Profession filters in Belarus
The tests are designed for those who seek to enroll for what is described as “prestigious” course like journalism, international relations, law, etc.
The secrets of interviews were revealed to potential journalism students by Volha Samusevich, a deputy dean of the journalism department at the leading Belarus State University. She said that the main goal of the tests is to find our whether a young person really needs education in journalism. She also added that the test would not be passed if an interviewee has poor knowledge of the main problems of the Belarusian society and the geopolitical situation.
The meeting between journalism faculty representatives and would-be students took place at the Brest City Hall. It was a follow-up to the roundtable session organized by the city authorities with the representatives of the Ministry of Information, journalism department professors and journalists from the Sovietskaya Belorussia newspaper led by the editor-in-chief, Pavel Yakubovich.
Around twenty high-school graduates, some with parents, came to find out what they should expect during an interview. The youngsters were discussing between themselves that they should show off as activists of the pro-government youth union (BRSM).
But nobody talked about any public associations. According to Volha Samusevich, if an interviewee is unable to name the newspaper edited by Pavel Yakubovich or cannot pronounce the name of the editor-in-chief of “the country’s main newspaper Sovietskaya Belorussia”, the test would not be passed.
“Apart from writing articles, every future journalist must know the names of the children or literature newspapers”, the deputy dean scared the audience. “In addition, one needs to have knowledge of the political situation in the world and know which problems the Belarusian society and the government are facing”.
