If you do not have money, do not study!

"Hunting" for non-paying students has begun in the capitals universities. It's about those that delay the tuition fee. They are not allowed to study, sometimes they are removed from the audience.

A letter was sent to Turan the e-mail of the editorial office of Turan, in particular, about the situation in the Azerbaijan State University of Oil and Industry. It notes that in this higher school there were problems with the attendance of students studying on a fee basis. They are not allowed to attend lectures, they are removed from the audience and laboratories. They are required to repay the debt on payment of a one-year training in the shortest possible time. The forced students try to "reach out" toMustafa Babanli, the rector of the University, meet with him, explain to him the reasons for their own financial difficulties: devaluation, loss of parents' income, job loss ... However, he refuses to accept applications from students with a request for deferred payment, or at least partial paying for their studies, does not want to hear the arguments of young people.

"Dozens of such statements have accumulated in the dean's office. Dean of the Faculty of Oil and Mechanics, Alihikmet Ahmedov, distances himself from the conflict, sending debtors to the university's accounting department. A similar situation is observed in the other faculties. It may come down to the fact that students experiencing financial difficulties can be excluded from the university,"the letter says.

Blitz-surveys of students held by the correspondents of "Turan" in the Azerbaijan Medical University, the University of Languages, the State Economic University, problems with the terms of payment for education are not uncommon. It is especially hard for students of prestigious specialties of state universities and private universities. Thus, in the Baku State University (BSU) , the fee for studying at the Faculty of Law is now4,300 manat, even higher prices at Khazar University (4,500-5,000 manats), at the university "Azerbaijan" one-year study costs about 3,000 manat, at the State Pedagogical University - 1,800-2,000 manat, depending on the specialties. The champion in the high cost of education is the "ADA" University, where a one-year bachelor's course for the First and Second groups of specialties costs 6,500 manat, in the third group - 6,000 manat.

Undoubtedly, under high inflation, unemployment, salary delays and the collapse of the banking system, not all families can pay such money for the child's education at a time. At the same time, university administrations do not want to make concessions to debtors, acting on the principle of "if you do not havemoney, do not study".

The way out can be a bank loan for students, which is widely practiced in the West. In Azerbaijan, the situation in this regard is quite the opposite: here, even at the height of the economic recovery, banks did not give out loans to students, and today they do not want to hear about it.

A couple of years ago, the Ministry of Education implemented the project by creating the Credit Fund "Maarifçi", the founders of which were a number of metropolitan, Ganja and Sumgayit State Universities. But this project did not particularly affect the situation with student payers.

Commenting on the problem, the expert on education Kamran Asadov noted that the project on granting loans by the "Maarifçi" foundation was a failure. For three years only 200 students were granted educational loans. This indicator is extremely low, taking into account thatthe number of potential borrowers are greater. The reason is that not all students-payers meet the criteria of the Fund. The Borrower of the Fund may becomea student from a low-income family whose parents do not have a bank debt (today it is difficult to find such a family.) Another important point - the average academic performance of the student should be more than 71 points. In other words, he should be almost an excellent student.

"It is difficult to meet these requirements. About 50 universities operate in Azerbaijan, where more than 160,000 students study. Over 70% of them are paid students. The average amount of tuition fees in the country's universities is 2000 manat. On some specialties, prices reach 4,500, 5,000, 6,500 manat. Because of insolvency for the last five years, 7,000 students in the country refused to study in universities,"Asadov said.

The root of the problem is the commercialization of higher education, the inconsistency of the established tariffs to the quality of the services provided, the lack of a well thought-out price policy in this area. This leads to the fact that the goal of universities isnot the training of qualified personnel, but the extraction of profits. This phenomenon is gaining momentum today. Moreover, the role model of the student's behavior changes. For many students in universities, the goal of education is not knowledge, but a diploma, which is a kind of currency of the labor market.--0--