Putin Wants to Have Half a Million Int’l Students in Russian Universities by 2030

Russia plans to increase the number of international students enrolled at universities to at least 500,000 by 2030, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree that sets national development goals, signed after his presidential inauguration.

The decree titled “On the National Development Goals of the Russian Federation until 2030 and for a Longer Term until 2036,” defines national development objectives as a safe living environment, education, economy and social area, and others, Erudera.com reports.

It specifies that “the number of foreign students pursuing higher education in Russian higher learning institutions and scientific organizations should rise to at least 500,000 by 2030.”

During a summit held in July last year in St. Petersburg, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Konstantin Mogilevsky said that Russia had increased the number of Russian scholarships to 4,000 people since the last academic year.

According to the Russian Ministry of Education, over 355,000 international students attend higher education institutions in the country. The ministry indicates the most popular fields of study among international students in Russia are medicine and engineering.

The majority of international students in Russia hail from former Soviet Union countries, as well as Asia and Africa. As of 2023, Kazakhstan became the top source country of international students in Russia, with nearly 62,500 students, followed by China with less than 40,000.

Authorities previously set a goal to attract 310,000 international students by 2020. The target was reached in 2022. The number of international students in the country increased by 8 percent in 20222 from 2021, totaling 351,500. In 2019/20, there were under 300,000 international students in the country.

According to the Russian News Agency TASS calculations, the number of international students at Russian universities has increased by over 20 percent during the past five years. In a previous statement, Acting Minister Valery Falkov said the country is the sixth-largest destination for international students.

Putin was sworn in on Tuesday, May 7, at a Kremlin ceremony for a six-year term that will last until 2030. On this occasion, the president signed new decrees, with some of the main goals of solving socio-economic matters or issues related to military operations.

A survey conducted last year revealed that one in three students in Russia wants to leave, while many others describe the country’s situation as a crisis or collapse.

After it invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Russia saw itself isolated from the international community, including in the higher education sector. Due to its war in Ukraine, countries like Estonia decided to stop issuing student visas or residence permits to Russian citizens.

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