Government announces ‘packages’ to attract foreign students

The Russian government plans to accelerate the recruitment to domestic universities of international students – including those from the West – by more than 40% over the next five years as part of a strategy aimed at expanding the country’s global influence.

According to Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Konstantin Mogilevsky, by 2030 the number of foreign students in Russian universities should increase to 500,000 compared to the current 355,000.

Addressing the meeting of the Public Council under the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, Mogilevsky said to achieve this goal it was important “to create competitive conditions so that the most talented school graduates from other countries give preference to Russian higher education institutions”.

Grant funding

In addition to students from the former Soviet states and Asia, the government hopes to attract students from Western countries and is ready to cover the cost of tuition for talented foreign students through a grant funding scheme instead of the current quota system.

It is expected that the grants will be in the form of special ‘packages’, while their amount will be calculated on a case-by-case basis. The overall budget for the scheme, which will end in 2030, was not disclosed.

Mogilevsky said: “The government is working on creating special packages for foreign students with payment for travel to the place of study, accommodation, medical insurance and a scholarship. In addition, to promote a positive image of Russia in the international arena, it is necessary to maintain the quality of higher education at the highest level.”

In addition to such packages, the government will consider the expansion of the existing quota of state-funded places for foreign students, which is currently estimated at about 30,000 places. According to some sources, there is a possibility that the quota could be almost doubled.

The government has also plans to establish special recruitment agencies that will help foreign students to enter Russian universities and to establish a special “educational environment” in which foreign students will be offered courses to study – in both English and Russian – that promote typical values of Russia and its traditions.

As part of state plans, the attraction of foreign students will be framed as a tool of its ‘soft power’ policy and the formation of national elites in other countries that are loyal to Russia.

Russian values

As former deputy minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia and former deputy secretary general of the UN Sergei Ordzhonikidze recently told the Russian Izvestia business paper, these students will be the “followers” of Russia’s values: spiritual, moral, and ideological.

According to Ordzhonikidze, after graduation, the students will return to their countries and, as people with a good education, shape the policies of their states.

According to data supplied by Rossotrudnichestvo, the Russian state agency responsible for the promotion of the country’s image in the international arena, among the most popular domestic universities for foreign students are Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN), Kazan (Volga) Federal University, Moscow State University, Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University, Bashkir State Medical University.

The Ministry of Education and Science expects the share of foreign students at domestic universities (primarily leading) will reach at least 10% of the total number of students within the next several years, up from 7-8% currently.