Top universities raise tuition fees as inflation grows

Leading Russian universities are raising the cost of study ahead of the 2024-25 academic year, the business daily Vedomosti reported on Thursday 13 June, citing higher education ranking data, reports The Moscow Times.

Tuition fees at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) saw the largest increase, according to data from RAEX Analytics, with the average cost of study for undergraduates there jumping by 20%. Annual tuition for MIPT’s applied mathematics and physics programme rose from RUB389,000 (US$4,344) to RUB467,000 (US$5,216), Vedomosti reported. Among Russia’s top 10 universities, tuition fees at St Petersburg State University and Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University have increased the least, with the average cost of study at both institutions going up by 4.5%.

The spike in tuition fees at Russian universities comes amid persistently high inflation, driven by a surge in military spending for Moscow’s ongoing war against Ukraine. Even before the full-scale invasion, tuition rates were trending upward, with the average cost of study at a public university in Russia rising by 51% between 2016 and 2021.
Full report on The Moscow Times site