In Russia, the state is reshaping education policy to plug the shortage of workers and mid-level staff needed by the war economy. The BBC Russian Service reports that in recent years, officials have been aggressively steering students who finish 9th grade toward vocational colleges and technical schools rather than high school.
Data from the Higher School of Economics (HSE) shows that in 2022, the first year of the war, 50.4% of students after 9th grade chose college over 10th grade for the first time, and that share has been rising consistently since.
In Moscow, the number of Basic State Exam (OGE) subjects required for admission to colleges and technical schools has been reduced from four to two. Now only Russian language and mathematics exams are deemed sufficient. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and the Labor Ministry cite the high demand in the labor market as the reason.
Campaigns encouraging students to choose colleges have also intensified in schools. In 2026, posts on the social media platform VKontakte praising colleges for the first time surpassed those promoting university.
However, this push poses a major barrier to young people pursuing a university education. From 2025, college graduates can only apply to university without an exam in a similar field. Moreover, colleges do not offer preparation for the university entrance exam (EGE).
The situation is even more critical for male students. The law stipulates that the deferment from military service for education can be used only once. A young man who uses this right during college cannot avoid conscription later, even if he enrolls in a university. It is known that those doing compulsory military service are regularly coerced into signing contracts with the Defense Ministry and are then sent to the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, schools are narrowing their 10th grade quotas. New standards in force since 2022 compel high schools to open specialized profile classes offering in-depth education in certain subjects. Because this practice is costly and teachers are hard to find, enough classes cannot be opened in all fields. For instance, at a school that only has advanced mathematics classes, students interested in social sciences may be unable to continue their education.
Admission criteria for profile classes are often opaque; schools do not announce a clear threshold score. An unnamed teacher told the BBC: "After the profile classes were determined, parents protested saying 'we will go to the prosecutor's office.' So the school had to accept the children. Classes swelled; two-thirds filled up with students not ready for the profile, and those who actually want to learn suffer. As a result, neither studying nor providing a proper education is possible."
Under these conditions, some families are turning to homeschooling or private online schools. But in doing so, the right to military deferment is lost; a deferment can only be regained by enrolling in university.
