{"id":194591,"date":"2026-07-06T13:32:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T10:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/194591\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T13:32:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T10:32:40","slug":"educational-rollback-comes-at-cost-in-belarus","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/194591\/","title":{"rendered":"Educational rollback comes at cost in Belarus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the past five years, Belarus\u2019 education system has undergone a dramatic rollback, bringing it closer to the Soviet model. The country has withdrawn from the Bologna Process, severed most of its international ties, closed private schools and introduced ideological selection and indoctrination in higher education institutions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n Belarusian university students watching Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka's speak at an All-Belarusian People's Assembly on December 18, 2025\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (zarya.by)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Loyalty over merit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The direction of education reforms is summed up in a single statement by Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Belarus, we have state education, state schools and a state ideology. Those who want to follow these principles are welcome: teach, educate and work. Those who do not want to follow them should not be in schools. This must be said openly, frankly and honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The logic behind this approach is clear: universities must be politically safe, lecturers must be loyal, and students must be manageable. Education must be protected from \u201cdestructive influences.\u201d Since the state finances the system, the state determines its content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first glance, this may seem fair. Arguments in favor of such an approach can be heard from supporters of a \u201cstrong hand\u201d in many countries around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what happens if we accept this premise and examine how it plays out in practice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would a \u201cnormalized\u201d university look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you make a university politically safe? By purging universities of lecturers with \u201csubversive\u201d views. Once they are gone, who remains? Those who genuinely agree with the official line and those who have learned to pretend they do. As a result, the main criterion for hiring and promotion is no longer academic excellence, but political reliability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then what happens? Competition of ideas within universities disappears. Debate becomes dangerous, doubt arouses suspicion, and the safest career strategy is to avoid standing out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is a loyal faculty. How do you make students compliant? By filtering applicants through recommendations, interviews and assessments of their \u201ccivic position.\u201d If the filter is strict enough, the university ends up with students whose greatest skill is accurately reading the expectations of those in authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In such an environment, independent thinking\u2014the very quality that distinguishes higher education from simple instruction\u2014becomes a liability for both students and their supervisors. Consequently, it is pushed out of the educational sphere, whether through self-preservation or external pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of this process, the higher education environment is fully \u201cprotected\u201d: international exchanges are almost entirely eliminated, foreign partners are screened for political friendliness, and academic mobility is replaced with mandatory job placement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then what? The system loses the last external benchmark against which it can measure its own quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The perfectly obedient university becomes an institution with nothing and no one to compare itself to except its own past. This is already visible in cases where officials emulate Soviet-era academic achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talent is fleeing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, much of this shift back toward the \u201cbright past\u201d has already taken place since Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka made the statement quoted above more than five years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higher education has become even more tightly controlled by the state, while the private sector has nearly disappeared. European standards introduced through the Bologna Process have been rolled back, and ties with most Western universities have been severed. At the same time, the government has encouraged closer cooperation with Russian and Chinese universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be noted, however, that Belarus\u2019 authoritarian partners have not abandoned cooperation with the West in education. China has raised its universities in global rankings largely thanks to decades of collaboration with leading American and European institutions. Even Kazakhstan has significantly improved its standing over the past decade through international cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus, by contrast, is moving in the opposite direction, with predictable results: every year, more applicants choose to study abroad, whether in the West or the East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system resists this trend as best it can, because even an ideologically \u201ccorrect\u201d education system still needs students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of improving quality to attract applicants, the authorities are taking measures to restrict admission to foreign universities, limit recognition of foreign degrees and complicate both emigration and access to foreign employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, population decline has made young people an especially valuable resource. Whereas Belarusian universities once competed not only for domestic students but also for international ones, they are now losing competition even on their own ground.<\/p>\n\n\n