Methodological approaches to the creation of prices for educational services during the economy transition to the innovative development way

The article substantiates improvement suggestions in policy and practice of educational service price forming in the higher education system.

Pricing, educational services, calculation of expenditures.

Mikhail V.

SELIN

Vologda State Milk Academy’s named after N.V. Vereshchagin

Oksana B.

FILATOVA

Postgraduate student, Vologda State Milk Academy’s named after N.V. Vereshchagin

Under market conditions the intellectual resource has cost so it has the price. The current system of economic relations in the reproduction of the intellectual resource in the field of economy has a different arsenal of means and methods of setting prices for educational services. Due to this the known functions of the price are realized: promotional, distributive, the account and measurement of social labor expenses.

Research shows that nowadays recovery of expenses for reproduction of the intellectual resource in the form of grants and subventions from federal, regional and local budgets is in the foreground when creating the prices for educational services. Due to this approach, eventually the formation of prices will be reduced to tuition reimbursement to educational institutions. Thus cost-based methods of price creation are realized.

On the other hand, by creating the prices for educational services increases the use of market approaches – according to the law of supply and demand, with use of financial as- sets of individuals and businesses. To that the proof is various training cost for the client on “budgetary” and “unbudgetary basis” and on the same specialty in the same high school.

However, now the system of the economic measures directed from the state to the training of the highly skilled staff for a national economy is not solved sufficiently. On the one hand, the state strengthens the administrative control of the activities of educational institution regarding rendering educational services to clients by carrying out of accreditation, certification and licensing of activity of institutions in educational sphere. And on the other hand, the state economic doctrine is aimed at strengthening of private business positions in system of a social production. And in this connection, it is logical to expect, that business will finance more actively reproduction of the intellectual resource.

However, as before the state takes a direct part in training of specialists. There is no doubt that it should be an active party to key working stages. But it is hardly correct, when the state conducts training for both management areas by municipalities, and professional financial sectors.

As a result quite often there is a strange situation. Let’s take a sign of this. Now the safest economic situation develops for reproduction of qualified personnel due to financial assets business-structures. For example, in all high schools in the Vologda region in 2008 there most graduates were of the specialty “Finance and Credit” [2]. However, vacancies in this field of activity are not practically presented for today. Nevertheless, the active process of specialists training for financial structures continues. Unproductive expenses of society, dissatisfaction with the offer of a labour from the youth starting their active labour activity are available; lack of the highly skilled staff of other branches of economy is sharply felt.

As a result we has weak budgets of educational establishments, in the country’s transition to an innovative path of development is not solved the basic problem – improving the quality of education. Slowly the state moves high schools for training of specialists possessing knowledge in the field of innovative technologies. The state purposeful policy in this aspect it is not felt. And how must high schools be guided in a such developing situation? Who will take up solving this problem? Business? The state? Or field of interests between them will be demarcated?

The severity of these problems is particularly significant in the investigation that the material-technical base of many Russian universities is physically and morally out of date. For example, already the Vologda State Milk Academy’s named after N.V. Vereshchagin tractor park has stepped over terms of amortization, a motor-vehicle pool of high school is worn by more than 80%. And the purchase of each new machine car asks for 2 – 3 million rubles which the high school hasn’t got. [3] Considerable money for updating various objects of a social infrastructure of academy is required.

We also shall note that educational high school programs essentially differ on expenses. For example, realization of programs of the high professional education in engineering specialty should be more expensive than realization of economic programs because of the need for more powerful laboratory equipment, technical means. Consequently, the price for an engineering specialty should be higher. In a reality we have another picture. According to the rating of Russian universities in Moscow, the cost of training in Economics and Management is twice more than the cost of training aircraft, rocket and space technology. And by the same specialty prices in Moscow are different.

In 2009/2010 educational year in the generalized direction of preparation of agrarian and industrial complex, the minimum price offers rural-engineering Moscow State University named after V.P. Goryachkina – 42,500 rubles a year, the maximum – New Economic Academy named after G.V. Plekhanov – 180,000 rubles per year [1].

What caused such fluctuation in prices Costs? Effective demand? Is the specialty training in Economics and Management higher than

Methodological approaches to the creation of prices for educational services during the economy transition...

the training of specialists in the field of aviation and rocket-space technology? If it is true, there is a question: If yes, then a question arises: what is the material base used in the learning process in the direction of aviation and rocket and space technology in comparison with the training of specialists in agribusiness? Why is preparation of the expert for agrarian and industrial complex almost twice more in high school named after G.V. Plehanova than in high school named after V.P. Gorjachkina?

How should be the rational system of price creation for educational services form?

In this connection let us return to that was noted at the beginning of the article: now the most common methods are costly which are based on calculating the cost of educational services, in part offset the costs of training a student. The attractiveness of this method of pricing is caused by a number of the reasons:

- cost-based pricing is based on actual available data, information is collected on analytical and synthetic accounts of the organization;

- taxation system orients the owner of the average costs of services, folding in the region, which forces to enter the market of educational services with approximately equal prices in the context of specialties;

- this method simplifies the contractual relationship between the university and legal and physical persons as well as in conflict situations with the price of educational services makes it easy to prove its validity.

However, the cost method of price creation has a number of lacks.

First, at its use the developed level of demand on offered educational service is not considered, high schools are not able to conduct a flexible price policy. And with decrease in demand for educational services, as a rule, there are difficulties in implementing it, and on the contrary, under developing favorable conditions in change of demand for educational services, higher financial results can not be realized by the developing market conditions.

Secondly, planned charges on the concrete trained student do not consider specificity of the curriculum of preparation of the expert, and it in turn does not give an opportunity to determine costs on training of the client in a concrete field of knowledge. Lack of appropriate methodologies to determine the value of the costs of preparing the expert gives a very limited view of the real costs of training in various branches of knowledge. In this connection the founder of educational establishment plans the budget of educational establishment to the reached level where changes in reality are not considered.

Thirdly, calculating the cost price of given services actual expenses of high school are pawned to the customer that leads to understating real cost of services as at using the system of norms and standards these costs are considerably more.

Fourthly, educational establishments are not the commercial organizations. Therefore, they can not be found in the budget for educational services of accumulation, which subsequently can be used for the expanded reproduction of intellectual resources. The agreement between the customer and client of educational services is based on the onerous provision of services. It means that the owner of services has not got any commercial interest.

Fifthly, at the costly methods of creation the price does not take into account measures the usefulness of the educational product for the consumer.

Finally, the “cost” price of educational services is largely dependent on subjective factors of the university in terms of intensive and extensive use of the material-technical basis, the intensity of use of the intellectual capacity and other factors.

Our researches have shown, that in modern conditions cost methods should be combine with market ones more actively.

For more effective use of the intellectual resource in educational process it is expedient to pass to planning of expenses for realization of specific educational program and maintenance costs of the high schools. In connection with this new, not standard innovative approaches are necessary. By us developed techniques allow to carry out calculations of the prices depending on character and contents of the educational program, structure, condition of material and technical base of the educational establishment, etc. Briefly, without going into algorithm and details of calculations, we suggest to include in structure of expenses:

• ♦    salaries of professors-teachers staff, support staff directly associated with the educational process;

• ♦    charges and operation of an active part of the production assets directly used in learning process of this educational program;

• ♦    expenses for purchase (updating) of the educational equipment necessary for use in educational process of this educational program;

• ♦    expenses for publication of teaching and scientific works;

• ♦    expenses for training and development of PTSs and their professional skills;

• ♦    expenses for maintaining image of the educational institution;

• ♦    charges on social needs;

• ♦    other expenses.

Perfection of the management organization at the expense of cost of educational services is necessary to carrying out with use of the techniques considering optimization businessprocess, focusing on reduction of the expenses for training during all the period of a finding of the client's activity in the high school.

Probably promotion on this way can be accelerated due to more active use of a remote training method and transition to the open education. Especially the law “About Education” and the law “On Higher and Postgraduate Professional Education” do not prevent this, that reduces significantly, for example, costs for training in areas of humanitarian concern.

The major direction providing progress is creation of information control system under the educational establishments. For example, forming of educational and instructional-methodical material on the basis of digitized and in advance pre-tested educational modules will allow reducing cost of creation of new training courses considerably, quickly adapting them to inquiries of educational process.

In many cases innovative activity in the sphere of educational process, consequently, in reproduction of an intellectual resource in the country, determines rates of the Russian society’s development.