"We must have a [definite] position [on the CSE] by fall 2004," he said, "We cannot give up doing what we are doing this year. In 2004 this examination will pass as was planned previously. We cannot begin switching rules now that there are two to three months left before the [university] admissions campaign." In his opinion, the system has its pluses, for example, "an opportunity for the youth from Russia's remote regions to gain access to higher education." "I talked to the representatives of Russian provinces, and their attitude towards the Common Examination is not as negative [as in Moscow]," but they also think that the system has to be modernized, Fursenko said.
He said he considered it wrong to associate the education reform only with the CSE concept. "CSE is an instrument, but not the main problem of education and its reform," he emphasized.
CSE is a school-leaving test examination whose results are accounted for university admission. The CSE experiment has aroused fierce dispute in Russia.
The minister also said that he thought it quite fair that graduates of state-run universities should return the public money spent on their education should they quit the profession right after graduation.
"If the state pays for education, it has a right to get [the beneficiary] return his/her knowledge to the state for a while," the minister said.
"There are professions the state desperately needs, for example school teachers, medics, military servicemen, and one should either accomplish these functions or cover the education expenses," he added.
Fursenko did not rule out an option of a private company covering the state education expenses for a state university graduate it is determined to employ.
The minister said as well that the World History of Religion should be introduced as a high-school subject.
"No one can know the history of his/her country without knowing the development of religion in it... One ought to respect any religion," the minister clarified.
He said that this subject was basically restricted by the shortage of textbooks and teachers. Fursenko added that the World History of Religion should be taught secularly.
"It is extremely dangerous to let representatives of any confession into school, should they even teach a secular subject. They are responsible before their confession, and they cannot and must not be objective," he said.
