The authorities have allocated more than 15 billion rubles to support Russian universities. This was announced on Monday, December 28, by the Minister of Higher Education and Science Valery Falkov.
He explained that it is planned to send another tranche, but its size has not been specified.
“The state has provided such support twice. In the summer, there was the first tranche, a fairly large one – 9.6 billion, and in December, support was provided for a little over six billion. The support was provided selectively, differentiated, depending on the financial well-being of the university, ”he said.
According to the head of the Ministry of Education and Science, a number of universities have built a competent model of financial management. At the same time, a number of universities had to take unprecedented measures to help students (reimburse travel costs, provide meals in hostels, etc.). Funds were spent on this, which could become a resource for research and educational activities.
Falkov assured that the authorities intend to continue to support educational institutions depending on their needs.
The minister also recalled that over 40% of universities teach students remotely.
Earlier in December, Falkov said that tuition fees at universities could be reduced in case of deterioration in the quality of education or due to the fact that the university is unable to provide the required number of teaching hours due to the distance work format. The Ministry of Education and Science considers every appeal of students or groups of students on this issue.