They don't ask you.
They assign you.
They assign you.
Every year the state forcibly assigns tens of thousands of graduates to jobs. We analysed how it works — and what the alternative could look like.
Policy report | 2026
- 98Kgraduates of universities, colleges and vocational schools assigned to jobs in 2024
- 74.4%placed in the state sector rather than private
- 6–12compensation owed for refusing an assignment in month salaries
- 42.5%of Brest region graduates didn't keep their first assigned job
//// How mandatory placement works
Not a distribution of resources.
A distribution of people.
A distribution of people.
§72
Under Article 72 of the Education Code, any graduate of a state-funded full-time programme must work for 1 to 5 years wherever the placement commission sends them. They cannot terminate the employment contract voluntarily without paying compensation — calculated opaquely and unknown in advance.
Who is affected
Anyone who studied full-time at the state's expense, plus those who spent more than half their term on a state-funded place while paying for the rest. Part-time and evening students already working in their field are exempt.
Як гэта пачынаецца
Institutions collect employer quotas in advance and draft a placement plan. Graduates only learn their options a month before assignment — the final decision rests with the commission, not the graduate.
//// Legal analysis
Forced labour under international law
Belarus has ratified both ILO Forced Labour Conventions (No. 29 and No. 105). Nearly every core feature of the placement system conflicts with them.
"Menace of a penalty" — compensation as punishment for refusal
ILO Convention No. 29
Opaque calculation of a sum unknown until the moment of refusal
Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of 31 August 2022 No. 572, "Regulation on the Targeted Training of Specialists, Workers and Employees"
Illusory choice of workplace — the commission decides
Art. 74, Education Code of the Republic of Belarus
Permanent, not temporary — fails the ILO's exceptions
ILO Convention No. 105
Violates the right to choose one's profession and workplace
Art. 41, Constitution of the Republic of Belarus
//// Social consequences
From rural isolation to sham marriages
- Regional isolationweak infrastructure, no housing, no social ties
- Gender inequalitywomen are disproportionately placed in low-paid sectors
- Brain drainthe threat of placement is one reason young people choose to study abroad
- Strain on the state's social systemssham marriages and fake jobs place an extra burden on every social institution
//// Economic consequences
Preserving low productivity instead of solving the staffing shortage
And here are the numbers to prove it
01 / Labour productivity
02 / The state creates an artificial skew toward an already unproductive state sector
//// Recommendations
Six steps to make the system at least less coercive
Transparent compensation calculation
a public, fixed formula + independent audit
Independent appeals body
a commission not subordinate to the university
Simplified re-assignment
the right to change employer for health, family reasons, or employer misconduct
Flexible timing of service
choose when it starts + partial offset through volunteer work
Payment installments
spread compensation over 5–10 years + write-offs for vulnerable groups
Open statistics
public data on graduate retention after 1, 3, and 5 years
The full analysis — legal, social and economic — in one document
75+ references to legislation, international conventions, and independent research
This policy report was prepared with the support of:
