The press service of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation informs that over 10 years (from 2010 to 2019) the number of foreign students who came to Russia to receive higher education has almost doubled: from 153,000 to 297,900 people.
Where do foreign students study in Russia?
The Central Federal District accepts the largest number of foreign students (34.2% of the total), followed by the Volga region (17.9%), then Siberia (14.2%). In total, 688 universities and 465 of their branches included foreign students in their lists. At the same time, the distribution is rather uneven - only 5 universities accept the maximum number of students from abroad:
- Kazan Federal University (KFU) = 8717 students (2.9% of the total)
- RUDN, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia = 7248 people (2.4%)
- Moscow Financial and Industrial University "Synergy" = 6123 students (or 2.1%)
- Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University = 4976 students (1.7% of the total)
- Higher School of Economics (HSE) = 4362 students (1.5%).
The Ministry of Education and Science is satisfied: this growth testifies to the fact that the prestige of Russian education in the world has begun to rise a little, but finally, which means that government measures are working and are proving their effectiveness.
What else is planned to be done to attract students to Russia?
They want to amend the law "On Education" and redistribute (more precisely, modernize the distribution mechanism) of quotas for foreign students in Russia.
- The directions of financing, which are covered by budgetary appropriations, will expand
- The regulatory framework that regulates the admission and education of foreign students will be improved and finalized
- Research and teaching infrastructure of universities will be updated and supplemented
- New educational formats will be added.
By 2021, the Education national project promises us at least 425,000 foreign students who are getting higher education in Russian universities. How realistic do you think this is?
