Petition against drastic state-funding cuts for students at the Faculty of Philology (SPb State U)

[Ksenia Overina]

Dear all!

You may be aware of the situation at St Petersburg Sate University. As it turned out, there is a possibility of huge state-funding cuts for students at the Faculty of Philology next year. Here is the text of the Online Petition against this horrible decision. The petition was written by the staff of St Petersburg Classical School # 610.
If you want to support us, please click the link and sign it. 

https://www.change.org/ru/%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8/%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B2-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE-%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%89%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%B1%D1%8E%D0%B4%D0%B6%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BD%D1%8B%D1%85-%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82-%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D1%84%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC-%D1%84%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5-%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B1%D0%B3%D1%83#share

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Ksenia Overina 

Assistant lecturer
St.Petersburg State University
Faculty of Philology
Department of the Russian Literature

***

To: President of the Russian Federation Mr. Putin
Minister of Education Mr. Livanov
Rector of St Petersburg State University Professor Kropachev


To: President of the Russian Federation Mr. Putin
Minister of Education Mr. Livanov 
Rector of St Petersburg State University Professor Kropachev

At the end of September the members of the Academic Council of St Petersburg State University were informed about the drastic reduction in state-funding for students at the Faculty of Philology. They said that in the following year a certain number of departments will be either closed for applicants or will not have state-funding for students. The admission to these departments will be organized every two or three years. In 2013 they are planning to close all state-funding in the following departments: Classics, Modern Greek, Department of Byzantine Studies, Foreign Literature Department, and a whole number of departments of Slavic Languages and Literature, and some departments of Scandinavian Studies. We do not have any information, who is responsible for this decision, or whether there is a chance to resume funding in 2014. 

We are quite convinced that St Petersburg State University as well as the whole system of higher education in Russia needs to be reformed, and we don’t want to stand in the way of this process, but this irrational cut of departments and state-funding makes the situation in education even worse. The selection of “victims” is quite specific. The departments outlined above are quite popular – last year the average Unified State Exam (EGE) score to apply to these programs was really high, the number of state-funded places never exceeded 5-10. They are really involved in scholarly research and “produce” unique experts in their respective fields. They concentrate on studies of Ancient Languages and Ancient World Cultures. It is very odd that the departments put at risk are those whose contribution to linguistics and literary studies is highly appreciated by the World Academic Community. In our opinion, these schools should be the first and receive full governmental support. In fact due to these reforms St Petersburg Faculty of Philology may well turn into language courses.

We understand that the need for the experts on Classics is not really high in our society, but one shouldn’t forget that medical and law schools, schools of pedagogical sciences and grammar schools (gymnasia) in the Russian Federation can’t survive without qualified Latin professors. If one wants a qualified faculty it will require funding on a permanent basis over a long period of time. If one wants to have a world famous string quartet, for example, you can’t recommend the Conservatoire to accept only 4 students every other year. The situation with the professional scholarship is exactly the same. It is necessary to take a special care of young people who have talent and who are eager to contribute to national scholarship.

School Principal and Members of the School Council 
St Petersburg Classical School # 610



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