“Fifteen thousand people – it’s a government quota of the Russian Federation for foreign students”, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Alexander Klimov said at a recent meeting with representatives of social media. Furthermore over 30% of them are enrolled in engineering and technology specialties.

Alexander Klimov noted that Russian universities were interested in having foreign students. It is important not only to form a positive global environment in relation to the Russian education in particular and to the Russian Federation in general, but it is important for Russian students as well. He stressed that now international cooperation was actively developing, including – drafts of a BRICS and a Eurasian projects. So our technicians must be prepared to interact with partners from other countries, which preserved its own traditions, its own culture.

The Deputy Minister reminded that the Ministry of Education is currently implementing the project “5-100”, according to which five Russian universities should occupy high positions in the world universities rankings. “If you look at the criteria for entry into these ratings, the share of foreign teachers and students is one of the most important factors that affect presence of a University in international rankings”, Klimov said.

MEPhI trains more than 800 foreign students. Primarily it is students from the countries importing nuclear technologies of a State Corporation “Rosatom”: Turkey, Jordan, Vietnam, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Algeria, etc., as well as CIS countries.

Every year the share of foreign students, wishing to receive an education in the University, is constantly growing. Since 2013, when MEPhI was ranked among the winners of a contest for the right to become a participant of a government Program to increase its competitiveness, the number of foreign students has increased by more than 40%.

Internationalization of Russian universities contributes to the formation of international academic reputation, increase awareness of their brands, and successful graduates from different countries become the best advertisement of the University. Therefore, increase in the number of foreign students is a priority, which MEPhI sets itself.