.jpg)
Alexandra Kartokhina always dreamed of studying in a big
city. She even went to a Russian school in her native Crimea to help her
achieve her ambition of studying in St Petersburg.
But now that dream has been tainted. After winning a place
at a university in Russia's second city on an equal footing with other
students, she has to deal with "the eternal squabbles" over
accusations that Crimeans are stealing "Russian" places.
Nearly a year after Russia took Crimea from Ukraine,
Alexandra's experiences point to some of the first signs of resentment among
Russians, potentially complicating President Vladimir Putin's calculation over
Ukraine.
Trying to get places in Russia's dwindling number of good
universities is competitive and often expensive. Trying to get a "budget
place", or free tuition, is even more challenging, with parents often
spending huge sums on tutoring their children to get the required grades or
number of points.
With the economy heading for recession and education
targeted by budget cuts, the stream of students from Crimea is adding to
simmering anger over how much Russians are having to pay for annexing the
peninsula from Ukraine in March last year.
"In many universities where I was going to apply,
they've reduced the number of budget places because of Crimean students and now
there's no chance of getting one," Katya, an applicant from Moscow, told a
local magazine, echoing several people who did not want to be quoted for fear
of being seen as unpatriotic.
For Kartokhina, the criticism is unjust, especially after
she studied for, and passed Russia's unified state exam to gain entry to the
university of her choice - unlike most other students in Crimea who were
schooled in the Ukrainian system.
She says Crimean students' special status will be
short-lived and was necessary to allow school-leavers to go to universities
without having to repeat years to take the exam.
"As for these eternal squabbles that students from
Crimea are taking university places from Russians, I can say only that it's
completely absurd," said Kartokhina, pointing out that the places for
Crimean students were in addition to, rather than part of, those places set
aside for Russians.
"And let me say that they have only allocated budgeted
places for Crimean students to some universities and in some specialisms, which
are often not the best. In some universities, questions about quotas are met
with a shrug and a puzzled look."
EUPHORIA FADES
Since March 18 when President Vladimir Putin hailed what he
said was the historic homecoming of Crimea, patriotism still runs deep, with
more than 80 percent of Russians supporting the move in opinion polls.
Moscow has moved swiftly to stamp its authority on the
peninsula, tempering the instability of overthrowing all Crimea's old Ukrainian
systems with vote-winning policies such as increasing pensions and
public-sector wages.
The speed has been blistering.
Officials say Crimea should become fully integrated into the
Russian system next year. Meanwhile Russia's Education Ministry said
universities with more than 50 budget, or free tuition, places will offer
Crimean students between 2 and 5 percent of them.
But the cost has been high.
Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for Crimea, and falling
oil prices, have pierced the economic stability Putin has overseen since coming
to power in 2000. Russia is sliding into recession, food prices are shooting up
and the country saw net capital flight of $151.5 billion last year, a record
high.
With the budget facing a shortfall of $45 billion this year,
mainly because of lower prices for Russia's main export oil, cuts have to be
made, and education is a prime target.
Putin has vowed to protect defense and has promised to
fulfill generous social spending, particularly for Russia's millions of
pensioners who form a large pool of support the Russian leader cannot afford to
lose.
But it is clear that education, as in earlier crises, will
"live with severe budget constraints", said Vladimir Knyaginin,
director of Center for Strategic Research North-West. And that would be from an
already low level.
Russia spent about 4 percent of gross domestic product on
education in 2014, lower than the United States with 5.1 percent, after years
of neglect since the fall of the Soviet Union more than 20 years ago, when
education was, much like defense, seen as a weapon in the Cold War and well
funded.
Despite high levels of university education among its adult
population, Russia has one of the worst literacy scores, and many employers
criticize institutions for allowing students to buy their diplomas with little
or no studying required.
Yaroslavl Kuzminov, rector of the Higher School of Economics
in Moscow, said Russia has long suffered from low and ineffective spending.
"Spending 60,000 rubles ($900) per student a year in
higher education is absurd. It is necessary, as it has been for 20 years, to
double it," he told a conference last month, adding that the budget needed
another 150-200 billion rubles a year.
But with expenditure further curtailed, the race for the few
places at good universities will get fiercer. And Crimean students, many of
whom are queuing up to head to the "mainland", may face more
criticism.
"Almost all the students in my year came to
universities in Russia," Kartokhina said.
"But I have to say that it wasn't all about Crimea
becoming part of Russia, it was their decision before then ... And it's
interesting, several even stayed in Crimea after unification."
No comments:
Post a Comment