{"id":43986,"date":"2018-06-07T14:18:49","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T21:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=43986"},"modified":"2018-06-07T14:18:49","modified_gmt":"2018-06-07T21:18:49","slug":"how-russia-is-using-international-students-as-a-weapon-in-the-new-cold-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-russia-is-using-international-students-as-a-weapon-in-the-new-cold-war\/","title":{"rendered":"How Russia is using international students as a weapon in the new Cold War"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nRussia is a top destination for international students and the most popular place for\u00a0students from former Soviet countries<\/a>\u00a0to study. The country currently hosts more than 243,752\u00a0international students<\/a>\u00a0and considers international recruitment to be an important geopolitical goal.<\/p>\n

More recently, Russia has resurrected and intensified the Soviet tradition of politicising student mobility. The government\u00a0has requested<\/a>\u00a0that Russian students studying abroad should leave their new countries, when Russia\u2019s political relations with those destinations deteriorate.<\/p>\n

Rossotrudnichestvo \u2013 a Russian government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid \u2013\u00a0issued an information campaign<\/a>, \u201cHighly Likely Welcome Back, \u0438\u043b\u0438 \u043f\u043e\u0440\u0430 \u0434\u043e\u043c\u043e\u0439!\u201d, in April, with the aim of bringing Russian students back home from these \u201chostile\u201d countries. The agency explained:<\/p>\n

There are serious safely issues for our young people studying abroad. They may suffer from provocations in countries that are unfriendly to Russia. Russophobic sentiments negatively influence [the] lives of our citizens abroad, for example, Russians residing in the UK.<\/em><\/p>\n

The phrase \u201chighly likely\u201d seems to refer to Theresa May\u2019s\u00a0comment<\/a>\u00a0about it being \u201chighly likely\u201d that Russia was responsible for the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The use of this phrase in the slogan suggests the message is directed at students studying in the UK.<\/p>\n

There are 56,915 Russian students studying abroad, of which around\u00a04,092 are based in the UK<\/a>. The Highly Likely Welcome Back campaign appears to have had little effect \u2013 Russian students in the UK reportedly seem unmoved by the\u00a0government\u2019s discourse on Russophobia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Education or politics?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A similar decision was made by Russia in 2015 when the government recalled Russian students studying in Turkey. This was after the downing of a Russian warplane by the Syria Turkey border. Russia also proposed a reduction in the quota for\u00a0international students from Turkey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This politicisation of Russian higher education dates back to the\u00a0Cold War<\/a>\u00a0when exchange programmes became extremely important \u2013 especially with emerging communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. As anti-colonial movements spread across Africa, Asia, and Latin America in the mid 20th-century, the USSR saw this as an opportunity to extend its activity to developing countries.<\/p>\n

The foundation of Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow in 1961 \u2013 named after the murdered Congolese politician and independence leader \u2013 was a milestone in this regard. International students who studied there were considered advocates of the communist ideology and promoters of the Soviet model of higher education. The Soviet Union viewed international student recruitment as a critical instrument for serving its expansionist intentions. And also as a way of gaining superiority over its Cold War enemies.<\/p>\n

Key hotspots for recruitment<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This political rationale still seems to be alive and well \u2013 and serves as a key driver for Russian higher education internationalisation to date. These days, Russia places\u00a0a particular focus<\/a>\u00a0on recruiting students from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This is the regional organisation established during the breakup of the USSR in the 1990s. Of the 15 former Soviet republics, nine are member states. The Baltic States never joined and Georgia withdrew its membership following the war with Russia in 2008.
\n

\"\"

The international recruitment programme aims to dramatically expand foreign enrolment. Shutterstock<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

The promotion of Russian interests is of particular importance for post-Soviet Russia in its former territories of influence. In the words of\u00a0Vladimir Putin<\/a>, the collapse of the USSR was \u201cthe greatest geopolitical catastrophe\u201d of the 20th-century.<\/p>\n

This is why the Russian government provides\u00a0generous funding to international students<\/a>.\u00a0High-priority applicants<\/a>\u00a0for federal scholarships include students from the CIS, the Baltic States, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia.\u00a0These scholarships<\/a>\u00a0cover all tuition fees, pay a monthly stipend of 1,500 roubles (\u00a318) and provide a place in halls of residence.<\/p>\n

What does the future hold?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Russia\u2019s ambition going forward is to expand the boundaries of international student recruitment to Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hopes this will help to \u201cimprove the efficiency of Russia\u2019s soft power<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

The education of\u00a0international students in Russia<\/a>\u00a0is seen as a process of \u201cformation of the pro-Russian national elites\u201d. And it is believed these \u201cnational elities\u201d will help \u201cpromote Russian interests, including long-term ones\u201d in their home countries.<\/p>\n

With this in mind \u2013 and given the fact that Russia is aiming to triple international students numbers to more than 700,000 by 2025 \u2013 it seems the politicisation of higher education in Russia is not going away any time soon.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Maia Chankseliani is an Associate Professor of Comparative and International Education at the University of Oxford<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russia is a top destination for international students and the most popular place for\u00a0students from former Soviet countries\u00a0to study. The country currently hosts more than 243,752\u00a0international students\u00a0and considers international recruitment to be an important geopolitical goal. More recently, Russia has resurrected and intensified the Soviet tradition of politicising student mobility. The government\u00a0has requested\u00a0that Russian students […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":43987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[92198],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-43986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-soft-power"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Russia is using international students as a weapon in the new Cold War - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/how-russia-is-using-international-students-as-a-weapon-in-the-new-cold-war\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Russia is using international students as a weapon in the new Cold War - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Russia is a top destination for international students and the most popular place for\u00a0students from former Soviet countries\u00a0to study. 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