MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/. The number of foreign postgraduate students in Russia more than doubled over 2014-2024, reaching 12,400, the Vedomosti newspaper reported, citing a study by the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge at the Higher School of Economics (HSE).

Nearly 39% of foreign postgraduate students originated from China (4,700 students). The top five countries of origin also included Kazakhstan (938), Syria (724), Uzbekistan (435), and Iraq (388).

According to the newspaper, the Russian Education and Science Ministry stated that statistics on postgraduate admissions for the 2025/26 academic year will be published in May.

The study also highlighted that the integration of international postgraduate graduates into Russia’s research and development sector is hampered by a shortage of English-speaking academic supervisors, difficulties in recognizing foreign diplomas, and restricted employment rights for students.

A spokesperson for Russia’s agency for international humanitarian cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo) told the newspaper that the number of applications for postgraduate studies under the Russian government quota for the 2026/27 academic year reached 6,465, marking a 21% increase from a year earlier. In the 2025/26 academic year, 5,345 applications were submitted, with an admission rate of 41%, compared with 30% in 2024/25.