Russian senators propose raising minimum scores on university entrance exams
The Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, has recommended that Rosobrnadzor consider raising the minimum scores required on the Unified State Exam (USE) for admission to Russian universities, according to a resolution the chamber issued October 28.
The new requirements would apply to all universities “regardless of their departmental affiliation or ownership structure.”
The Federation Council also recommended eliminating distance learning for engineering and technology majors. For fields where enrollment exceeds labor-market demand, it proposed capping the number of tuition-paying slots. It also proposed revisiting the rules and criteria for admission benefits.
In addition, the senators proposed suspending the issuance of new university licenses “until amendments aimed at improving the licensing process are made to Russian law.”
During an October 14 plenary session, Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko called for tightening university licensing requirements. According to her, opening a university in Russia today is easier than opening a newspaper kiosk, and “anyone who wants to can do it, literally by pressing a couple of buttons.”
Matviyenko also proposed reducing the number of tuition-paying students at Moscow universities by limiting admission for students from other regions: “Enroll as many as are needed in the necessary fields, and no more. The rest can study at home,” Matviyenko said.
In recent years, Russian authorities have increasingly encouraged students to leave school after ninth grade and enroll in vocational schools rather than universities, BBC Russia reported. Some schools have begun reducing enrollment in upper grades, and it has become harder to get into a university after vocational school: starting in 2025, students who skip the USE can only choose a similar field of study.
In 2025, the government already gained the right to allocate tuition-paying slots across the 40 most popular fields of study that, in the authorities’ view, produce too many graduates.
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