IT and Education: Government considers the issue of e-Books introduction at universities

On February 22 2011, Moscow was held a meeting of the State Council Presidium for the Development of Information Society in Russia. High on the agenda was an issue of e-Books introduction at universities and provision of free access to holdings of libraries of state institutions of higher professional education.

The draft resolution, adopted at the meeting, in particular reeds that the Ministry of Education of Russia has been charged:

-  by April 1 2011 to bring in changes into federal state educational standards of the higher professional education, which stipulate introduction of mandatory requirement called to offer each student an opportunity to freely use Internet and electronic library systems to access textbooks in electronic format on disciplines being studied;

- by July 1 2012 to ensure the introduction of a common Web portal which would provide free access to textbooks in electronic format. The right to use textbooks would be granted to state institutions of professional higher education.