Higher education at Belarusian universities is affordable and prestigious, which means that every year tens of thousands of students again enroll in educational programs of the widest range. Belarusian education inherits the traditions of the Soviet university system, which means that it is distinguished by the high quality of training of specialists of all specialties, especially technical ones. The article will pay particular attention to which universities in Belarus have special differences and therefore deserve the most careful study. It’s worth starting with the classification of universities and their forms of ownership.
Classification of universities in Belarus
The republic has adopted the division of higher education institutions into specialized ones, which include academies and conservatories, technical and technological universities, classical universities, institutes and higher colleges.
In addition, the form of ownership is an important parameter, since universities are not only state-owned, but also private. There are nine private universities in the country, eight of which are located in Minsk and one in Gomel. Despite the private nature of these universities, they are under the control of the Ministry of Education.
Classical Universities
In Belarus, state-owned multidisciplinary universities are located in every major city. The Belarusian State University located in Minsk is considered the main university of the country. The foundation date of BSU is considered October 30, 1921, when the university opened its doors to the first students.
The newly opened university in Belarus consisted of five faculties: agricultural, social sciences, working, medical, and physical and mathematical. The first doctoral dissertation was defended at BSU in 1927.
New Universities
Unlike such well-known universities as BSU and Gomel and Vitebsk universities, Polessky and Baranovichi universities were organized only in the early 2000s in order to improve access to education for young people who are not able to move to study in Minsk.
Baranavichy University was established in 2004, and it has five faculties:
- pre-university training;
- pedagogy and psychology;
- engineering;
- Slavic and Germanic languages;
- economics and law.
It is worth noting that, despite its very short history, the Baranavichy University provides services of the same high quality as all other state universities in Belarus.
On April 5, 2006, the University of Polesie was established in the city of Pinsk. Today it is the youngest university in the country. The educational institution was created on the basis of a branch of the Belarusian State Economic University and Pinsk Higher Banking College. Until 2013, the university was subordinate to the National Bank of the Republic.
There is a lyceum at the University of Polesie, in which students can choose specialized physical-mathematical or chemical-biological classes. The university also provides training for graduate students and doctoral students in various economic specialties related to the national economy.
Art universities
Art universities of the Republic of Belarus are represented by three universities located in Minsk. These include: Belarusian State Academy of Arts, Belarusian State Academy of Music, Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts.
The Academy of Arts trains artists, cameramen, actors and television specialists. The Academy leads its history from the Theater Institute, founded in 1945. After several transformations, the institute was transformed into the Academy of Arts only in 2001. Today, the Academy has six faculties focused on training specialists for film, television and theater.
Another prestigious art university is the Academy of Music, which is an authoritative scientific center for the study of folklore, musical aesthetics, pedagogy and musicology. But first of all, the Academy is known as an important center for the training of performers of various specializations. The educational institution has a vocal-choral, orchestral, piano, composer and musicology faculties and a continuing education faculty.
Agricultural Academy
Due to the focus of the Belarusian economy on the production of high-quality agricultural products and their processing, the training of highly qualified personnel for the industry is of particular importance.
The Belarusian Agricultural Academy is the oldest of the current universities in Belarus. In addition, a feature of the academy is that it is located not in Minsk, but in the city of Gorki, Mogilev region, which indicates the attention that the administration is devoting to the development of regions and increasing the accessibility of education for residents of small towns.
The Academy has nine full-time faculties, including agronomy, land management and economics. The faculties of extramural studies include agrobiological, engineering and the faculty of economics and law.