State-Funded Places Shrink at Tajik Universities

As universities in Tajikistan gradually shift to fee-paying admissions, competition is fierce for the few state-funded places. 

Of the 30,000 school-leavers who will enter higher education in September, only 10,000 will get state grants.

Many who have the right qualifications will fail to secure a grant, and some complaints have been made that admissions bodies are treating applicants unfairly by picking holes in the documents they present.

Education Minister Abdujabbor Rahmonov says part of the problem is that schools do not fill in leaving certificates properly, creating problems when the documents are submitted to universities. He promises that school heads will pay fines out of their own pockets if they continue making mistakes.

One school-leaver interviewed for the report said she was going to sign up as a feepaying student, as the universities had more of an obligation to provide this category with the study materials they needed.

But few can afford to pay the costs. Studying law at the prestigious Tajik-Slavonic University in Dushanbe costs 1,000 US dollars a year, for example.

 The audio programme, in Russian and Tajik, went out on national radio stations in Tajikistan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.