The academic year began, but about 40% of freshman places in higher education institutions - state and private - are vacant. This shows a report by the Ministry of Education on the implementation plan in late September.

For private HEIs, the number of vacancies is greater - 62%, while the state statistics are close to last year - about 14% of the positions are vacant.

The Ministry of Education and Science notes that the data is just indicative because in many places the admission of postgraduates is still expected. There is little interest in engineering courses, mathematics and pedagogy.

This year, positions with state subsidies fell by 8% or by 4000. The total number of students enrolled for the period 2017/2018 was 43 550 people.