Izvestia: "Increasing allowances for first year students will cost 5 billion roubles"
The government is ready to increase student support from September 1 if additional funds become available.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the rectors of Russia's leading universities on Tuesday. Whereas before, the government spent huge sums of money on research and science, the focus now is on investing resources in lecturers and students. Putin promised to raise stipends for first and second-year students to 5,000 roubles from January 1, 2013, and professors' pay would be brought in line with the regional economic average, as has already happened for school teachers. But the rectors have to tighten their belts — the prime minister urged them to reduce their own salaries.
Putin pointed out that allowances could be increased from as early as the start of the next academic year, if additional funds are made available in the budget. The prime minister's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Izvestia that no assessment has yet been made on how much such an increase would cost the treasury, but he said that the government had the money for it. The average student allowance currently stands at around 1,300 roubles, so a lot will be needed if a more than four-fold increase is to be achieved. Admittedly not all first year students will be eligible for the 5,000 rouble allowance, as it will only be made available for the most talented students or those in the most urgent need of money.
"If someone comes to university with the right potential and qualities, but he doesn't have the money to buy himself a bit of sausage and a bread roll then there's no way he's going to be able to study normally, and he won't get a decent education," Putin explained. "For the first two to three years this young man or woman should at least have enough money to live on, around 5,000 roubles, but this is only for those students who study hard, if they're only getting C grades then I'm afraid it's sorry but no."
Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko told Izvestia that so far no precise calculations had been made about how many first-year students would get the higher allowance, but he believes that it will cost around 5 billion roubles, roughly the same amount that was spent on the previous increase in payments to university students.
"The allowances will go to the students who really need the support, but it is not a question of certificates, which is precisely why the students' organisations will be getting involved in deciding who will get this money," Fursenko told Izvestia. "The other half are the students who have good and excellent marks, for first years the results of the Unified State Examination will be taken into account."
The final format will have to be worked out jointly by the Education and Science Ministry and the rectors. Universities also have to look for ways to increase lecturers' salaries. They currently receive on average 21,800 roubles, while the average salary for the economy overall stands at 24,000. Putin promised to close this gap by September 1. But he urged the rectors to look for other ways of raising salaries, for instance by optimising the number of lecturers. There are currently 4-5 students for each professor, but the optimal number is considered to be 10.
Putin also instructed the rectors to lower their own salaries. This is a topic he had already raised at their last meeting, when it became known that the university heads receive 10-15 times more than an ordinary lecturer. The rector of Moscow State University and head of the Union of Rectors Viktor Sadovnichy said that he had discussed this issue with his colleagues but complained that they were unable to lower their own salaries since their salary is determined by the university's owner (in this case the Russian government). Sadovnichiy suggested that rectors should refuse any additional income, except for payments and grants for scientific research.
By Aleksei Golenishchev and Anastasia Novikova
