Following recent posts on education in Korea and India, we continue our review of college admissions in other lands. News from Moscow caught our attention. In Russia:

“… high school seniors don’t apply to universities, for starters. They apply to individual departments, called faculties, acceptance to which may be vastly easier or more difficult within a single institution. Beyond that, applicant pools can be very different for paying customers (above or below board) and those seeking traditional merit-based admission.”

Changes in Russian education

The country has undergone radical changes from the old Soviet system where merit-based free education was granted to anyone passing entrance exams to college. According to Wikipedia, free higher education is the main reason why more than 20% of Russians age 30–59 hold six-year degrees (this number is twice as high as that of the United States).

Today, with the free market economy, 35% of students pay for their own education in state institutions and 20% are enrolled in private universities.

Cheating on Russian entrance exams

However, as with other aspects of Russian society, not all is rosy. The Guardian newspaper reports that cheating is commonplace and smart kids are hired as “doubles” to sit entrance exams on behalf of others. One boy was arrested in drag attempting to sit an exam for his sister. Staff are often partners in crime:

“An estimated $170m was spent on bribes to enter educational institutions last year. Besides payoffs and the surrogates scam, there is a burgeoning market in coursework and diplomas which can be ordered or bought over the internet.

Teachers’ and lecturers’ average pay - around $160 per month - is so pitiful that they are forced to collude in cheating. “Without adequate subsidies, the education system has become a wild, open market where everybody is fighting to survive,” says Professor Oksana Gaman-Golutvina, a social scientist.”

Whatever the ups and downs of the admissions process, two things are clear. First, as in many European countries, the admissions process is considerably less convoluted than it is in the USA. It also costs a lot less to get a University education. Smart kids (or those they hire to impersonate them) are probably able to get in on merit.

Secondly, whatever they are doing in Russia, they are doing something right. Russian graduates in science and math are among the best in the world. St. Petersburg State University recently beat M.I.T. in an IBM programming contest.