International students in Russia

Main article: Education in Russia

2024: Russia set a record for the number of foreign students - 355 thousand people

In Russia, a record has been set for the number of foreign students studying in higher educational institutions of the country. On July 10, 2024, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia Konstantin Mogilevsky said that in 2024, about 355 thousand foreign students study at Russian universities. This is the highest indicator in the history of the Russian education system.

According to Konstantin Mogilevsky, this record figure was achieved thanks to targeted work to attract foreign students, which is part of the strategic plan for the development of Russian higher education. In 2023, the number of foreign students was about 8% of the total number of students in Russia, which is about 4 million people.

Freepik

As he writes, "TASS" most foreign students come from countries,,, and CIS China. Iran India Africa There is also a significant increase in the number of students from and Latin America.

According to Konstantin Mogilevsky, the increase in the number of foreign students in Russia is a sign of recognition of the quality of Russian education. "Foreign students vote with their feet and a ruble for Russian education," he said. Of the total number of foreign students, about 41 thousand study under government scholarships, and the rest of the students study either on a commercial basis or on equal rights with Russian citizens.

In addition, by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin, within the framework of national development goals, by 2030 the number of foreign students should be at least 500 thousand people. This indicator is one of the key in the strategy for the development of higher education in Russia and is aimed at strengthening the country's position in the global educational system.^[1]

2023

The number of foreign students in Russia increased by 9%

The growth rate of exports of Russian higher education is recovering from a slowdown in 2020-2021. Such data from TAdviser on July 20, 2023 were shared in the Center for Expertise and Research Projects of the University "Synergy" based on the results of the study of official statistics for 2013-2022, presented on the website of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia. The study showed that after a slowdown in the growth rate of the number of foreign students in 2020-2021 from 6 to 3%, caused largely by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2022 it was increased to 9%.

Dynamics of the number of foreign students from the countries of near and far abroad

In general, since 2016, the share of students from non-CIS countries has been steadily increasing, which in 2022 reached 36% of all foreigners receiving higher education in Russia. There was also a tendency towards an increase in the share of foreign students studying in full-time and part-time forms, and a decrease in the share of students studying in part-time forms.

As part of the study "Export of Russian education: regional aspect (2023)," experts considered the dynamics of the number of foreign students in public and private universities both in the country as a whole and in federal districts, and also analyzed the distribution of the number of foreign students by regions of the country of citizenship.

The result of the analysis showed that most foreign students prefer undergraduate programs and represent countries with which Russia has a long experience of cooperation. Among them, the former republics of the USSR and China traditionally stand out.

At the same time, in recent years, the influx of students from Africa Egypt(,,,) and (,), Algeria Nigeria Zimbabwe Latin America Colombia Ecuador as well as from countries (,,) has significantly increased Middle East. In Iran Syria addition, Iraq the number of students from, and on India the programs of the specialty, preserved in Russia mainly in the field, has noticeably increased. medicine

The researchers predict that the trend towards a smooth increase in the number and proportion of foreign students from non-CIS countries in the future will continue.

Population Growth Rate and Forecast to 2025

The full report of the Center for Expertise and Research Projects of the University "Synergy" can be found here.

Russia ranks 4th in the world in terms of the number of foreign students

Russian high school remains one of the most popular in the world.

Since at least 2016, Russia has been in the top five countries in terms of the number of foreign students and graduate students. At the same time, researchers from Project Atlas do not take into account students from Africa in order to deliberately underestimate the country's indicators. Competitors of Russia: USA, Britain and Australia.

Every tenth student in Russia is a foreigner. Most are from the post-Soviet countries of Central Asia, Belarus and Azerbaijan.

From far abroad Russia to most often sends students - there are China already 40 thousand of them. The number has doubled since 2016.

Indian students in Russia 18.5 thousand, Egyptian - 10.5 thousand. In previous years, Vietnam was still in the top (4.5 thousand).

Medicine is the most popular specialty among foreign students (there are 76 thousand of them). Nothing has changed here since the Soviet era. Engineers (75 thousand), economists (60 thousand) and teachers (31 thousand) follow. Agriculture is less interesting to foreigners - 11 thousand students.

Russia returns the Soviet diploma of a specialist and leaves the Bologna process, in which training at the university is two-stage (bachelor plus master). This decision will further increase the level of higher education in the country, experts are sure.

Ministry of Education and Science: The number of foreign students increased by 8.4% to 351 thousand people

In 2022, the number of foreign students studying at Russian universities increased by 8.4% compared to 2021 and reached 351 thousand. This was announced at the end of November 2022 by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

According to the ministry, in 2021, 324 thousand foreign students studied in Russia, in 2020 - 315 thousand. In 2022, the total number of foreign students receiving higher education in Russia has grown over the past three years by more than 36 thousand. Under the Ministry of Education and Science, it was clarified that the data for 2022 do not include foreign students studying on a paid basis. And the final data on the admission campaign will be summed up later.

The number of foreign students in Russia continues to grow

At the end of January 2023, Minister of Education and Science Valery Falkov said that about 400,000 foreign students study at Russian universities. According to him, in 2022 "more was received even than in 2021." Students from abroad, as Falkov said, often choose "traditional" learning formats, such as a five-year specialty in medical universities.

According to Rossotrudnichestvo, in the 2021-2022 academic year, the most popular among students from abroad were the specialties in clinical medicine (19%), economics and management (13%), computer science and computing (7%), political sciences and regional studies "(5%)," linguistics and literary studies "(5%).

Today we are in seventh place among the countries of the world in terms of the number of foreign students, we have increased the number of budget places, about 30% in recent years, only this year more than 21 thousand foreign students will be enrolled, already enrolled. The largest number of applications comes from, Ukraine,, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Uzbekistan Tajikistan Vietnam About 83 thousand foreign citizens from 180 countries took part in the qualifying events for training in Russian universities, - said Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia Petr Kucherenko at a press conference held on November 14, 2022, dedicated to the results of ten years of work of the Presidential Council on Interethnic Relations and the implementation of the strategy of the state national policy of the Russian Federation until 2025. The number[2]

Chernyshenko: Russia is one of the ten countries in the world in terms of the number of foreign students

In early November 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said that Russia is one of the ten countries in the world in terms of the number of foreign students.

He clarified that in 2022, more than 30,000 students from 176 countries have already registered to participate in the international Open Doors Olympiad. It is noted that over five years, more than 245,000 students from 197 countries took part in Open Doors, 2,800 of them got the opportunity to study for free at Russian universities.

Dmitry Chernyshenko

The Minister of Science and Higher formations Russia Valery Falkov added that over the past three years, the number of foreign students in Russia has grown by 26,000. At the end of 2021, 324,000 foreign students studied at Russian universities, the minister said. According to him, the most popular areas among them are Engineering and Technology, Clinical Medicine and Public, health care Computer and Data Sciences and Biology and Biotechnology.

According to the Ministry of Education and Science, which were released in early 2022, Most foreigners study at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Kazan Federal University, Synergy Moscow Financial and Industrial University, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Higher School of Economics, Ural Federal State University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin, St. Petersburg State University, Omsk Humanitarian Academy, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University.

Basically, students from Kazakhstan (61 thousand students), Uzbekistan (48.7 thousand students), China (32.6 thousand students), Turkmenistan (30.6 thousand students), Tajikistan (23.1 thousand students), India (16.7 thousand students), Egypt (12.4 thousand students), Belarus (10.2 thousand students), Ukraine (9.1 thousand students) and Kyrgyzstan (8.6 thousand students).

2018: Russia among the leaders in the number of foreign students

Top 10 countries by number of international students, 2018. An increase or loss is shown in percentage terms over the past 5 years.

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