Prime Minister Putin's introductory remarks: 

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,

Today we will continue addressing issues related to the regulation and improvement in quality of government services in education.

In the past four years a total of 1,250 billion roubles have been allocated to education from federal sources alone. It is quite a big sum, given our expenditures in general. It is a huge sum! We launched a general modernization effort within the framework of the Education national project. We will continue to regard this work as an absolute priority.

Fundamental problems, such as intellectual potential, human resources, the health and security of children and young people are intertwined in education. Needless to say, a significant and effective government policy is critical.

We all expect to be able to return a low-quality product, or at least to try to return it. But the things absorbed at kindergarten, school or university stay with a person through their life. People carry their knowledge and skills through life, offering them to society.

This is why the system of regulations in education must primarily strive to defend the rights and interests of those involved to protect them against possible risk and low quality service.

At the same time, we face problems that are typical for our state bureaucracies in general: It is burdensome and inconvenient to apply for licenses, certificates and other documents. Administrative procedures are too clumsy, and can drag on for months, creating unnecessary problems for law-abiding people and otherwise efficient education institutions.

For example, one can verify an education certificate, such as a university diploma or degree, only in Moscow. It is easy to imagine how much time, effort and money it takes for those in the regions. And you know that transportation costs are pretty high.

This service needs decentralising to increase territorial accessibility. This is only a part of the issue.

There are a lot of supervisory layers in education, like in many other areas. But they often boil down to mere formalities, and we have to admit they do not accomplish their objectives. I speak of this frequently regarding other industries, and I can say it is true about education as well. We cannot put everything on a Procrustean bed of old standards. Unfortunately, liberalism is very often perceived as permissiveness and is used as a tool to achieve mercenary goals.

With regard to the area we are addressing today, I would like to stress that we haven't managed to clear the education system of marginally credible schools, which churn out irrelevant diplomas for profit, and offer only a low quality education.

From my viewpoint, it is necessary to manage licensing and state accreditation policies making them effective processes for education development. We must encourage a healthy competition in the education market, screening out establishments that do not comply with contemporary standards.

Some 140,000 educational institutions in Russia need licenses. Once in six years they all undergo tiresome expert evaluations. Institutions are forced to go all out to fulfill the requirements. In addition, they have to submit all types of certificates, declarations and justification documentation to various regulatory bodies. Universities alone must submit quite a weighty folder, about 250 documents, 3,000 pages in total. We cannot ensure a proper quality of education simply by making organisations collect reams of paperwork.

The existing procedure needs overhauling and streamlining. In my view, licenses should not be limited in term. At the same time, the penalties for license and regulation violation must be toughened. Fire safety inspections and inspections of education conditions and general quality must be regular, rigorous and unbiased.

The system of education institution accreditation, which is given the right to issue state certificates and diplomas, poses certain questions as well. The system is too cumbersome, with accreditation services being rather costly. Educational institutions spent some 1.9 billion roubles on these services in 2009 alone. The costs for university accreditation reach 1.5 billion roubles, and we all understand that these costs are passed on to the students in the end.

I believe that educational institutions must be relieved from licensing and accreditation fees, replaced by a fixed and transparent state duty so that it will be clear to everyone how much to pay.

How does it currently work? Let's see how much educational institutions pay and to whom. It so happens that expert evaluation fees are collected by affiliated agencies, which take advantage of their close ties with the government, with their "expert capabilities" leaving much to be desired. This is absolutely unacceptable. In this respect education does not differ from any other industry. It's all the same.

Prosecutors have pointed out more than once the unacceptability of combining regulatory function with fee collection. This is a breeding ground for corruption, which we must eliminate. These agencies must be liquidated, and this practice must be stopped. I am asking the ministers to deal with this promptly and report back.

The accreditation system must be efficient and transparent. We need to take advantage of international best practices. Public organisations, professional associations and those who will end up employing university and vocational school graduates must be involved in redefining the accreditation process. We need to use digital technology and the opportunities the Internet offers.

To finish, I would like to highlight that simplified administrative procedures do not necessarily mean lower education standards or a lower quality of education. These institutions responsibility to society must not be minimised. This is what we will proceed from in our practical work.