Minsk, 23 July. Admission plan to budget-funded education at universities will be fulfilled by almost 100%, Education Minister Andrei Ivanets said in response to a question from a BELTA correspondent.

The Minister noted that universities have finished accepting documents and now, internal entry examinations are being held for applicants in the fields of "art" and "physical education" as well as for college graduates wishing to get higher education. "Enrollment in universities will take place by July 27. We can already see the first results and trends of the current campaign. Unlike last year, it is much more active. This is evidenced by both the competitions and the passing scores. In general, the plan for admission to budget-funded education will be fulfilled by 99.4%, that is, we have almost 100% effectiveness," Andrei Ivanets informed.

He noted that today special attention is focused on the personnel that the country's economy needs. "First, these are personnel for the agro-industrial complex. Two of the four agricultural universities have fully met their enrollment targets. This year, their budget enrollment was planned to be about 2,000 people. There is a slight shortfall of 80 vacant places. After July 27 and enrollment, we believe that both the Gorki Agricultural Academy and the Vitebsk Veterinary Academy will announce additional enrollment. Those who want to choose these professions will be able to apply. The attractiveness of agricultural specialties has increased several times compared to last year, statistics show. Secondly, this year there was a record enrollment in pedagogical specialties - 3.9 thousand were admitted and are currently being enrolled. There were good competitions in "preschool education", for example, at the pedagogical university - 1.4 people per place. Philology is in demand, for example, the competition for the Belarusian language and literature was about 1.7 people per place at BSPU, 1.4 people per place in translation at MSLU,” said the head of the educational department.

In addition, the Minister noted the demand for engineering occupations. “The guys who took physics and mathematics were also targeting engineering professions. Therefore, out of almost 4 thousand places for planned admission to pedagogical specialties, we have only 46 places left in the physics and mathematics. This is primarily due to the increase in the recruitment of future teachers to the Belarusian State University. At each specialized faculty, we recruited two classes of future teachers of physics, mathematics, computer science, biology, chemistry and geography. In general, I would like to say that the admission plan this year has been fulfilled almost 100%. We believe that the guys will be satisfied,” emphasized Andrei Ivanets.

More than 4 thousand medal winners, more than 1.6 thousand holders of honors diplomas from colleges, as well as about 250 winners of national Olympiads submitted documents to the country's universities.