Russian universities keep theses despite AI, shifting from essays to demos

Russian universities are overhauling graduation qualification papers rather than discarding them in response to generative artificial intelligence, according to reports in Russian business daily Vedomosti. While language models can assemble standard legal filings and research summaries within minutes, academic administrations are largely choosing to alter evaluation formats instead of abandoning traditional diplomas.

Concerns over automated writing prompted Russia's Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov to state in late June 2026 that traditional text-based papers reliant primarily on source citation no longer serve their historical role in verifying knowledge. Some institutions took radical steps: the Sochi Institute of RUDN University opted to drop graduation theses entirely for undergraduate law students admitted between 2024 and 2026, noting that modern AI systems analyze court practice and draft coherent legal briefs nearly instantaneously.

Yet most universities face regulatory constraints that keep diplomas in place. RANEPA prorector Vladimir Kolodkin noted that Russian federal higher education standards mandate final qualification works, preventing universities from eliminating them by independent decree until at least 2030, when looser framework standards are expected. Instead, institutions like RANEPA, Tomsk Polytechnic University, and HSE University are broadening acceptable submissions to include startups, software projects, demonstration exams, and multi-stage pre-defenses.

Technical faculties maintain that text-focused disruption affects humanities far more than applied disciplines. Engineering schools such as Bauman MSTU and UrFU emphasize that evaluation centers on actual software builds, hardware drawings, and functional prototypes, which language models cannot deliver unaided.

Attempts to police AI through automated detection software have already created legal friction. In June 2026, the Supreme Court of Tatarstan overturned the expulsion of a fourth-year distance-learning linguistics student whose thesis was flagged by the Anti-Plagiarism.VUZ system as machine-generated. The court reinstated the student and ordered her university to pay 60,000 rubles in compensation and fines.

Source: habr