Russian officials float initiative to offer military enlistment to failing university students instead of expulsion

Officials in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region have recommended military service as an alternative to expulsion for failing students in a scheme that would offer academic leave instead. Earlier this week, an independent student union published a letter from the regional Education Ministry addressed to the president of Ural Federal University in Yekaterinburg. 

The letter proposes encouraging students with failing grades to enlist with the Defense Ministry in exchange for a leave of absence from classes, with the option to resume their studies after completing military service. The idea has been attributed to Colonel Yuri Aksyonov, a local military commissar, who reportedly would like to see the initiative implemented at Ural Federal University and throughout the region.

Last year, Russia’s Sverdlovsk region fulfilled only 25 percent of the federal government’s contract soldier recruitment quota. The pro-government news outlet Ura.ru reported that the region’s military commissar subsequently subjected local officials to intense criticism at later briefings.