The music college is forced to reduce places for applicants in Mykolaiv: «Education requires more expenses»

One of the classrooms of the College of Music, October 2024, photo NikVesti

The Mykolaiv College of Music is forced to plan to reduce places for entrants in 2025.

This is stated in the article NikVesti «As much as there is a facility, so much we tolerate.» How the music college in Mykolaiv teaches art students despite the war.»

Currently, there are 205 students studying at the College of Musical Arts, the director of the educational institution, Anatolii Syrota, said. These are pianists, string players, brass players, choirmasters, folk musicians, classics and jazzmen. All college education is free.

«We train the musical elite of our society. It promotes some norms of life, it promotes something beautiful,» he says.

Director of the College of Music Anatolii Syrota, October 2024, photo NikVesti

However, the number of college admissions is planned to decrease from 2025, said Anatolii Syrota. First of all, this is due to the fact that the funding of the institution remains at the pre-war level, and the load on teachers increases due to changes in the curriculum.

«Before the war, we accepted 70 students annually. Last year we took 70, and this year — 60. The number has decreased a little. But it's not scary for us. After all, our curricula have changed and now the educational process requires more expenses for each student.

Therefore, I even made this decision for the next year to reduce the recruitment plan a little. This is so that we have enough funds. Therefore, next year we will accept not 70 students, but 67. And in 2026, not 67 students, but 65. We are going a little along the path of reducing the contingent,» said Anatolii Syrota.

For example, currently there are three teachers for one student at the same time, explained the director of the college. Classes usually take place individually in separate small classrooms.

«We have one student and three teachers. It is one time and at the same time. There is a teacher, a concertmaster and an illustrator. That is, three teachers, three salaries for one student. This is very expensive training,» explained the director.

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College of musical art in Mykolaiv

Even before the full-scale war, the project to repair the college was done three times, but no money was found for the restoration.

In August 2021, the Deputy Head of the Regional State Administration for Culture Yurii Hranaturov promised that in 2022 they would develop a project for the reconstruction of the historical college building. At that time, he said that the work will be carried out in two stages: the repair of the old building and the reconstruction of the historical building. The Regional State Administration was going to look for money for this from the FDRR or «kick out» through the «Major construction» and «Major restoration» programs.

In April 2021, Mykolaiv musician Volodymyr Aleksieiev drew attention to the critical condition of the college building. He told how for 17 years the local authorities have been making promises to repair the building, but it continues to collapse. At that time, he said that the reconstruction of the facade of the building requires an amount of about 100,000 dollars.

And the team of the College of Musical Arts showed the conditions under which they are forced to work and train the young talents of the region for decades.

At the end of 2021, the then head of the Mykolaiv Regional Council, Anna Zamazieieva, inspected the Mykolaiv Music College and promised to take the issue under personal control. She wrote about this on December 20, a day before the session at which the regional council approved the regional budget for 2022.

In April 2023, a tender was announced for the repair of two buildings of the Mykolaiv Vocational College of Music. It was planned to spend 2.9 million hryvnias on this.

And at the end of 2023, the repair of the college building on Soborna, 10 was estimated at 100 million hryvnias. This amount was prescribed in the Program of Economic and Social Development of Mykolaiv Oblast for 2024, which was approved by deputies at the regional council session on December 14.