More International Students Coming to Russia: Pros and Cons

Original article

The 21st century is the age of globalization, mobility, transparency and accessibility of various countries for tourism, business, culture exchange and education. Potential employees have to meet the requirements of today, living at the time of fast speeds and infinite possibilities. The need to be highly competitive in the labor market determines the demand for high quality education. It is not uncommon when an educational establishment which offers an attractive educational product is located abroad. The majority of nations offer academic programs for international students. Russia is not an exception. Our country is promoting educational

services in the global market. A focus on expanding foreign student population is a trend of contemporary education which depends on a number of factors.

In 2017, Russia’s Government approved the “Developing Russian education system export potential” priority project. It contains an estimate of potential risks and opportunities, as well as results which the country may expect upon its implementation by 20251. However, having studied a number of academic papers, we can conclude that issues of forecasting the results of foreign student population expansion at Russian universities and international students’ adaptation management are underexplored.

Russian universities have been popular among international students for many years. The history of training international students in Russia began as early as in 1870s, after the Russian Ministry of public education had taken a respective decision. It was designed as help to friendly nations which suffered from the Turkish rule2.

In the Soviet education system, which dates back to 1920s ‒ 1930s, international students were attributed to the “national minorities” category, as well as all USSR citizens whose nationalities were other than Russian. International students’ education in the USSR was focused on training specialists capable of performing immediate tasks in various ways, taking into consideration colonial and vassal states development specifics [1, p. 137].

Today Russia offers a wide range of educational services in the global market, with foreign student population expanding. Paragraph 5 (b) of Russian President’s Decree No. 204 of 7 May, 2018, “On national goals and strategic objectives of Russian Federation development up to 2024”, provides for at least two-fold increase in the number of international students at Russian establishments of higher education and research organizations3. Such an expansion of foreign student population will enable the country to implement strategic development objectives. Without any doubt, it has a number of advantages. On the other hand, it will inevitably bring about some challenges.

The economic factor is the first one taken into consideration when the expansion of foreign student population at Russian universities is discussed. At the same time, other aspects and risks connected with foreigners’ stay in Russia and their adaptation often remain issues of minor importance, which is not right. This paper is focused on analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of foreign student population expansion at Russian establishments of higher education and on studying the patterns of international students’ adaptation management and control used at different universities in order to minimize risks and negative aspects of their stay in a specific educational establishment, city and country.