Possible outcome of paid education in Belarus

How will the society react on conversion from the budgetary subsidization of educational system to budgetary financing? And what can be the consequences of such transfer?

Universities and colleges should consider transfer from the budgetary subsidization to budgetary financing.

This suggestion was introduced by Svetlana Shilova, deputy chair of House of Representatives’ permanent commission for health, physical culture, family and youth, at the hearings in the House of Representatives on December, 4.

EuroBelarus Information Service asked Sviatlana Matskevich, the expert of the Humanitarian Techniques Agency and a candidate of pedagogic science, to explain the possible consequences of such initiative.

- For the introduction of budgetary subsidization special long-term program is required. And usually it takes lots of time, - Sviatlana Matskevich explains.

The Constitution guarantees only free school education. That is why the Parliament and the state have the right to make the higher education and professional education paid, which is very cynical to do and will bring negative consequences.

Education won’t fill in the holes in state budget

Such suggestions result from the holes in state budget, - notes Sviatlana Matskevich. Still, the government should have adopted strategic policy on the state budget first and only after that look for ways to save money.

Radical changes will finally restructure all elements of higher education. If government order is minimized and the education becomes charged, universities will adopt market reforms and become private property; and the parliament hasn’t considered such a scenario.

We should also bear in mind common level of national development

Government order will be reduced to the minimum, without proper assessment of labor market behavior. However, speeding up economic benefits in the education system will cause deplorable results.

- Conversion from the budgetary subsidization to budgetary financing will affect the level of culture and the quality of education, which, in its turn, will supply the labour market with poorly trained specialists, - believes Sviatlana Matskevich.

Students will renounce Belarusan universities

If higher education becomes paid, Belarusan universities won’t meet the competition at the market of education services, - assumes the expert of the Humanitarian Techniques Agency. She believes that the price of the Belarusan education much exceeds its quality, and the youth will prefer studying abroad to studying in Belarus, thus depressing the demand on Belarusan higher education.