The Ministry of Education and Science announced new benefits for students participating in the SVO

The Ministry of Education and Science intends to give students participating in the NWO the right to study for free, even if they previously entered commercial places. Russia already has a package of preferential educational measures to support participants in hostilities and their families. It is not yet clear how many citizens will take advantage of the new opportunities, but the head of the All-Russian Student Union, Oleg Tsapko, notes that the vast majority of students still enter on a general basis. In the rectors’ community, they talk about the need for “adequate financial mechanisms and detailed instructions.”

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia published on regulation.gov.ru a draft resolution that provides regular benefits to the participants of the NWO.

The document, in particular, gives students who took part in hostilities the right to be transferred to vacant budget places from a paid form of education.

To do this, you only need to write an application and attach a document confirming the status of a member of the SVO. The decision on the transfer will be made by commissions specially created by educational institutions.

The head of the Ministry of Education and Science, Valery Falkov, explained that the decree was developed in pursuance of the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin to provide support measures to the participants in the special operation and integrate them into the educational process. “Taking into account their military service as an individual achievement and the possibility of switching from a contract form of education to the budget” is one of the measures “ensuring a decent life and active work,” Mr. Falkov explained.

Recall that at the end of 2022, amendments to the law “On Education” were adopted with a new category of applicants entering under a separate quota (at least 10% of the total budget places in each area of ​​study). Now the Heroes of Russia and persons awarded three Orders of Courage, as well as their children and children whose parent died or was injured or ill during the SVO, can enter without entrance examinations. Children of other participants in the special operation, the document also says, can choose whether to enter on the basis of internal university exams or on the basis of the results of the Unified State Examination. At the end of May, the Ministry of Education and Science sent recommendations to educational institutions on providing targeted support measures to students who have the status of a member of the SVO, and students whose parents are participating in a special operation. In particular, these categories of full-time students are recommended to pay additional scholarships or provide other financial assistance.

The Rector of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Alexander Bezborodov, in a conversation with Kommersant, said that the new support measures “are actively used by applicants who have such a right.”

Rector of Voronezh State University Dmitry Yendovitsky believes that the initiative of the Ministry of Education and Science, which allows paying students participating in SVO to transfer to a budget form of education, will be effective only if “the ministry develops adequate financial mechanisms and detailed instructions.” At the same time, Mr. Endovitsky noted, the support of the SVO participants, as well as their families, “is a necessity in the current conditions” and is positively assessed by the university community.

This year, as before, the vast majority of students enter on a general basis, Oleg Tsapko, chairman of the All-Russian Student Union, told Kommersant. The transfer of already studying students participating in the SVO to the budget, in his opinion, will not cause dissatisfaction among the other students: “We have not received any complaints about this from the student union, and we do not encounter any negative feedback from students about support measures.”

“The admission campaign started on June 20,” Eldar Shontukov, chairman of the student council of the Kabardino-Balkarian State Agrarian University, a member of the university’s admissions committee, told Kommersant. “However, applicants have already contacted the admissions committee to learn more about the preferential conditions for admission.” He clarified that, first of all, we are talking about the participants of the NWO and their children. Mr. Shontukov believes that the process of transferring SVO participants to state-funded places from paid ones “should not cause difficulties, since the schemes have already been worked out for years and a new category of people with an advantage will simply be added to them.”

Polina Yachmennikova