Ministry of Education of Belarus proposed to hold public discussion on university admission rules

24 August, Minsk /BELTA/. The State Commission for the Control of the Preparation and Conduct of Entrance Examinations in Higher and Secondary Special Education Institutions in 2012 proposes that the Ministry of Education hold a public discussion of the new admission rules in the autumn, refine the draft, and submit it for consideration by the Head of State by November. This was announced today at a press conference by the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus – Chairman of the State Commission for the Control of the Preparation and Conduct of Entrance Examinations in Higher and Secondary Special Education Institutions in 2012, Anatoly Rubinov, BELTA correspondent reports.

According to Anatoly Rubinov, this year's situation has shown that issues of preferential admission and different competition between applicants from rural and urban areas require revision. "For example, the situation persists where, when enrolling in universities, beneficiaries take places from better-prepared applicants. For instance, at Belarusian State University for the specialty 'Social Communications', with a passing score of 364, 3 beneficiaries (among orphans) who scored 156, 208, and 296 points were admitted out of competition. At Belarusian National Technical University, when applying for the specialty 'Customs Affairs', an applicant who scored 318 points was displaced by a beneficiary with only 170 points. 'This situation must be corrected'," believes Anatoly Rubinov.

As last year, the separate competition between graduates of rural and urban educational institutions negatively affected the quality of applicant selection. Sometimes, urban residents with an advantage of about 150 points lost the competition. For example, at Belarusian State University, the passing score for the specialty 'Microbiology' for urban residents was 243, and for rural residents – only 134, for the specialty 'International Law' – 374 and 287 points, respectively. "I believe that enrollment should be carried out exclusively on the basis of competitive selection, so that preferential treatment applies not to knowledge and abilities, but exclusively to the social security of the applicant – cancellation of the fee for CT, accommodation in a dormitory, exemption from tuition fees, preferential loan," he noted.

Anatoliy Rubinov drew attention to the issue of admitting winners of republican olympiads. These applicants, who have the right to be admitted without entrance examinations, have displaced strong applicants when entering prestigious specialties. For example, at Belarusian State University, out of 15 admitted to the specialty "International Law," 7 people were winners of olympiads. Because of this, applicants who showed brilliant results (366 points out of a possible 400) did not pass the competition. Anatoliy Rubinov emphasized that the validity of admitting olympiad winners in such a case raises doubts. "It is one thing when it comes to physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology - these subjects are studied at school, and winners of olympiads in these subjects can reasonably be admitted without exams to the relevant specialties. But international law is not studied at school," he said.

BELTA