Problems and tasks of universities in the field of online education of foreign students, prospects for their recruitment to Russian universities, the legal status of foreign students, the export of Russian education - these issues were included in the agenda of the meeting of the Commission on International Activities of the Council of Rectors of Universities in Moscow and the Moscow Region. The meeting dedicated to international activities in the context of COVID-19 was held on March 17 at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.
The participants of the meeting discussed the problems of teaching foreign students during the pandemic, the tools for promoting humanitarian education abroad, allowing strengthening the Russian presence and intensifying educational work in the regions, including in the CIS countries, Asia and Africa. The potential of the Russian language, which should become more competitive, was noted.
Deputy Head of Rossotrudnichestvo Pavel Shevtsov noted that Russia is a full-fledged participant in the competition for foreign students on the world stage. He spoke about the activities of Rossotrudnichestvo, the dynamics of the admission of foreign students under the quota of the Russian Federation in 2020, and the "Education in the Russian Federation for Foreigners" State Information System. Among the measures to increase the competitiveness of education for foreigners, the representative of the department called the transition from quotas to a system of grant support, which will bring education in Russia to a qualitatively new level and make it more attractive for foreign citizens.
The participants of the meeting touched upon various aspects of international cooperation, including such an indicator of its success as the number of foreign university graduates in a particular country — an element of "soft power". Alexey Zagrebin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science, noted that we should not forget the educational component of Russian education, which helps to form a friendly attitude towards our country among foreign citizens.
Dmitry Protasovsky, General Director of the "Russian House of International Scientific and Technical Cooperation" Association, spoke about the use of modern humanitarian tools abroad when recruiting students to Russian universities, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive approach and a full-fledged concept of working with young people, studying their interests and preferences, and opinion leaders’ points of view.
Numerous issues of online learning were discussed at the meeting. Vice-Rector for International Cooperation of RSUH Vera Zabotkina outlined its advantages and disadvantages (the danger of turning lectures into communication of "talking heads", the lack of emotional contact, the loss of plasticity of thinking) in the framework of two diploma programs. She noted the consequences of the pandemic, such as the reallocation of resources in favor of online education, and also spoke about the project "Digital Humanities", designed to improve the teaching of the humanities through digitalization methods.
The rector of the Russian New University, Vladimir Zernov, supported the idea of switching to a system of grant support for foreign students, and also noted the need to evaluate the effectiveness of universities on the basis of actually developed technologies, and not only on the index of publication activity — the Hirsch index.
He also spoke about the problem of scientific schools’ preservation.
