Thiruvananthapuram: Russia has made important strides in strengthening the profile of its higher education system. Major reforms are underway as are important national initiatives that seek to claim a greater role for Russian institutions in international education. TMS Kutty, CEO of career consultants, Campus India told Deccan Chronicle that the plan was to have five Russian universities to be ranked among the top 100 institutions in the world by 2020 as part of the 5/100 project announced by the Russian government.
Earlier this year, 15 leading institutions that are participating in the 5/100 project announced the formation of the Association of Global Universities (AGU). The association is meant to function as a networking and coordinating body among universities. The association is also establishing a joint centre to recruit foreign students to study in Russia, Mr Kutty said. The joint initiative will enable a more active international agent network recruiting students for Russia. Its impact is likely to extend well beyond the campuses of the 15 participating universities, Mr Kutty said.
In a related development, the Russian Foreign Ministry has also supported the establishment of a new international students’ association with the goal of connecting the estimated 1.5 million international alumni of Russian universities. The World Foreign University Student Association was launched in July 2015 to further promote ties between Russia and the international community, Mr Kutty said.
Russian officials have also announced the expansion of the scholarship support for foreign students, with a 33 percent boost in the number of scholarships as part of the 5/100 programme. Starting in January next year, the number of scholarships would be increased to 20,000 from the current 15,000, Mr Kutty said.
Now foreign students who want to study at a Russian university will have to spend a foundational year and would have to pass examinations in mandated subjects before taking a university entrance examination. Foundation students will be divided into groups like humanities, natural sciences, medicine and biology, engineering, and economics depending on their study interests. They will have to take several mandatory subjects, including Russian language studies, and one specialist subject for their area of interest.
At the end of their Russian language courses, students will have to have a vocabulary of at least 2,300 words; Understand 200-240 words per minute; read at a speed of 80-100 words per minute; be able to write an essay or produce a summary on a topic in their specialist field; demonstrate knowledge of Russian literature of the 18th and 19th centuries as well as biographies of Russian authors: Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov and be able to describe the literary styles of various authors.
