"Everyone will be punished, everyone will fly." Students ask to reduce study prices

Pskov State University switched to distance learning on March 16, 2020. But the students did not wait for exemplary lectures at Zoom, like most metropolitan universities - they say they had to study the material by Word files, and teachers did not have time to answer questions. Students asked to reduce the price for such training, and the university threatened the teachers in response.

- We vote for the fact that distance learning should be cheaper. No matter how beautiful it is, let the teachers read the seminars for a year ahead, such a format should be paid differently, ”says Semen Ievlev, a second -year student of the Institute of Law, Economics and Management of Pskovg.

He is one of 105 authors of an appeal to the governor Mikhail Vedernikov with a request to reduce the cost of training at a university due to quarantine. The text of the letter appeared on the official website of the head of the region on the morning of May 6 and immediately dispersed through social networks and local media. Semyon says that after the publication, other students were associated with him - they asked to add their signatures.

The cost of training in absentee and remote form is initially lower than for full -time daily form

“According to the concluded agreements, we receive and pay for the full -time service for full -time. Since the execution of this clause of the contract is currently impossible, we consider it appropriate to reconsider the cost of the services received,” students write to the governor. They explain that in full -time at lectures they receive information directly from the teacher, which means they study the material better, because he is deciphered by the teacher and you can count on live feedback. Students are convinced that they can count on reducing the cost, since even in their service agreement there is a clause that the price can be adjusted. "The cost of training in absentee and remote form is initially lower than for a full -time day form. We believe that it is unfair and illegal to demand the full cost of full -time education. Our appeal with a request for a revision of the university rector rejected," the authors of the message say.

"The raids began"

In the morning of May 6, most of the signatures agreed to communicate with the press and talk about difficult remote life in colors, but by lunch the situation changed sharply.

-Now there is such a movement that they told us: "God forbid, you will still give an interview somewhere." We do not understand what the hell is happening, but the teachers began to write to us now-they say, why did you do this, if you have any financial issues, it was necessary to write to the rector to transfer payment. And if there is no money at all, go to the academy. But the question is not that there is no money - we asked to reduce the amount, this is legitimate, ” Maxim Dmitriev , one of the authors of the North. Reali , told the North. - The teachers write because the raids on them began: why they were so bad, they allowed that the letter was published. They type did a bad job, and this went beyond the institute. Some were told that they would be fired for allowing this.

And now it is scary to give an interview, because we were told that the teachers are going to dismiss that he was in the know and did not prevent

Marina Shestakova ( the name was also changed at her request. - SR ) confirms that after handling, both students and teachers fell under the distribution:

- Some students, as far as I know, began to ask to refuse signatures - they say, they will punish everyone, they will fly to everyone. We did not understand why it was - after all, we asked the administration of the Pskov region to help us. And they made us guilty due to the fact that we climb somewhere. One of the teachers will be fired, they will also demand something else from students. And now it is scary to give an interview, because we were told that the teachers are going to dismiss that he was in the know and did not prevent.

Semyon Ievlev explains that the meaning and purpose of appeal to the governor Vedernikov is not a critic of teachers at all, but a desire to simply get a legal discount to study when the format suddenly changed.

-In no case we did not want to complain about teachers, in our group teachers are more or less responding, so I see no reason to swear at them. This is a new format for teachers, they can be understood-somewhere they didn’t understand something, somewhere something is wrong. In fact, in distance learning during the pandemic period there are, of course, its advantages - it is better to study as not to do anything, but it should be cheaper, ”the student is sure.

He received messages from the parents of his fellow students: on non -working days, by decree of the President, not everyone retained the salary, and sometimes there is simply nothing to pay for training. Semyon paid for his studies himself - about 40 thousand rubles for six months. He works as a fitness trainer, but now for almost a month he is sitting without money.

- I have neither a ruble nor a cent. Absolutely nothing. How to pay? He asks.

Marina Shestakova worked in the service sector in the shopping center and also paid for her studies herself, but now she is sitting at home without making money.

- No matter how Putin bursts out that everyone was sitting for a salary, in fact this is not so. I understand that our director, while the enterprise does not work, is stupidly for us to pay, no matter how much he would like it. And most of my classmates also have their parents sit at home now, and they have difficulties with payment. With the beginning of quarantine, the families also laid down the unforeseen expenses for the purchase of the same equipment - laptops, computers to maintain this distance learning. And then we are advised to go to Academy - we were very angry. We have a desire to study, we want to get an education, but we also want to understand what we are paying for, ”says Marina.

Have to answer yourself

Due to the remote format, students actually ended up in absentee training. That's just the price tag is much higher. A year in the direction "Economics" for undergraduate, in full -time training costs 96,900 rubles , on the "correspondence" this specialty will cost 33,300 rubles.

I have a friend to whom teachers simply do not answer, he writes, and in response - nothing

Maxim Dmitriev believes that the university did not have experience of long -term distance work, so the university has long gone through ways to remotely teach students. At first, teachers threw off homework through the headman and also received answers back, then introduced the Moodle platform.

- It's like a page in social networks to communicate with the teacher, there are lectures, as I think, are not provided. The theory at this stage is thrown away in the Word File. But with such training, I cannot, as after a couple, approach the teacher and ask some small question about the material. Here you have to look for sources and answer yourself. I have a friend to whom teachers simply do not answer, he writes, but in response - nothing, ”says Maxim.

Teachers recently began to use Zoom, adds Marina Shestakova. Some groups, according to her, had not yet had a single lecture on this platform, the teachers only got in touch with her and told which work should be done. The elders tried to ask for a lecture, but received a refusal.

- The fact that we are thrown away as lecture material in Word is sometimes not even processed. I am a student, but I already see that those data are outdated - there are already changed versions of the documents we need. One of the teachers replies, but there is one that a week later answered and it is clear that on emotions, and angry. Like that this is not clear to you that you cannot decide, I will deal with you later, ”recalls Marina.

She says that now instead of an hour and a half (standard pair at the university) she spends on tasks one item for 5-6 hours, because you have to first look for the material on the Internet for a long time, understand it and only then start work.

If we were reduced half, they would be glad

Students in contact with the governor refer to the fifth clause of the contract with the university. It states that students may require reduction in value "when a lack of educational service is detected, including the provision of not fully provided for by educational programs (part of the educational program)."

“It would be fair to bring down 30-40% percent,” says Maxim Dmitriev.

- If we were reduced half, they would be happy. Very happy. This is the perfect option. But if they throw 10, 20, 30 percent - we will already be happy. At least some penny will be able to save, ”says Marina Shestakova.

"Learn not like us"

The rector of Pskovgu, Natalya Ilyina, on April 15, announced that the university does not provide for a decrease in payment for the remote training format. It was after this message that the students decided to look for help from the governor - realizing that it would not be possible to agree at the university.

We do not have online pass and feedback with teachers

Two days after the letter to the governor, the rector of Ilyin in an online chat got in touch with students and parents. She said that the university “did not know about the problems that students have,” but she still refused to reduce the price. Ilyina recalled that Pskov - a state university and in legal terms depends on the founder - the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

“You say that in St. Petersburg the cost remained the same, only they do not study there as we are now. <...> We do not have online pass and feedback with teachers, unlike universities in St. Petersburg, where the cost has rightly remained at the same level,” wrote Daniil Ivanov.

The rector promised to resolve the issue of feedback and pairs, to which the student noticed that this had to be done earlier, and not at the end of the semester.

This form is not equal to in absentia

"The university is realized by the university with the students-in-laws through a typical contract. Education is implemented within the framework of the federal educational standard and the Law on Education. It clearly states that education, including full-time, should and can be carried out at the expense of the distance form. This form is not equal to absenteeism. It is pronounced that the distance form is not the right to establish prices below those that annually that annually The ministry claims, ”Ilyina summed up.

She promised that the sanctions will not be applied to the signatures of the appeal, but she advised me to pay attention to the academic discipline of students and evaluate how they perform homework and educational orders of the teacher. “But this does not concern this letter in any way,” the rector assured.

Governor Mikhail Vedernikov commented on the appeal of students on Instagram and also referred to the fact that the rector cannot arbitrarily decide on a decrease, because without attitudes from the Ministry of Education, this will be a violation of federal legislation. “There are no such installations and, I believe that they are unlikely to be,” Vedernikov said.

The Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia Valery Falkov does not exclude the possibility of reducing the cost of studying due to transfer to distance regime. "The relations of the university and the student are drawn up by an agreement in which the conditions of training are fixed. The issue of changes in the cost is legitimate only if the quality of educational services was obviously reduced," he said . Falkov noted that there is no universal solution for all universities in this situation, because students evaluate the quality of education in different ways, and universities, which in the country are several hundred, organize the educational process differently.

And full -time students, and those who studied remotely, receive the same diploma

The lawyer of the Agora human rights group Leonid Soloviev believes that students can try to reduce the cost of training in court.

“The law on education allows you to reduce the cost of training, that is, to give the so -called discount, if the university has significantly less money on providing students with the necessary materials, on the salaries of professors, teachers, and so on,” said Solovyov. - But for this, students will have to prove the reduction in the costs of the university and the shortcomings of the current learning process in court. At the same time, one must understand that both full -time students and those who studied remotely receive the same diploma, that is, there is no fundamental difference in these formats.