OREANDA-NEWS. April 30, 2009. The Expert Council on Protecting Competition in Education and Science, at the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia), discussed the problem of developing recommendations on liability insurance of educational institutions (organizations) of post-secondary vocational education and high professional education that offer paid educational services, in terms of compliance with the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition", reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

Representatives of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, the Russian Ministry of Finances, Rosobrnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Education and Science), Rossobrazovanie (the Federal Agency for Education), Rosstrakhnadzor (the Federal Insurance Supervision Agency), the heads of educational institutions (organizations) of all organizational-legal forms and forms of ownership and representatives of insurance companies took part in the work of the Council.

Such recommendations should be developed due to several reasons.

Presently, the forms of guarantees, provided by an educational institution to the students and their parents (legal representatives) should the educational institution suspend or terminate its activities, or its accreditation is withdrawn, are not determined.

Current enforcement practice does not guarantee that students will obtain post-secondary or higher professional education in the educational institution of their choice. Judicial practice shows numerous difficulties that the students and their parents (legal representatives) face asserting their legitimate rights.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service has prepared draft amendments to the Law on Education, aimed at social protection of the interests of the population getting education. According to the project, private educational institutions and state educational institutions providing paid educational services can insure their educational activities with the purpose of providing guarantees to the students if an insurance event occurs. Therefore, if an educational institution terminates its activities, or its state accreditation is withdrawn, students can continue their education in other post-secondary or higher professional educational institutions, receiving damage compensation in the form of insurance payments.

From the point of protecting competition on the market of educational services, liability insurance of post-secondary or higher professional educational institutions for providing paid services is one of the major factors of preventing unfair competition.

Resolving the problem of ensuring guarantees of post-secondary or higher professional educational institutions to their students is one of the key issues, in particular, related to the quality of provided educational services.

The Expert Council emphasized the importance of finding a solution to the problem of ensuring the guarantees to the students of post-secondary or higher professional educational institutions for getting the relevant professional education or immediate compensation of damages if an insurance event occurs.

The Council also discussed other forms of guarantying liability of educational institutions to the students and their parents. Along with the traditional form of liability insurance, such guarantees can be provided by self-regulated organizations, mutual insurance companies and guarantee funds.

Summing up the discussion, the Expert Council approved the FAS Russia's initiative on introducing insurance principles to education and decided to form a Working Group, comprising representatives of the interested agencies, educational institutions and non-governmental organizations for devising recommendations for liability insurance (providing other forms of guarantee) of post-secondary or higher professional educational institutions (organizations) in providing paid educational services.