Distribution and self-determination – Kommersant

The State Duma criticized the legislative initiative of Tatarstan to return the mandatory placement of students after graduation. The head of the relevant Duma committee, Sergei Kabyshev, called such a decision radical, adding that it “is associated with a restriction of freedom of movement.” The State Council of Tatarstan insists that the “working out” of education is necessary in the face of a shortage of personnel in the defense industry.

The draft amendments to the federal law “On Education” were sent by the State Council of Tatarstan to the State Duma at the end of April. The amendments, in particular, establish that graduates of universities and colleges who studied at the expense of the budget are subject to “employment by distributing them according to their qualifications.” In case of refusal, the graduate must reimburse the cost of education to the state. The term of employment of the graduate, follows from the document, according to the distribution will be three years.

According to the initiative, the distribution plan will be drawn up by a body authorized by the government of the Russian Federation. At the same time, training for a graduate can take place in any region of the country. However, distribution by place of residence is also provided – if the graduate (or his parents or children) has a disability, as well as in the case of pregnancy and the presence of a child under three years old. Legislators provided for obtaining a “certificate of self-employment opportunities” if the state does not find a job for a graduate in two months.

The deputies of Tatarstan linked the importance of the initiative, among other things, with the holding of the SVO: “This bill will ensure that young specialists are guaranteed jobs according to their qualifications for a period of at least three years upon completion of training, which, in turn, will contribute to the staffing of enterprises of the military-industrial complex and priority sectors of the economy of our country. According to the republican parliament, since the end of 2022, “the need for personnel at defense industry enterprises has become acute” and today it is necessary to find 5.5 thousand people for work. By 2030, the total need for personnel of enterprises in the region may reach 92 thousand people, including 71 thousand people who have received secondary vocational education, and 21 thousand people who have received higher education.

“Attempts to solve the complex systemic problems of employment in a directive-command way are futile,” said Sergei Kabyshev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Science and Higher Education (“A Just Russia – For Truth”).

He noted that “at the moment there is no scientific and expert justification that allows us to judge that the mechanism of universal mandatory distribution will really solve the problems it is aimed at.” He called the proposed version radical and clarified that it “can hardly be considered correct and timely.” In particular, he noted, the proposal is contrary to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, since the mandatory distribution “is associated with restriction of freedom of movement.”

Representatives of “United Russia” also criticized the project of Tatarstan. “We have already heard this, and more than once … Like, let’s oblige everyone who studied on a budget to work for three years, and in case of refusal, to compensate for the cost of education. I have written many times, but I will say again: there is no more distribution in Russia and should not be!” – said the first deputy chairman of the committee Alexander Mazhuga. He called the introduction of such bills “an element of unhealthy populism”, which “gives once again a reason for already excited applicants to worry.”

“The system of mandatory distribution of state-funded students may sound attractive, but in practice it is destructive and unrealizable,” added Aleksey Nechaev, head of the New People faction. He believes that “enterprises will not say thank you for the obligation to employ 500 thousand people without experience, motivation and skills.”

It should be noted that the bill was sent to the State Duma by the head of the United Russia faction of the State Council of Tatarstan, Yuri Kamaltynov, who is acting speaker of parliament. It was not possible to get through to Kommersant.

The head of the press service of the State Council, Rezida Makuyeva, stressed that so far “the legislative initiative has been routinely sent to the Council of Legislators of the State Duma for preliminary conclusion.” The document itself on the mandatory distribution of students in the parliament of Tatarstan has not yet been discussed, Ms. Makueva assured Kommersant: “After June 9, when the conclusion of the council of legislators comes, the State Council Committee on Education and Science will take some position.”

The Ministry of Higher Education and Science of the Russian Federation has not yet responded to a request from Kommersant with a request to express their attitude to the initiative.

The State Council of Tatarstan has tried before to force university graduates to work on their education. In 2012, amendments to the regional law “On Education” were prepared, which assumed that state-funded students, after receiving a diploma, would work in their specialty for three years to “meet the needs” of the state. But then this was not due to a shortage of personnel in the defense industry. As State Council Speaker Farid Mukhametshin noted, the republic lacked teachers, doctors, veterinarians, agronomists, machine operators and agricultural engineers. The deputies of the State Council then prepared a similar draft federal law, but the State Duma did not consider it.

Kirill Antonov, Kazan