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Education minister: Belarus does not have resources to lower tuition fees

Belarus does not have resources to lower tuition fees and there is no need to do this, Education Minister Syarhey Maskevich told reporters in Minsk on Friday after Alyaksandr Lukashenka directed earlier in the day that the government should "address the high tuition fees."

Speaking to students and faculty of Belarusian State University of Informatics and Electronic Engineering, the Belarusian leader said that the tuition fees charged by Belarusian education institutions were "rather high," and that it was necessary to "put the brakes" on them. "This should be dealt with," Mr. Lukashenka said, addressing top-ranking officials of the education ministry and the Presidential Administration. Tuition fees in the first two years of education should be "sparing," he suggested. As for tuition fees for students in the third and subsequent years, it is necessary to "look" at this issue, he said.

The education minister in turn said that there were no resources to lower tuition fees. "The government subsidizes fee-paying education and pays for one third of all costs," he said. "The 2013 state budget does not provide for expenditures for tuition fee compensation for students," Mr. Maskevich added.

If the government decides to lower tuition fees, it will be necessary to earmark these expenditures in the 2013 budget. However, Mr. Maskevich noted that Belarus did not need such a large number of fee-paying students.

He also noted that students have an opportunity to combine study and employment.

Institutions of higher learning and vocational and training schools raised their tuition fees by 20 percent on September 1, 2011, by 25 percent in October and November 2011, by 29 percent on February 1, 2012, and by five percent on June 1.

According to the education ministry, the tuition fees for full-time students of higher education institutions range from 7,153,000 rubels ($840) to 14,950,000 rubels ($1,750) a year. Vocational and training schools charge their full-time students between 2,730,000 rubels and 9,811,000 rubels. //BelaPAN