The Law “On Education” clarified the terms of compulsory service for public sector graduates

There is a norm established at the level of law, according to which graduates of schools, technical schools, colleges and universities who studied on a budgetary basis, after receiving a diploma, are required to work in their specialty for 1 to 3 years in the republic today. Or return to the state the money spent on their education. The terms of service for each category of graduates are fixed in detail in the Government Resolution at the same time. For example, bachelor graduates who studied at the expense of the republican budget are required to work as assigned for 3 years upon completion of their studies.

What about state-funded students who want to continue their studies in a master’s program immediately after graduating from a bachelor’s degree? Will they be able to enroll in a master's program in the year they graduate from their bachelor's degree? Or will they have to interrupt their studies in order to work for the required 3 years? It was precisely this request for clarification of the norms of the Law “On Education” that the rector of the Pridnestrovian State University addressed to the parliament.

Deputies of the parliamentary Committee on Education Igor Buga, Andrei Safonov and Pavel Shinkaryuk decided to amend the current legislation and spell out in detail in the relevant law the terms of compulsory service for public sector graduates in order to eliminate the legal gap and eliminate the possibility of controversial situations. Parliamentarians supported the initiative of their fellow deputies in two readings at once in the course of the plenary session.

The Law “On Education” enshrines the norms according to which public sector graduates who have successfully completed bachelor’s and specialist’s programs upon completion of their studies will have to work as assigned for 3 years. Graduates who have received higher medical education will work from 3 to 5 years.

Moreover, if a graduate of a bachelor's degree immediately entered a master's program, he will work for the required 3 years after receiving a master's degree. The period of compulsory service will remain unchanged even if he completed the master’s program at the expense of budget funds. However, if a state-funded student entered a master’s program not immediately after receiving a bachelor’s degree, but several years later, the student will have to work for 1 year in his specialty upon completion of studies.

The law established mandatory service for a period of 1 year for public sector graduates of primary vocational education organizations and 2 years for public sector graduates of secondary vocational education organizations.

If the cases arise in practice that when distributing a graduate, they are not stipulated by law, it will be regulated at the level of by-laws of the PMR Government in educational organizations.

The new measures will take effect after signing by the President and will apply to legal relations arising after June 1, 2024. This means that graduates who graduated from vocational education organizations this year will be subject to these standards.