The Ministry of Education and Science will reduce about 45 thousand paid places in Russian universities

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia plans to reduce about 45 thousand paid places in universities, which will amount to about 13% of their total number. This was announced on December 22 by the head of the department, Valery Falkov, on the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

"Most of all, of course, there will be a reduction in paid places in the non—governmental sector — in non-governmental universities, there are almost 20%," Falkov said.

The cuts will affect 40 areas of study, including such popular ones as Economics, Management, Public and Municipal Administration, Law, Advertising and Public Relations. The decision is related to the optimization of the higher education system and the redistribution of resources in favor of the specialties most in demand by the state.

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On December 4, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation announced that it was considering the introduction of a new Unified State Exam system in Russian for applicants to engineering and natural science programs. It is proposed to refuse admission to those who have passed the Unified State Exam in Russian by less than 60 points.

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