Translated material
Help for a crook
Why the number of beneficiaries who applied for state-funded places in universities turned out to be unprecedentedly high
The number of beneficiaries who applied for state-funded places in universities this year turned out to be unprecedentedly high. What is it - those who could not afford it before took advantage of their right to higher education, or did a new loophole appear for crooks?
“I’m on a contract,” says Karolina Gladkova sadly, looking at her incompletely unpacked red suitcase. dreamed, nevertheless became a student of the journalism faculty of Moscow State University, having entered a paid department.For her education, her parents have to pay more than 100 thousand rubles per semester - a fantastic amount for her!
This year was the first when it was possible to enter all the leading universities of the country based on the results of the Unified State Examination, and the first when applicants were seized with fear not of “thieves” children, whose parents “enter” the institute, but of those who went out of the competition: the winners Olympiads and beneficiaries for medical reasons. “There have never been so many of them. At first glance, some will never tell you that they have health problems. Schoolchildren are like schoolchildren, ”says Maria, who worked in the selection committee of one of the faculties of Moscow State University. As it turned out, applicants with benefits for health reasons were admitted to the Faculty of Journalism with 200 points - with a passing 323 points. To enter the faculty of journalism, it was necessary to provide USE certificates in three subjects: Russian, foreign languages and literature. The maximum score for each subject is 100 points. Another 90 points could be scored during a three-stage creative competition. Accordingly, the barrier for beneficiaries was one and a half times lower than for ordinary applicants. For example, the average score for beneficiaries at the St. Petersburg North-Western Academy of Civil Service was 163, for those who entered the Unified State Examination - 254, so the bar was lowered by 91 points. And many universities have faced such problems.
Educators suspect the worst: most applicants with poor health simply bought disability certificates. For example, 44 beneficiaries were admitted to the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation. Documents were submitted by 46, but at the last moment two withdrew their applications. “Apparently, the papers were fake,” says the rector of the Academy, Mikhail Eskindarov. MGIMO also agrees with the rector of the Financial Academy. “This year we received a huge number of children with disabilities. At the same time, many can fall into this category, ”Yaroslav Skvortsov, dean of the MGIMO Faculty of International Journalism, told The New Times. “For example, a child’s tests done in May showed high blood sugar levels. After that, he can safely make a certificate and enter MGIMO out of competition. But it is very possible that already in June the tests will show a positive trend, and the disability will be removed from the person. But the certificate is already there, and he is already a student.
Healthy is not the place? False certificates are now being talked about everywhere: from smoking rooms in student dormitories to rector's offices. But so far this is empty talk: it has not been possible to catch at least one fake disabled person. Sergei Kozlov, an employee of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, confirmed that this summer, his department verified 158 disability certificates for authenticity - at the request of the Financial Academy, the State University Higher School of Economics and one of the universities in Krasnodar. All of them turned out to be real. Svetlana Kesareva, chairman of the interregional Association of Youth Disabled Organizations, does not believe in the greatly expanded black market for medical documents: “Indeed, 30% of graduates have health problems. Their parents know about it, but they are afraid of discrimination. They do not want classmates to perceive their child as a disabled person, so the diagnosis is not advertised or even hidden. But in the 11th grade, they understand that this certificate is a real opportunity to enter. They are exercising their legal right."
The reason for the influx of beneficiaries this year, according to Viktor Shudegov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Education Committee, is that the USE has simplified the procedure for entering a university too much - both the winners of various olympiads and applicants with health problems have received a serious advantage over everyone else. “It is necessary that a certain number of places be allocated for beneficiaries and there should be competition between them. And to recruit many students with obviously low knowledge simply does not make sense, ”he is convinced. Pseudo-long-legged people should be identified and cut off - this was stated by the Minister of Education and Science Andrey Fursenko.
Officially, there are now 153 categories of citizens who have the right to non-competitive admission to a university. “With so many applicants eligible for out-of-competition admission, we cannot provide equal admission opportunities,” said Lyubov Glebova, head of Rosobrnadzor. However, The New Times correspondent turned to the relevant departments with a request to get a list of grounds on which the applicant is entitled to preferential admission. It turned out that it simply does not exist. “I have not seen this document, I have not worked with it, I do not know either its name or the exact number. This may be several documents, each of which has its own effect. I don’t know for sure, ”the press service of the Ministry of Health and Social Development replied. Rosobrnadzor and the Ministry of Education and Science did not bother to search for the document either. The complete list was not seen at Moscow State University either. “Nothing like that was sent to the university. We enroll beneficiaries in accordance with the admission rules of our university and the current legislation, ”commented Olesya Bezler, spokeswoman for Moscow State University.