Agenda: progress of the university admissions campaign, support for scientific research on aquatic biological resources and bioeconomics.
Excerpts from the transcript:
Mikhail Mishustin: Good morning, colleagues.
Meeting with deputy prime ministers on current issues
Meeting with deputy prime ministers on current issues
Meeting with deputy prime ministers on current issues
Meeting with deputy prime ministers on current issues
We are continuing the admissions campaign in Russian higher education institutions. Notably, enrolment for budget-funded spots has been finalised, with nearly three-quarters of these places allocated to universities in various Russian regions.
The number of students admitted to targeted training programmes has also increased. This provides an excellent opportunity for many students to pursue higher education, gain a promising profession, and secure employment immediately after graduation.
These quotas are determined based on regional requests across several hundred fields of study. In over 20 of the most sought-after engineering disciplines, the number of available spots has increased by 10 percent.
This year, a new admissions system is being implemented through the Work in Russia digital platform. Here, employers post their job offers, allowing applicants to review them and apply to the corresponding universities.
Mr Chernyshenko, please provide an update on the progress of the admissions campaign.
Dmitry Chernyshenko: Mr Mishustin, colleagues.
The enrolment campaign for the upcoming academic year is entering its final stage. Its core mission consists of making sure the country gets the specialists it needs in engineering, medicine and other disciplines.
To deliver on these objectives, the Government has been working on two national projects in keeping with the instructions we received from you. One is called Human Resources, and the other is titled Youth and Children.
Of course, the national goal as articulated by President Vladimir Putin is our primary focus in these efforts. He talked about empowering every individual to live up to his or her potential and unlock their talent, while instilling a sense of patriotism and social responsibility on them.
I must say that more than 1 million people filed over 2.8 million enrolment applications during this campaign, up 100,000 compared to the previous year.
This year was the first time when school graduates could repeat a final examination in order to improve their score, and 105,000 students took this chance, with 73 percent of them ending up with a higher score. This enabled them to enter the desired university.
Overall, this year universities offer over 620,000 state-funded places, including about 30,000 in the new regions. There are 39 higher education institutions in the new regions, including branches, offering state-funded educational opportunities.
Participants in the special military operation and their children, as well as orphans and people with disabilities benefit from special enrolment quotas. We have allocated over 48,000 places for these categories in keeping with the corresponding requirements for the upcoming academic year.
Mr Mishustin, as you have already said, regional higher education institutions received most of the state-funded places at over 73 percent.
Even more applicants – 455,000 or 44 percent of all applicants – used the Online University Enrolment super service.
As you have already said, the biggest change this year deals with the way applicants are enrolled in employer-sponsored degree programmes. There were 145,000 places as part of the enrolment quota in this segment, and 38,800 applications have already been accepted.
Medical care, paediatrics, teachers’ training and engineering have been the most popular disciplines among university applicants.
We continued working on a pilot project as part of Vladimir Putin’s instruction to build a new national higher education framework.
In terms of the undergraduate degree programmes, we have fulfilled the enrolment objectives in full.
The fact that there were more applicants is primarily attributable to the fact that they can benefit from more hands-on training. Students studying science, engineering and technology can practice the skills they acquire at corresponding research and manufacturing facilities.
As of today, educational institutions announced plans to offer an additional 5,800 state-funded places, and this campaign is expected to run until August 29.
Let me note that we are paying special attention to the way the enrolment campaign has been unfolding in the Kursk and Belgorod regions. School graduates there will benefit from a special framework when applying for universities.
Mr Mishustin, I would like to add that in keeping with your instructions, universities in the Kursk and Belgorod regions are ready to offer priority accommodation to students from the affected districts. The Education Ministry operates a round-the-clock hotline for university applicants, students and faculty members.
In addition to this, four universities in Kursk host temporary accommodation centres. There are similar stations at the universities in the Belgorod, Orel and Voronezh regions. Other Russian universities also stepped forward and said that they were ready to host students if this need arises.
Universities around the country have been collecting and dispatching humanitarian aid too.
We will keep you regularly updated on these developments.
Mikhail Mishustin: Thank you, Mr Chernyshenko.
It is gratifying that our country has many clever and ambitious young people, who choose challenging but interesting professions that the Russian economy needs very much to achieve the development goals set by the President.
Supporting scientists is our next topic.
The President stressed that fundamental research in Russia should be based on the entire range of capabilities inherent in the domestic scientific infrastructure.
We have consistently tackled these tasks, including with an eye to a more effective development of agriculture. We are creating conditions for introducing the most advanced technologies to selection, seed-growing, and other spheres of agricultural science.
Exploring aquatic biological resources is yet another important area of studies.
The federal budget has set aside 700 million roubles to reach this goal, among others. These funds will be allocated to the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (FRIFO) and to the Kerch State Marine Technology University (KSMTU).
This will make it possible to organise expeditions aimed at assessing the amounts of aquatic biological resources, primarily in Lake Baikal, as well as in another seven constituent entities of Russia, namely, the Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Leningrad, and Tyumen regions, the Nenets Autonomous Area, the Republic of Karelia, and the Komi Republic.
Scientists will work in the Pacific Ocean, and in seas.
Overhauls are being planned at the FRIFO’s regional branches and at the KSMTU.
We hope that these measures will strengthen our sovereignty in science and technologies and improve the quality of training of young specialists for the national fisheries industry.
The next topic is also related to the scientific sphere. To quote the President, this sphere forms the foundation of development and is of key importance for achieving the national goals.
The tasks in this area, as outlined by the President, include ensuring technological independence and establishing new markets in priority sectors, such as the bio-based economy. This is a rather new area for Russia that involves development and introduction of innovations helping to reduce pressure on the environment and use natural riches more effectively. It also helps to create new types of fuel, such as biogas and biodiesel.
Our country has considerable capabilities – raw materials, energy resources, and primarily the necessary stock of promising scientific ideas for its further advances. Today, a number of leading Russian entities are engaged in fundamental and applied research in this area.
The Government has decided to pool their potentials in the Research and Technological Centre of Bio-Based Economy and Biotechnologies. The centre will be supervised by the Kurchatov Institute.
