RGTEU students refuse to stop strike after meeting with ministry workers
MOSCOW. Dec 25 (Interfax) - Students of the Moscow-based Russian State University of Trade and Economics (RGTEU) will not stop the strike against university reorganization.
"Shall the strike go on?" university tutor Ivan Mironov asked students at a meeting with representatives of the Russian Education and Science Ministry. "Yes" was the unanimous answer.
Deputy Education and Science Minister Alexander Klimov confirmed earlier guarantees to the students; he said teaching programs and tuition fees would not change.
The best tutors will continue to teach students, he promised. But a decision on the university staff will be made by a joint commission of two higher educational establishments, that would have been formed long ago if not for the strike, he said.
The students were unhappy with the meeting and said they would carry on the strike until the repeal of the order to reorganize their university and the Education and Science Ministry's monitoring results.
Mironov called on students to leave the conference hall, and many students stood up and went out in spite of ministry representatives' requests to stay and listen to new ministry orders.
On November 1, the Education and Science Ministry published a list of about two dozen higher educational institutions it rated as ineffective after monitoring 541 state universities and 994 affiliates.
The RGTEU was among those on the list.
The students had a strike on December 18-20. The strike was suspended while students hoped for a decision of the national administration about the university future.
The Education and Science Ministry decided to attach the RGTEU to the Russian Plekhanov University of Economics.
RGTEU students and professors refused to recognize the ministry's decision.