Russian universities offer free education to international students

Russian universities have started accepting the documents from foreign citizens and Russians living abroad for free education based on the quota of the Government of the Russian Federation, according to Russia.Study website where prospective students are to apply to Russian HEIs.

As of 2018, Russia enrolls a total of 290,000 international students. This number is expected to increase to 700, 000 by 2025. In 2018 the number of applicants per place was 6.2 on the average among candidates from 188 countries, and in some countries the number of applicants per place was over 10.

The most popular universities for foreign school leavers are St Petersburg University, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Higher School of Economics, ITMO (Saint Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics), Ural Federal University, Southern Federal University. A total of 456 Russian HEIs accept students according to quotas. School leavers have an access to any faculties and majors, can choose any training programs, Bachelor's, Master's and Specialist's degree programs, postgraduate training program and residency training. Additional education programs are also available: for example, courses for foreign teachers of Russian, professional development and retraining programs.

To obtain a state-funded sport with scholarship allowance in a Russian university, international students must register on the Russia.Study portal, fill in and send an application specifying the desired field of study and up to six priority universities.

Then, after receiving an invitation, students are to participate in the two-stage competition. The first stage is conducted in the applicant's resident country at the representative office of the Rossotrudnichestvo (Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation). At the second stage the candidates selected in their countries are distributed across Russian universities.

Fedor Medvedev, Director of Russia.Study: Today Russia is the 6th world's most popular study destination for foreign students. Russia.Study annually receives 100,000 applications, 67% of them being from non-CIS countries. More and more students from Southern Asia, Africa, the Near East, Latin America regard Russia as a priority country. Russia.Study is not only an opportunity to obtain information on educational possibilities in Russia for future students (we deliver it in 11 languages), but also a real chance to go to university via the Internet in “one window” mode, as well as using a mobile phone.

For reference

Russian annually allocates 15, 000 places for international students (5,000 places are allocated for the CIS countries). Foreigners can also attend pre-university courses free of charge where they refine their Russian language skills.

The demand for Russian education keeps growing over the past few years. Today a total of over 1,5 mln graduates from Russian and Soviet HEIs are employed in over 160 countries.

Sources:

https://rg.ru/2018/11/09/v-rossijskih-vuzah-nachalsia-priem-zaiavok-ot-inostrancev.html

https://russia.study/event/russia-study-begins-accepting-applications-for-education-in-russia-in-2019