Russian government cuts 40% of state-funded university places
The Russian government is pushing on with plans to cut 40% of state-funded places in domestic universities in 2018 and to cut teaching jobs at state universities.
These plans were first announced about a year ago. However, their implementation was postponed due to signs of the beginning of a recovery of the Russian economy from the economic crisis and the possibility of lifting of at least part of Western sanctions against Russia.
Still, the beginning of a second wave of the financial crisis ? fuelled in June by a resumption of the devaluation of the national currency, the ruble, and an awareness that sanctions against Russia would not be lifted soon ? has forced the state to return to these plans.
The cuts are the consequence of reduced funding for two programmes, known as ?Development of Education? and ?Development of Science and Technology?.
It is planned that this year up to 500 scientists will be laid off from Russian universities in early 2018. Large job cuts are planned in the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Kurchatov Institute.
Overall, up to 8,300 scientific workers will lose their jobs in Russian universities by 2020, while the share of spending on education in total budget expenditure will fall from 2.75% in 2015 to 2.45% in 2020.
In addition, the government plans to cut spending on research and development activities of Russian universities and reduce funding allocated on the development of their technical base. Finally, funding of graduate scholarships will be halved.
The cuts have already been approved by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.