Russian education is a key export item. It rates highly in African and Asian countries and the demand for it keeps growing. Quite a few young men and women from these countries may receive Russian education already by the end of this decade, says Vadim Lobov, the president of Synergy Corporation. In an interview with TASS, he reviewed the university's plans on African and Asian tracks, the creation of an international educational agency and a unified digital platform for studying Russian as a foreign language, as well as the potential of India as a source of skilled labor for Russia.
- As to the number of foreign students, Russia today is among the frontrunners. Why is this parameter so important to us?
- Education is one of the tools of promoting the interests of the state. All leading countries around the world pursue a conscious policy in this direction, and Russia is no exception. The more so, since we have accumulated great historical experience of such kind.
For many people in the developing countries, Soviet education, especially in science and engineering, was virtually the only available one. Subsequently, graduates of Soviet universities often held high positions in their home countries: in Burkina Faso alone, seven became government ministers.
Also, education is a means to promote the Russian language around the world. For example, in Ethiopia’s mixed families that appeared as a result of student exchanges with the Soviet Union back in the 1980s, even the second and third generations are fluent in Russian.
All this contributes to strengthening political and economic ties with our country.
- In 2024, the Russian president issued a decree setting a target of 500,000 foreign students in Russia, to be achieved by 2030. In your opinion, how realistic is this goal?
- Already now Russia is in the top ten countries as to the number of foreign students along with the US, Britain, Canada, France and Australia. The task set by the president is ambitious, but it is quite achievable. The way I see it, by 2035 the target can be doubled to 1 million foreign students.
In many respects our education is more affordable and by no means inferior in quality to that offered by most foreign competitors. They are more active in promoting their services, launching preferential programs for talented youth, conducting aggressive marketing campaigns, and making up ratings lists in which they always occupy the leading positions, although this is picture is not always objective enough.
Therefore, one of our main tasks on this track is to form an integral attractive brand of Russian education abroad.
- What steps can be taken to this end?
- It is essential to create an international student and professional community, to form strong relations of trust among graduates, and to attract them to mutually beneficial relations. We have accumulated vast experience of this sort. More than 20,000 foreign students from Russia’s near neighbors and far- away countries study at the University. Our office in the UAE has been operating for more than 10 years. A full-fledged branch with a license to conduct educational activities opened on its basis in 2021. Trainees from 35 countries, including Britain and the US, receive instruction there.
Projects similar to our Synergy Embassy, through which we form a network of promoters among international students, can be very effective. They share their experience and impressions of our university with friends and relatives.
Now we are working on the creation of an international educational agency. This operator will be recruiting applicants for different Russian universities. We have already agreed on cooperation with some universities. The first students under this program will start coming already this year.
The agency will take care of foreign students’ basic needs, in particular, help them with accommodation, provide free Russian language courses and adaptation programs, conduct career guidance and aptitude testing, select an educational program and draw up step-by-step guidelines for admission. We will offer employment to the most promising students and graduates.
We plan to open branches of the educational agency in China, India, Egypt, and Iran. In the CIS, the first office will appear in Kazakhstan.
- In which regions of the world do you see the greatest potential in terms of attracting young people into the Russian education system?
- First of all, Africa. According to the Ministry of Education and Science, about 35,000 Africans studied in Russia last academic year, but we can host many more.
According to UN estimates, due to the shortage of teachers and schools, elementary education is unavailable to more than 20% of children in Africa. Only 5% of young men and women south of the Sahara receive higher education. In some countries of the region the rate is less than 1%. For this reason, UNESCO has recognized African students as the most mobile in the world: one in 16 is educated abroad.
To make it clear how many potential students we are talking about, I will cite statistics from several countries where we are present. In Ethiopia there are 50 million people of student age, in Nigeria - 25 million, and in Tanzania - more than 7 million. Many of them have fathers, mothers and grandparents who studied in our country and recall this experience with warmth.
If this heritage is properly managed and promoted actively enough, then by the end of this decade a significant share of African youth may receive Russian education.
- What educational projects are African countries interested in the most?
- We have held a series of high-level meetings in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Burundi, Guinea and other countries to look into their needs in the sphere of education. We will launch our branches and double degree programs in these countries. We propose to establish a complete cycle of education (school - college - university), to develop additional education in the spheres of entrepreneurship, IT, tourism, agriculture and other industries, where the shortage of personnel is acute.
Synergy has common projects with Rossotrudnichestvo - the federal agency for the CIS affairs, compatriots abroad and humanitarian cooperation. In particular, we will open a media school and Russian language classes in Africa.
We have some noteworthy projects such as the creation of the National Virtual University of Burkina Faso, for which we will provide our own digital platform.
- How ready is Africa for such innovations?
- It is digital technology that will solve many of their problems in education, because there is a lack of infrastructure to organize the usual process of instruction.
Burkina Faso’s schools have places only for half of the children, but 80% of the population has access to the Internet. Many of those who cannot go to school might study online, but the country does not have a digital platform for this.
We are ready to share our software, to adjust it to local realities and to train teachers to use it.
- In what other parts of the world do you see prospects for the Russian education system?
- South Asia is a promising region. For example, Bangladesh has a large community loyal to Russian education. There is the Soviet Alumni Association Bangladesh (SAAB) with over 5,000 members. Based on the demands of the local labor market, we plan to open a branch of the university, where we will train web designers, data analysts, DevOps engineers, application developers, and other specialists under bachelor's and master's degree programs. In the future, we will launch departments of medicine, software engineering, economics, management, hotel and tourism business, and banking.
Another country of great importance to us is India. New Delhi shows keen interest in Russian educational services in IT, engineering, science and math. India has 165 million people aged 18-29. This is about 10% of the world’s youth. The value of higher education in Indian society is great, and the government is heavily investing in this field with the aim to become a global skills center.
Given the huge demand, the geographic features and the size of the population, online education will also be in great demand there. We have vast experience in organizing it.
At the moment our emphasis is on the double degree program. We already have 90 signed agreements with Indian universities and more than 250 partner universities. We work together on joint educational programs, participate in scientific conferences, and seminars, develop cultural exchanges, and launch Russian language courses. In the future, we plan to open a full-scale university branch in India.
- You mentioned that India is aiming to become a global skills center. Last year, Germany approved a program for filling 2 million job vacancies with guest workers from India. Do you think this kind of experience is applicable in our country, too?
- Today, according to the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia lacks 4.8 million specialists: qualified engineers, IT specialists, developers and other professionals, as well as factory workers.
Being well aware of the demand on the labor market, we plan to dispatch a business mission this autumn to India. We will invite about 100 HR directors from Russian companies to join in. They will be able to visit the largest recruitment agency in India and our partner universities, to have a word with graduates and to get a first-hand impression of the opportunities existing in that country.
Besides, we are developing an adaptation program for employees who come to Russia through this channel. It helps participants get acquainted with Russian culture and traditions, integrate into the professional and social environment, and study the Russian language.
- How great is the demand for the Russian language in the world nowadays? Do you see foreigners display any interest?
- We are still trying to catch up with the level of the Soviet era, when Russian was spoken by 350 million people on the globe. Now it is used by 280 million.
But the scale of efforts to promote the Russian language is growing. Rossotrudnichestvo has been doing a great deal to this end. Together we launch Russian language courses in a number of countries.
In addition, we keep working on the creation of a unified digital platform for studying Russian as a foreign language. In 2024-2025 students and applicants from almost any country in the world will be able to learn our language on its basis. This is a very effective means of bolstering Russia's world recognition and acclaim.