"Gazeta": "THE EGE IS TO STAY"
Vladimir Putin assured students they will get their education loans
In the first ten months of his premiership, Mr Putin has visited four universities (in Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, St Petersburg and Vladivostok), but not once (at least publicly) has he chaired a meeting on the issues of higher education. Yesterday the Prime Minister filled this gap.
At Dolgoprudny, outside Moscow, he visited the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MFTI). After his helicopter landed, the Prime Minister made a tour of a new student residence built with federal funding, and then went to a university lecture hall where students had gathered to meet him.
Mr Putin reassured them: The banks would continue issuing education loans. "What is more, the government is going to partially subsidise the interest rate on such loans," the Prime Minister told them the good news.
A Ministry of Education spokesman added that Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank and Vneshekonombank would contribute to educational subsidies. But he said it had not yet been decided which part of the rate they would subsidise. According to Gazeta, the most realistic option is two-thirds of the refinancing rate, or 8.6%.
The Prime Minister also pledged not to cut financing for state-run universities and colleges. On the contrary, he said, the government was discussing ways to increase non-fee paying places in postgraduate and Master's degree courses. That will put a further strain on the federal budget, which has a deficit as it is. In addition, Mr Putin suggested that the academic community ponder increasing the length of postgraduate courses, which would have a double benefit. First, the students will have more time to write the thesis. Second, fewer new jobseekers will hit the market as a result, which, with a shortage of jobs, was particularly important now.
Then the Prime Minister, tongue in cheek, asked third-year student Ivan Kalinin if he had had a hand in a recent collision between a Russian and an American satellite. The student was quick on the uptake and told a joke himself: "An American satellite and a meteorite collided in Earth orbit. The crew of the meteorite were made Heroes of the Soviet Union."
Mr Putin liked the joke, but he quickly brought his audience back to serious issues, asking MFTI students and rector what they thought of the Unified State Exam (EGE - Russian acronym). It turned out that neither the students nor the rector had anything against it. The Prime Minister also supported the exam. So yesterday's proposal by the parliamentary party A Just Russia: Country/Pensioners/Life to abolish the EGE had dim prospects.
Later, speaking with the rectors, the Prime Minister stated the case for a network of national research universities (not to be mixed up with scientific research institutes), to be set up on the basis of existing colleges of technology. Their choice depended on the Ministry, he said. Mr Putin had instructed the Ministry to formulate selection criteria. Their starting number is to be no more than 15. The 2009 federal budget has provided three billion roubles for their support, that is, 200,000 roubles per university.
In conclusion, Mr Putin advised Russian academics "to stay closer to reality", that is to say, to cater to industry's needs. "You should make competitive quality products," he warned. This remark of his was prompted by a video link with the MFTI branch in Korolyov, when it emerged that Gazprom decided against buying a Russian satellite and chose a French one instead.
Maxim Tovkailo
