The ministry foresees changes in 2021. for students: the number of places and groups of fields of study funded by the state will decrease

The Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Jurgita Šiugždinienė, pointed out that there is a proposal to increase funding for a student, as it is one of the smallest and we are far behind in terms of this indicator.

According to her, these inequalities are also due to the fact that currently tuition rates in universities are grouped into 8 groups. Prices in the lowest groups are unjustifiably behind others: the gap between the highest and lowest prices is currently more than 9 times.

“Some fields of study are devalued in this sense, they are even discarded. For example, the prices of social studies studies paid by the state to higher education institutions are undeservedly much lower than in other fields. Therefore, it is planned to reduce the number of studio price groups from 8 to 5. This will reduce the differences in studio prices, which have been growing irrationally for many years, ”says J. Šiugždinienė.

Reducing the tuition fee pools would open up more opportunities for interdisciplinary study, which has so far been complicated by huge differences in tuition fees. It would also increase funding for graduate studies and universities. College tuition price groups would catch up with colleges, improving the transition of students from one university to another.

J. Šiugždinienė said that he did not see any urgency regarding this decision, but that the Government had changed, so his decision was to allow more time for discussion in order to have more time for decision. According to her, all those decisions were delayed and she will offer to postpone on January 15. date, as it is difficult to find time to discuss immediately after the holidays.

“We are in no rush anywhere, but the solution is long overdue, there are so many groups, there is no place anywhere else. In fact, during the period when study baskets were introduced, the groups became very confused about As new programs emerged and were placed in a study group (…). Then, it lost its meaning. Another thing, the increase in public funding per student is long overdue. The backlog is enormous. “

According to her, this is really just the first step and a working group will be set up to review it starting in February. The minister said that waiting any longer would be a mistake and it would also be difficult to ask for quality studies with little funding.

“I think this will help strengthen the quality of the studies.”

Deputy Minister Gintautas Jakštas said that in 2021 the planned total figures, with those adopted last year, would vary by less than 1,000 seats.

“By 2020 the number of state-funded places increased to 3000. Some students saw that they could move from non-state-funded places to state-funded places. We suggest not planning empty spaces. We suggest mitigating that increase, as was the case. in 2019. increased 2.5 times. We suggest maintaining that increase at 1.8 or 1.7 times. The total number of seats, if you look at 2019, when less than 12 thousand. students, 2020 there were more than 13 thousand. accepted, but I observe that a large proportion of those admitted were already students, and many entered after a recess due to reduced requirements and an increase in the number of state-funded places.

We will also have even fewer graduates this year, which would suggest that the total number would differ by less than 1,000 places compared to last year’s admissions. That change would occur precisely in those three directions where there was an irrational change. The premiliners would plan about 12,000. places, “commented G. Jakštas.

Adding to the minister on the possibility of waiting for a decision, he said that that option was really being considered so that this change would not be made this year and it would be better to do it next.

“However, with a new financing model prepared this year, where there may not be a basket system, maybe some other system, (…), with the new system, it would certainly not be the time to propose an increase. in state funding under the old system.

As a result, that increase in funding is likely to be delayed by 2024, so current students would not really feel the change in quality, and we could feel those graduates who have already completed a job market some 10 years later. higher funding. “

The objective is to improve the quality of the studies

Minister J. Šiugždinienė had previously advocated for such a decision that it is necessary to increase state funds per student, thus ensuring better quality of studies, higher salaries for teachers and researchers. It also aims to reduce the huge and unjustified differences between different tuition rates and increase funding for social studies.

They also want to provide around 35 million from 2022 to 2027. Increase funding for higher education.

These changes would be facilitated if the project proposed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports on the calculation of regulatory tuition fees is approved, a press release issued earlier said in a statement.

“Without adequate funding for higher education, we cannot achieve quality: a better study base, living conditions for students, higher salaries for professors and researchers, higher incentive scholarships for good students.

Higher education is financed through study baskets. Depending on how many students are admitted to an institution of higher education when a student is admitted to a state-funded location, the state pays the tuition. Therefore, to raise the quality of studies, it is necessary to increase the regulatory cost of studies. This increase is only the first step, state funding must continue to increase and the principles of funding for studies must change substantially ”, said the Minister of Education, Science and Sports J. Šiugždinienė.

The increase in the availability of free singles adopted by the previous government was also criticized, since it did not take into account the needs of the state during the adoption of 2020. According to the minister, study places, in accordance with the Law of Science and Studies should be planned taking into account the economic, social and cultural development needs of the state and evaluating the employment indicators of graduates. According to the Ministry, the number of places financed by the State would decrease only slightly in the fields of social sciences, to which the number of places increased in 2020, even 2.4 times.

“By 2020, more than 3,000 young people left state-funded places and re-entered universities to obtain free places. However, most of them entered the fields of study of the social sciences (law, social sciences, business and public administration) where the number of state-funded venues was increased without regard for state and market needs. Therefore, what was done in 2020 can be seen as an increase in unreasonable expectations for students and graduates “.

“Go from one extreme to another”

However, student representatives are concerned about the adoption of such a decision and its implementation beginning in 2021. The interests of future students may be affected in the fall.

“The idea of ​​increasing funding per student is a welcome initiative and we have proposed it to the new government before and after the Seimas elections. But now this decision seems to be being taken a bit hastily and really raises reasonable doubts.

These doubts are mainly due to the fact that the Ministry has not provided preliminary estimates of the number of places financed by the State and how they will be distributed by field of study. It is these two issues, the number and distribution of places and the regulatory enrollment fees, which are parallel. They need to be published in parallel, especially as regards language, how much funds should be provided for studies. After all, the budget was approved last year, “LSS president Eigirdas Sarkanas told Delfi.

It was very strange to him that the ministry did not provide these calculations immediately. The second important thing, he said, is that the ministry is making it very clear that state-funded places will be declining this year.

“This means that the normative price of studies increases, so to speak, at the expense of the availability of studies. So, going back to the first point, when we don’t know the preliminary figures, it seems very strange when it is said that the price is increasing. but the availability will decrease.In any case, this is a consequence of the current Law of Sciences and Studies in the increase of the normative tuition, since the cost increases for those students who choose to study in a place not financed by the state. therefore, the same ministry is not very widely evaluated in this place. “

It seems to you to move from one extreme to another.

“After trying to implement a free bachelor’s degree and not thinking about certain consequences, now there is a price increase when they can feel even more felt by future students in the face of a pandemic.”