines on the curricula, and conclude that the curriculum currently employed by the International Business School is more application-driven, while that employed by the Russian State University of Tourism and Service is more theory-driven. The authors also identify discrepancies in the number of elective courses, with the Russian State University of Tourism and Service offering 14 elective courses in 2011, which is 9 courses more than in 2010 and 4 courses more than offered by the International Business School.