A few years ago, there were 9 private universities in Belarus. After the closure of BIP, there will be 6 of them. Let us remind you what private universities there were in Belarus and why they were closed.
BIP - University of Law and Social and Information Technologies - the oldest private university of Belarus, has been closed since August 30. Students are promised to be transferred to other universities. It is not known what caused the closure. Previously, students were trained here in the following specialties: "Jurisprudence", "International law", "Accounting, analysis and audit", "Psychology", "Political science", "Transport logistics" and others.
Starting this year , MIU — Minsk Innovation University , which trained in 11 fields, was also closed. But already in 2022, the university was not recruiting applicants.
In 2019, students were still studying here. On November 6 of the same year, it became known that the university's accreditation would not be renewed, and students appeared on the stage of the university with placards and slogans. The position of the Ministry of Education was as follows: according to the results of accreditation at MIU, in particular, it was noted that the term of obtaining higher education in correspondence (distance) form does not meet the requirements of educational standards. They also noted that "the activity of the university management in inciting students to strikes, manipulation of public opinion is considered as an attempt to avoid solving the issue on the merits."
International Humanitarian and Economic Institute : This private university was opened in Belarus in 1994. Students were trained in the following specialties: "Psychology", "International Relations", "Jurisprudence", "Political Science". Since 2019, the website of the university has not been updated, the institution is in the stage of liquidation. During the election campaign of 2010, the student Uladzimer Kumts, a friend of the participant of the election campaign Uladzimer Nyaklyaev, was expelled from this university.
According to expert Andrei Lavrukhin, previously private universities in Belarus did not compete with state ones. Their share of students has always been small. Now the competition has intensified. "They could not withstand competition, did not pose any threat to state universities. But now the state does not support the development of higher education, and people could enter private universities. This means that higher education is not supported by the state."
This closure is due to two factors. A worldview is formed at the university, including in political matters. It is difficult for the state to control it. And the second factor is financial. The state increases the number of budget places, and decreases the number of paid places. Competition for paying students has intensified," Andrei Lavrukhin believes.
“This is another example of higher education becoming more and more public. They want to completely destroy the private sector so that there is nothing left. Because even if there were few of them, they can still create an island of disagreement in the state's perception," the expert adds.
The closure of private universities is, of course, a bad indicator for society. There was indeed a demand for paid education, and there used to be a choice of where to get it. But when was Lukashenka interested in society interests?
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