«Non-governmental universities discrimination impedes the progress of higher education in Russia»

On October 3, 2011, there was held a conference of Russian Non-governmental Universities Rectors at the Russian New University. The conference focused on the new legislation for Non-governmental education institutions in Russia and the prospects of their further improvement.

Vladimir Zernov, rector of RosNOU and chairman of the Russian Non-governmental Academies Association, said in his opening speech to the meeting:

-- Igor Remorenko, director of the Department for Government Policy in the Sphere of Education, has held a meeting recently where rectors of many universities were discussing amendments to the new education legislation. Everybody admitted the necessity of competitive environment, but in fact nobody seemed to welcome any competitors. It is easy to explain such a situation. Many state universities’ rectors cannot give any explanation why they failed to recruit enough applicants to fill in subsidized by the government places at their universities, while a lot of applicants chose non-governmental universities. There are a number of non-governmental universities where the average grade score is more than 70 points for one subject. The University of the Southern Federal District where tuition fee is the highest turns to be a non-governmental education institution. This fact proves that non-governmental universities are highly competitive and their discrimination impedes the progress of higher education in Russia.

Irina Abankina, director of the Institute for Educational Studies at the State University - the Higher School of Economics, said:

--- The current State Duma members have no time to discuss the legislation on Education. Vladimir Zernov was right saying that two chapters of the new legislation could be included as amendments into the law which is in force at the moment. We hope they would be prioritized and enacted by the current State Duma. One chapter concerns the transfer of preschool education institutions financing to the Russian Federation subjects. The other is the Law on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation (the establishment of state-accredited educational institutions of secondary vocational and higher education admission control numbers of students to study at the expense of the respective budgets of the budgetary system of the Russian Federation). The question is about the access of non-governmental institutions to state contracts and it refers not only to the higher education institutions but also to elementary and secondary schools.

As far as the third version of the Legislation on Education is concerned, it focuses on the student rights as of paramount importance and it does not conflict with the two previous amendments. All of us recognize that this legislation as a whole is much more complex and asks for a precedence and discussion. But the first two acts are regarded the most important ones, and they could be passes right away.

Galina Okorokova, rector of the Kursk University of Management, Economics and Business, said:

-- We decided to debate the issue of the "Non-governmental educational sector significance for innovative development of Russia" at a meeting of the Russian Public Chamber. Please, send us your suggestions concerning the issue. This is the only way to see what this particular sector really means and how they assess us at state universities.

Evgeny Minninbaev, rector of the Eastern University of Economics, Humanities, Management and Law, said:

-- Many Russian high officials point out that there are many inefficient universities that would be left out in the cold right after the new legislation is passed. This legislation will result in the disappearance of many inefficient non-governmental education institutions. And a great number of state universities that are unable to cope with their tasks will also be doomed. Total monopoly slows down development. But at the same time Victor Sadovnichiy, rector of the Moscow State University, keeps promising to assert the rights of the state universities.

Tatiana Lapteva, rector of the Far-Eastern Institute of Foreign Languages, said:

-- Non-governmental universities are the most innovative in our country: we are self-organized bodies, we have built our own premises, our aim is to teach our students. We do not want to compare ourselves with any state universities. Some state universities where there are the so called “ghost students” experience great problems with the Unified State Examination scores. By the way, we at non-governmental universities, are most state-oriented, because we know the Russian legislation code much better than they at state universities.

Oleg Smolin, deputy head of the State Duma Educational Committee, said:

-- Educational institutions should be tax-exempt and this is the most important step ensuring competitive environment in the Russian educational sphere. Taxation of the educational institutions is the case for tuition fee increase and it
infringes upon the principles of equality of the state and non-governmental universities. Available educational loans should be given to those who need them so that they could get an opportunity to get higher education. So, for this purpose the interest rates should be at the half official refinance rate of the Bank of Russia. Credit payment period should last no less than 20 years. According to the Explanatory Note to the legislation project, non-governmental universities would gain 1% of the total number of the state-subsidized places. Thus the principal of equality is violated. It looks more like imitation of equality, though there certainly is some progress. Being deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Education, I will do my best to support non-governmental universities. While non-governmental universities do exist in Russia, the government should take care of all students and teaching staff whether of state or non-governmental universities.

Finally the participants of the conference came to a unanimous conclusion that the only obstacle to the creation of competitive environment in the Russian educational sphere is the fear of inefficient universities to lose state-subsidized places, though unfortunately they seem to be unable to educate properly.