According to Yevgeny Primakov, head of the Russian culture exchange agency Rossotrudnichestvo, at least 270,000 overseas students are now studying in Russia, with roughly 18,000 of them obtaining education under government quotas.
Similarly, at a media conference by TASS, Yevgeny Primakov revealed that Russia has been extending the overall quota allocated for international students to study in Russian universities for several years.
“This year, 18,000 [overseas students] have taken advantage of Russian government quotas to study. In actuality, there are many more international students. Those who entered on a private, commercial, or other basis are no longer counted. I believe there are between 270,000 and 300,000 students studying in Russia “he stated.
Additionally, he also recalled that 18,000 quotas for overseas students “were allocated for 175 countries around the world,” which particularly feature the Marshall Islands, Argentina, and Peru apart from post-Soviet states. “From the 80,000 applications to take part in the selection we received, around 30% came from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) members. Most came from Tajikistan,” he stressed. Primakov added that applications were sent from Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Egypt, Syria, Sudan, India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Belarus, Germany, Poland, and China. “Many of these countries, which are seemingly not in the CIS, have strong political ties to and contacts with Russia, our businesses are developing there,” he added.
