VLADIVOSTOK, November 17 (Itar-Tass) — University teachers who earn 20,000-30,000 roubles a month are teachers with low qualification who agree to such remuneration or adjuncts who work in several universities, Education and Science Minister Dmitry Livanov said.
He said such pay is not enough and stressed that the budget for 2013-2014 will have enough funding for a serious pay raise to teachers.
At the same time, Livanov noted that some higher educational institutions already pay 50,000-60,000 roubles a month.
The minister said work is underway with regions to raise university teachers’ salaries. He made it clear that their salaries should be no lower than the average salary in the respective region.
Livanov said earlier, however, that university teachers’ salaries can’t be raised in a month’s time, but they will be raised rapidly.
He said a large-scale programme has been commenced to raise university teachers’ salaries so that they “do their job and do not get distracted by working on the side”.
“This problem can’t be solved in one month but salaries will be raised quite rapidly,” Livanov said.
He stressed that “the salary of the reactor should be linked to the average salary of teachers and this gap should not be bigger than eight times. The decision will be adopted at the level of the government”.
Livanov said earlier that the leadership of universities was personally responsible for raising the salaries of their faculty staff.
“By the end of this year the average salary of teachers will not be lower than the average salary in the region. In Moscow it’s 42,000 roubles. By 2018, it will be twice as large as the average salary in the economy,” the minister said.
“This means a serious pay rise. Budget funding will be increased, but we think that this problem should be solved in part at the expense of the budget and in part at the expense of the universities themselves,” the minister said.
He believes that universities have different sources of funding, including off-budget ones, and payroll funds are formed by their rectors.
“The rectors bear personal responsibility. Salaries should be sufficient, provide for decent living, make up for the teacher’s input and match his qualification; and the teacher should not run from one place to another, seeking to make money,” the minister said.
“I think each of our universities has every reason to bring their faculty staff’s salaries to the average salary in its region already in September,” Livanov said.