An expert assessed the change in the order of admission to universities in Russia from March 2025

The innovations approved by the Ministry of Education and Science do not radically change the procedure of enrollment in universities, but introduce several important points, said Elena Provozen, director of educational product development at edtech company MAXIMUM Education. She told Izvestia on December 5 more about the changes.

"First, consent to enrollment is now introduced into the enrollment process. During the 2025 admission campaign, applicants will have to submit consent to enrollment in one university. Previously, the original certificate was sufficient for this purpose. The dates for submitting consent to enrollment have been set: August 1 (priority), August 5 (main), August 9 (additional)," - said the expert.

In addition, in addition to the main and priority stages of enrollment, an additional period is introduced, in which enrollment for unfilled main budgetary places based on the results of the USE and (or) internal entrance tests, Proozen drew attention.

"Adjustments affected the system of individual achievements, in particular the number of points for GTO (we are talking about the presence of the sign of the All-Russian physical culture and sports complex "Ready for Labor and Defense". - Ed.). Thus, earlier, at least two points were due for this achievement. However, now the university independently determines the number of these points, and it is possible that this number will be less than two. Also now universities can award up to 15 points for individual achievements," she explained.

At the same time, if we are talking about targeted training, the list of individual achievements is determined by the customer, that is, the company that pays for the target student's education.

"Universities are now obliged to establish in advance the maximum number of paid places without the possibility of increasing this number. Such a measure will increase the competition for training on a commercial basis, among other things.

The procedure for publishing the competitive lists will become more transparent: applicants will be ranked by points immediately after submitting documents, indicating the priority of the specialty", - said Provozen.

Speaking about entrance tests, she specified that applicants from separate quotas - for example, disabled children - can now take additional entrance tests instead of the USE, the results of which will be taken into account both at admission on the budgetary basis and on a paid basis.

It became known on December 5 that the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation approved a new procedure for admission to universities. The corresponding document was published on the site of official publication of legal acts. The order comes into force on March 1, 2025 and is valid until September 1, 2029.