On January 25, Minsk / Yulia Vanina - BELTA /. All students on a fee-paying basis have been provided with the opportunity to pay tuition fees in installments. This was announced at a press conference by the Minister of Education of Belarus, Sergei Maskevich, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. According to the minister, installments can be paid monthly, or after one month, two months, at any time convenient for the student. The Minister of Education emphasized that the increase in tuition fees was due to an increase in the first-category tariff rate. "In the Code of Education, which will come into force on September 1, issues of tuition payment will be regulated taking into account reality," he noted. The code also provides for the signing of a training agreement. "Among the promising tasks planned to be addressed in the near future is the clarification of admission quotas for universities and secondary vocational schools," he noted. The fee-paying form of education has proven itself well, but a deeper and more balanced approach is needed to the issue of training specialists, especially on a fee-paying basis, taking into account the real needs of all sectors of the economy, explained Sergei Maskevich. In Belarus, contacts between universities and enterprises are not clearly developed enough. "This interconnection needs to be organized more seriously," he noted. According to him, the Code of Education provides for increased responsibility of all participants in the educational process, meaning that requirements will be strengthened for everyone – educators, students, pupils, and employers. The issue of staffing, including for the private sector of the economy, needs to be resolved in the near future. As an example, he cited the field of information technology. "In the coming years, this sector will need more than 2,000 specialists," he noted. -0-

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