Russian authorities are reducing spots at universities and steering applicants toward engineering programs relevant to the defense industry

On Dec. 22, Russia's Minister of Education and Science Valery Falkov announced that in the academic year 2026–2027, the ministry plans to cut about 13% of all non-subsidized spots at Russian universities (approximately 45,000 places). “These are, of course, in economics, management, public and municipal administration, and law. The labor market does not need this many specialists,” the minister said.

T-invariant analyzed the ranking of Russian schools whose graduates most often enter the country’s top universities and concluded that applicants primarily choose non-subsidized education in social and economic fields. The state, however, is seeking to steer them toward government-funded programs in engineering and technical specialties that have high demand from the defense-industrial complex.

The T-invariant analysis notes the following:

• The share of applicants enrolling in non-subsidized spots has exceeded that of budget-funded students for at least three years running. In 2017, 30% of graduates from top schools chose non-subsidized education, while 58% applied for government-funded spots. By 2025, 52% of graduates enrolled in non-subsidized programs, while 38% took government-funded places.
• The highest number of students entering government-funded programs graduated from schools oriented toward engineering, hard sciences (56%), and medicine (40%). The majority of students who choose non-subsidized programs come from schools leaning towards economics (75%) and humanities (61%).

“According to statistics, out of 100 first-graders, 42 used to go on to college, but now that figure has halved. There are fewer university places overall, and even fewer in popular fields, because the state is reallocating budget-funded spots toward engineering. Many high school graduates, especially from the top 300 schools, are reluctant to enroll in such programs. The state is systematically reducing access to higher education, particularly in social sciences and humanities. Instead of making engineering jobs attractive and providing quality training for engineers, they simply discourage students from pursuing other specialties,” a leading higher education researcher told T-invariant anonymously.

“The government is essentially saying: we know better how many and which specialists we need, and the next step will be introducing mandatory post-graduation job placement, as was done with medical students,” sources at Moscow's Higher School of Economics told T-invariant.