Credit unit: more than 2.5 billion rubles will be allocated for educational loans
The Cabinet of Ministers will allocate more than 2.5 billion rubles for educational loans at a rate of 3% per annum. This was stated by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at a meeting with deputy prime ministers. Which professions are the most popular, how much they are in demand, and how else can personnel training be improved in Russia — see the Izvestia article.
Selection support
At the moment, educational lending is of particular importance, where the rate is subsidized by the state and is only 3% per annum, the press service of the Ministry of Education and Science told Izvestia. According to them, such a financial mechanism becomes an effective incentive for applicants, encouraging them to consider applying to those areas of study that are recognized as strategically important for the country's economy and the social development of society.
"In May 2025, the State Duma adopted a law on regulating the volume of paid tuition at universities. According to it, starting from September 1, 2025, the Government of the Russian Federation is authorized to determine the list of specialties for which state support for educational lending will be provided at a rate of 3% per annum. It is assumed that these will primarily be engineering, pedagogical and medical specialties," the ministry recalled.
At the moment, regulatory documents of a subordinate nature are being prepared, which will define the rules, time frames and quantitative indicators of paid enrollment in higher education institutions. In the same acts, it is planned to consolidate the list of training areas for which the permissible number of places will be established on a commercial basis. It is assumed that all these provisions will become effective no later than December 1, 2025.
Also, from January 1, 2020 to May 1, 2025, 220,520 educational loan agreements were concluded between banks participating in the state support program for educational loans and citizens studying on a commercial basis, the Ministry of Education and Science clarified. The average amount of an educational loan as of May 1, 2025 is 305,406.04 rubles.
"The amount of the loan requested at the conclusion of the loan agreement is determined by the borrower independently. In accordance with the Rules for Providing state Support for Educational Lending, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1448 dated September 15, 2020, an educational loan is provided to citizens to pay for the cost or part of the tuition fee established by the contract for the provision of paid educational services," the department said.
At the same time, the state bears subsidiary responsibility, Irina Abankina, chief researcher at the HSE Center for Financial and Economic Solutions in Education, noted in an interview with Izvestia.
— This subsidiary responsibility is related to the fact that if for some reason situations arise in which it is impossible to pay off the loan, then the state really also repays it. At the same time, the state remains entitled to a recourse claim if conditions change and it is possible to find the missing student or graduate," the expert clarified. — I would like to emphasize that our loans are provided without collateral and without guarantees, so they do not endanger the family's property. This is indeed a very important tool.
Supply and demand
The Russian labor market demonstrates a noticeable shortage of personnel at almost all levels, Maria Ignatova, research director at Headhunter, noted in an interview with Izvestia. According to her, the demand covers a wide range of professions, starting with mass—scale working professions — drivers, handymen, couriers, storekeepers, plumbers - and ending with highly qualified specialists such as doctors, accountants, teachers, machinists and technologists. She stressed that in the last month alone, employers have posted over 62,000 vacancies for drivers, over 60,000 for client managers, about 16,000 for doctors and more than 11,000 for teachers in various fields.
— Meanwhile, Russian applicants also have their own career interests, and they even match a number of requests. For example, over the past month, more than 243,000 Russians have been looking for jobs as drivers, more than 316,000 as administrators, more than 560,000 applicants have applied for jobs as sales managers, and more than 164,000 resumes have been posted by sales clerks. Thus, the top requests of employers partially coincide with the requests of Russians," she said.
At the same time, as Maria Ignatova clarified, there are noticeable discrepancies between the interests of applicants and employers. In particular, the profession of a programmer has entered the top twenty most attractive areas for Russians — more than 200 thousand resumes have been posted recently. However, according to her, this specialty did not appear in the list of the most in-demand companies in a month. A similar situation exists with other professions: designer, marketer, economist, engineer, and purchasing manager. The expert stressed that this does not at all indicate that there is no need for such specialists. Rather, the fact is that the level of demand for them is lower compared to other areas, while competition among candidates is noticeably higher than the market average.
— Practice shows that an integrated system is required to improve the personnel training system in the country. For example, due to the aging of the labor market among both employees and job seekers, it is necessary to update the knowledge of mature and older workers, which means expanding additional professional education programs for adults, such as women on parental leave, pre—retirees, and the unemployed. This allows them to update and adapt their skills to the requirements of the labor market," the expert said.
Priority areas
Sergey Katyrin, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stressed in a conversation with Izvestia that the state had identified a number of key areas for which student recruitment was expanding and support measures were being strengthened. Among such priorities, he named engineering and technological specialties, IT, medicine, teacher education, construction, as well as transport and logistics profiles. Katyrin noted that an educational loan at a rate of 3% per annum is a universal tool: it allows you to pay for tuition in any accredited program chosen by a student. According to him, this is one of the guaranteed forms of state support, which significantly increases the availability of education and without which many applicants would find themselves in less favorable conditions.
— It is also necessary to scale up dual training: mandatory long-term internships and internships directly at the workplace, with payment and mentoring. In addition, targeted contracts with the employer and the expansion of the list of industries for targeted recruitment are important, this links budget places and loans with real vacancies," he noted.
In addition, he also noted that today it is especially important to quickly adapt educational standards to the needs of the economy, including the formation of digital skills, the training of specialists in the field of industrial automation and the possession of artificial intelligence tools. According to him, in addition, it is necessary to actively develop short retraining programs designed for already working professionals. Together, such measures, together with a subsidized educational loan at 3%, provide the opportunity to receive high-quality education, undergo compulsory internship and secure employment in the chosen specialty.
The quality of staff training is not directly related to the educational credit system, as it is largely determined by the qualifications of teachers, the level of the material and technical base of universities and the participation of practitioners in the educational process, Tatiana Klyachko, director of the Center for Economics of Continuing Education at the RANEPA, told Izvestia. Loans primarily solve the problem of increasing access to higher education for students from low-income families.
"At the same time, improving the quality of education requires funds, so universities increase the cost of paid tuition, which also often forces students to apply for educational loans," the expert believes.
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