Specifics of the integration process of international students to the Russian educational space

The comparative analysis shows that Russia has seriously opted for competition in global education market. There are several strong arguments for such strategy. Firstly, since the USSR, Russia has a positive image as a solid provider of high-quality education specifically in science, medicine, and construction. Today this Soviet heritage is supported by Soviet universities alumna associations, which are still in force in a number of countries. Secondly, Russian government has made significant efforts to improve its role in the global education space through revising its approach to attracting international students. Moreover, new instruments and new formats were used to make Russia’s international educational activities more effective. Russian federal state universities were stimulated to develop their English language web sites to promote their educational capacities outside the country. Consequently, all these efforts have their positive impact on awareness raising of Russia’s educational system. Thirdly, the economics of education is becoming a factor for Russian universities. The cost-quality ratio for a number of educational programs in Russian universities looks quite attractive for international students, especially from neighboring Asian countries. What Russia is seriously lacking in the global competition for international students is a spread of English as a working language in universities. Another problem is unclear carrier perspectives for foreigners graduating from Russian universities. These obstacles prevent Russia from achieving a goal of gaining ground on the global market of higher education.