SA students in Russia stranded with government funding woes
Over 220 South African students furthering their education in Russia face expulsion and eviction from residences after a funding debacle back home. The students are supposed to be fully funded by the Mpumalanga Education Department with costs covered for living expenses, tuition and accommodation. But the contract for the implementing agent the department was working with has lapsed, leaving the students stranded. The department has vowed to make all outstanding payments to tertiary institutions in Russia by 14 October. BizNews correspondent Michael Appel spoke to Sizwe Mkhatshwa – a fifth year medical student – who faces not only eviction from his residence but also automatically being failed on several modules should payment not be forthcoming. The department said in a statement that: "Everything humanly possible is being done by the Department to ensure that the academic and plight of students is not compromised." – Michael Appel
Excerpts from interview with student Sizwe Mkhatshwa in Russia
Sizwe Mkhatshwa on what he's studying and when funding troubles started cropping up
I've been in Russia for five years. I'm doing my fifth year as a general medicine student at the Tambov State Medical University. The problem with stipends started around June. Students started having problems with receiving stipends for June, July, August until we started complaining about it. Then we were told that the contractor, which was Racus SA, had expired. We were confused why the contract expired because we thought we were going to have them for at least six years because we had a mutual relationship with them. We could call them any time whenever we face troubled in school. But since the Mpumalanga Education Department took over, we've been having trouble reaching them.
On how far their R5,000 stipend goes in Russia these days
We were grateful that it was increased from R4,000 to R5,000. There are students who are doing sixth year right now and they were telling me they were getting R2,500 [in their first year] and now it's at R5,000, which we do appreciate but it's still a very small amount because the rand is just crumbling. If you check the rand, I think it used to be about five or six rubles to a rand at some point, now it's at around 3.5 for a rand. So it doesn't get you through the month. We have to use that money to travel to school and for living expenses. People have started using their stipend money to pay for their accommodation [which is supposed to be covered by the South African government]. Food prices have gone up a lot. These days we survive just eating two minute noodles and basic foods that we can get as cheap as possible. It's just a mess.
On the new payment deadline of 14 October by which government commits to make all outstanding payments
Unfortunately, I have lost trust in the government. Since the beginning of September, we have been complaining about school fees not being paid. The St Petersburg office sent letters to the government, I think in August, reminding them that by 1 September, all the students should have paid. This includes their tuition fees to be exact. I do not believe that by Friday, which is the 14th of October, everything will be sorted because we have students that haven't received their stipends for a period of three months. We were given an initial date of the 7th of October where everything will be paid. That date came and no one got anything. So we cannot rely on the 14th because we've been receiving the same statement from government, just different payment dates.
Full statement from the Mpumalanga Education Department regarding the situation:
The Mpumalanga Department of Education confirms that there are currently 229 students who are furthering their studies in various fields (medicine, veterinary science, engineering, aeronautical science, cyber security and IT) of study in the Federal Republic of Russia. About 67 of these students are expected to complete their studies in June 2023.
The students are fully funded by the Mpumalanga Department of Education as part of the Provincial Human Resource Development Strategy. In the past, the placement of the students at various institutions was facilitated by a contracted implementation agent called Green Tutu trading as Racus, whose contract has since expired as of March 2022.
The department advertised a tender in October 2021 to solicit an implementing agent. The department did not receive any responses and accordingly it was re-advertised this month of October 2022.
It is important to note that the department has since increased the stipend from R4,000 to R5,000 per student per month to mitigate the challenges that the students are experiencing as a result of the conflict involving Russia and Ukraine.
During all this the department has been able to process the monthly stipend for all students except for 15 whose banking details were not fully operational. Other options are currently being explored to resolve the matter.
Furthermore, the department was able to bring back home 56 students for recess for three weeks in August 2022 and were assisted to return successfully back to Russia in September 2022.
There are 68 students who have already graduated this year and were brought back to the country in September 2022.
The challenge that the department is currently addressing is about the payment of accommodation and tuition fees.
This is expected to be concluded by the 14 October 2022 as required by Russian universities.
As of now, the department does not have information of students whose academic contracts have been terminated as well as students who were evicted from their respective places of accommodation.
The Department is currently in advanced discussions with the South African Embassy in Russia and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in an effort to accelerate the payment of tuition and accommodation for the students.
The department has established open lines of communications with students and they are being updated on progress on a constant basis.
Everything humanly possible is being done by the Department to ensure that the academic futures and plight of the students is not compromised.
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