The Ministry of Education and Science told about the new rules for admission to paid places in universities

The Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation is not going to introduce a complete restriction on admission to paid places for universities where the average result of the Unified State Exam did not reach 50 points, innovations will affect only 10% of specialties. This was reported to Izvestia on November 13 in the press service of the ministry.

Since September 1, 2025, the government has received the right to directly regulate the number of paid places in universities in order to improve the quality of higher education and its compliance with the needs of the economy.

"In pursuance of this law, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation has developed a draft methodology for the state allocation of places for paid education, which is currently undergoing public discussion. The draft methodology defines common mechanisms and criteria for the Government of the Russian Federation to establish the number of paid places for universities," the ministry said.

Thus, universities will not be able to recruit students for paid tuition in some specialties. This will affect those areas where applicants with an average score below 50 entered in the 2025/26 academic year. It is important that this rule will apply only to specialties from a special government list. Currently, 42 areas are planned to be included in this list, which is about 10% of all existing specialties.

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"For example, if the average score of full-time and part-time applicants to the university was 49 points in the admission campaign of the 2025/26 academic year, and the specialty "Management" is included in the list regulated by the government, then for the 2026/27 academic year, this university will not be able to apply for commercial recruitment in the specialty "Management", — the ministry explained.

However, if the average score of applicants for paid places in the specialty "Management" at this university in the admission campaign of the 2025/26 academic year was above 50 points, then the university is eligible for places for paid education in it.

Thus, this rule does not mean a ban on the paid admission of applicants who have scored less than 50 points of the Unified State Exam. Its effect is tied to the actual practice of admission to paid places in certain specialties at specific universities.

The main goal of the new rules is to change paid education so that it helps the development of the Russian economy and technology. To do this, we need to improve the quality of higher education and ensure that graduates can find good jobs in their field. To achieve this, it is necessary to limit the admission of applicants with poor training to paid places and close recruitment for those specialties that are not in demand from employers. the Ministry of Education and Science noted.

Since the average score of applicants applying for paid places is 63.4 (according to 2024/25), the new restrictions will affect only a small group of the least prepared applicants with an average score below 50.

According to the draft, the new rules will become mandatory for all Russian universities, both public and private. No university can avoid fulfilling them.

Earlier, on October 29, the Ministry of Education and Science prepared a draft order prohibiting the allocation of paid places to universities in areas where in the 2025-2026 academic year the average USE score of students will be below 50. In addition, the maximum number of paid places will correspond to the average number of students who have studied under the contract in this area over the past two years.

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