State to sponsor students abroad, with a catch

In the manner of Peter the Great, who sent court nobility to study abroad to modernise Russia, the government will pay for a foreign education for university graduates who promise to return home to work for three years, writes Natalya Krainova for The Moscow Times.

The programme, called Global Education, will see 3,000 graduates study abroad on the government's dime over the next three years for a degree in social services, high technology, state and municipal government, or higher education management. The government designated these fields as being of high priority to the economy.

"The only effective way to attract a big number of highly qualified specialists to Russia in the next three years is to finance their studies," said Alexander Rusinov, a top official at the non-profit organisation that drafted the programme and will distribute the money. While observers agree that most spheres of the country's life need modernisation and that foreign experience can be useful, some fear the programme will be damaged by corruption, and others suggest that more money should be spent inside the country.
Full report on The Moscow Times site