Russia offers university admission boost for students who pass drone piloting exam
on Google
Russian school students who pass a drone operation test will be eligible for extra points on university entrance exams starting in 2027, Russia's Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev announced on May 22, the Kremlin-controlled Russian Interfax news agency reported.
The initiative comes as Russia expands a broader recruitment campaign targeting students for its newly created drone units amid mounting battlefield losses in Ukraine.
The school-level drone testing system may serve as an early pipeline for future recruitment into these units, although Russian authorities have not linked the programs.
Under the new initiative, drone operation will be added in 2026 to Russia's "Ready for Labor and Defense" (GTO), a government physical training program that sets performance standards across age groups from six to 70 and older.
Successful completion of the GTO program earns school students two to five additional points on the state exam used for university admission, according to an order from the Russian Education and Science Ministry dated Nov. 27, 2024.
Drone piloting with 75-millimeter propellers will be introduced on a trial basis in 2026, with the option to take the test and obtain certification made available to all interested participants starting in 2027, according to Degtyarev.
Recent developments highlight Russia's growing integration of drone warfare into education.
Earlier in May, BBC Russian Service reported that the first known Russian student, 23-year-old Valery Averin, was killed on the front line in Donetsk Oblast after being recruited through the country's drone forces recruitment campaign.
Russian teenagers can also study for free and earn money at Alabuga Polytech, an education center linked to a major military production site in Russia's Alabuga Special Economic Zone. Students as young as 14 can enroll there and take part in assembling drones used in the war against Ukraine.
