Redesigning university admission as Russian unis to move enrollment online

While universities around the world are shutting dorms and taking instruction online to prevent the spread of COVID-19, experts foresee the innovations to college admission that may come from the crisis associated with the virus. Russia, among other countries, is working on new digital tools seeking to expand online resources in order to ensure equal access to higher education for students from all backgrounds.

Russia's Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov announced earlier this week that enrollment to Russian universities for the next academic year will be conducted online. The Ministry of Science and Higher Education is designing a remote enrollment facility which it intends to make available to registered users on Russia's Gosuslugi public services portal. The new service will help school-leavers to select a field of study, compare university offerings, learn what Unified State Exam grades would qualify them for admission, and submit an online application. Always remotely, they will be able to take entrance exams administered by some colleges and check out admissions lists.

Valery Falkov pointed out that the vast majority of universities and would-be students felt  comfortable with remote enrollment, though it might cause problems for those institutions that ran their own entrance examinations. Draft proposals should be ready by the end of next week for the ministry to discuss and, if needed, translate into regulations.

Project 5-100 universities will be among the first institutions to test the new tool.