Russia’s educational system is nothing to sneeze at, and much cheaper than in many top Western schools. Accordingly, many students from developing countries come here — facing many challenges — to get an education. The Leader spoke with the head of the Foreign Students Association in Russia, Gabriel Kotchofa, about what it is like for such people in Russian schools.

The list of foreign alumni of Russian universities reads like a roll call for leaders of the developing world. The presidents of Vietnam, Angola and Mongolia are all graduates of Russian universities and are just a few examples of world leaders who have come out of Russian universities. The tradition continues to this day. According to the Foreign Students Association in Russia (FSAR), as many as 10 leaders of the developing world are graduates of Russian institutes of higher learning, and the tradition of providing education to partner nations is still strong, although the number of students has been greatly reduced compared to the Soviet days.

Even though Russia lacks the budget to provide as many foreigners with free education, it still offers an affordable option for foreign students looking to improve their minds.
Gabriel Kotchofa, the head of FSAR, is working to increase the support for foreign students in Russia, campaigning to make the country a safer place to study. He also believes that Russia could make a lot of money off foreign students. "If two years ago the United States was able to earn $14 billion from foreign students, how come Russia only made $4 million?" said Kotchofa. The popularity of Russian education for foreigners has waned since te Soviet days. In 1991, there were 135,000 foreigners studying in Russia, but by the end of the following year, the number had dropped to 36,000.

The collapse of the Soviet Union brought with it the end of free education for foreigners, and, with the future of Russia increasingly uncertain, few students were willing to pay for their education. The number of foreign students bottomed out in ’94 at 29,000, as the country continued its decline into chaos. However, by 1996, the government began to restore order to the country and reintroduced scholarships for foreign students.
According to statistics compiled by the FSAR and the Education Ministry, there are now 56,724 foreign students in Russia.

"Everyone used to study for free, so there used to be a lot more," said Yury Shishkin, dean of foreign studies at Moscow University of International Affairs [MGIMO]. Now the government gives out 2,000 scholarships a year to students from 30 countries.
Shishkin said that his school accepts 50 paying students a year and "twice that many on scholarships." He added that most of the students studying for free were from Asia.
According to the Education Ministry, a majority of the foreign students living and studying in Russia are from the C.I.S., Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Most students from developing nations come for a full five or six years of study to gain a Russian diploma considered by many educators to be the equivalent of a Western master’s degree.

Students from Western countries are also prevalent in Russia, but generally come for much shorter periods of study. "A lot of Westerners use our internship program for teachers of Russian," said Tatyana Seryevo, a student teacher in the philology department of the People’s Friendship University in Moscow. When it was built, her university was the top school for foreigners studying in Russia, but now, she said, the ratio of foreign to Russian students is 50:50.

Most universities say that there is little incentive for Western students, except for those specializing in Slavic and Russian studies, to come to Russia.
However, for students from developing nations, it can be a good opportunity to obtain a good education abroad at a relatively low cost.

Most Russian schools offer a year of study for foreigners for around $3,000-$6,500 a year, much lower than the fees asked of foreign students by top American and European universities. Moscow State University said the price of its programs depends on the major chosen by the student and how much Russian-language preparation a student requires.
Students at MGIMO pay $6,000 a year, $1,000 more than their Western colleagues. According to Shishkin, the extra cost is due to the year of Russian-language instruction most students are required to take.

School officials are also careful to point out that admission standards are less stringent for foreign students than for Russians. Non-Russians are required only to take a Russian-language exam in order to gain admission, whereas locals are required to pass a series of grueling exams that can take as much as a year of preparation beforehand.
Shishkin said that there are five to eight competitors for each spot among Russian students, but that the figure for foreigners is "much lower." However, foreign students looking for scholarships will be forced to compete on a much more intense level. Kotchofa said that, on average, competition for state-sponsored study is "very high," with as many as 10-15 students competing for each spot.

"Sometimes the scholarships even go to Western students," he said. "But only in very rare cases." Yet not everyone is impressed with the quality of Russian education, where bribery, corruption and a growing sense of racism and nationalism present increasing problems for foreign students. But most professors and students are careful to point out that bribe-taking and blatant classroom racism and double standards are not as common as some believe.

A student from the United Kingdom, studying for a master’s degree in the history department of MGU, said that her documents and application to the university were rejected by the admission’s office until she returned with a bottle of champagne and several other gifts. She also complained that some of her coursework was "too Soviet" and that she had been harassed by several professors for "being Western."
Kotchofa says he believes the pros outweigh the cons, and that Russian education, especially in technical fields prepares students for real work better than in most countries.

"I believe Russian education is the best education in the world," he said. "I did an internship with a company in Benin and we also had graduates from Canada, the United States and Canada, but it was obvious that I had more hands-on experience."
What worries him the most is growing nationalism and racism in the country scaring away potential foreign students. He said, that over the last several years, he has watched the growing number of attacks against foreigners in Russia with "great concern and fear."
"People just don’t understand. They think they are living poorly here because of foreigners. But they are just looking for someone to blame; we need to change this mentality."