Up to 5% of budget places in Russian universities will be reserved for Crimeans

Moscow - Simferopol, January 21 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Shtamm) – According to a draft order from the Ministry of Education and Science, Russian universities are proposed to increase the mandatory quota of state-funded places exclusively for applicants from Crimea in 2015-16, Izvestia reports . The ministry's press service explained that universities will allocate 2 to 5% of their state-funded places to citizens residing in the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol.

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“Taking into account the situation of the previous admissions campaign, we predict that most Crimeans will enter universities located in Crimea and Sevastopol. At the same time, Crimeans will be provided with the opportunity to enroll in universities throughout the Russian Federation. In universities outside Crimea, 2 to 5% of budget places will be allocated, which will amount to more than 10 thousand places,” the department’s press service noted.

“For Crimeans, 5% of the total seats is too much. I think that here the ministry has a plan to transfer to the budget not only newly recruited first-year students, but also existing state employees in Crimea,” says Viktor Grishin, rector of the Plekhanov Russian Economic University.

Isak Frumin, scientific director of the Institute of Education at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, considers the Ministry of Education and Science’s figure justified. “We have approximately 65-80% of graduates going to enter universities, they took 80% of Crimean graduates and got the number of school graduates who are going to enter higher education institutions, and reserved places for them. It is important here that the motivation of Crimean applicants upon admission does not decrease,” Frumin noted.

The planned total number of state-funded students at the Crimean Federal University in the future will be 14,9 thousand people, the publication clarifies.

The publication also reminds that this year Crimean students will not take the Unified State Exam, but regular exams. However, starting next year they will be received through the Unified State Examination.