Russian Education Minister: We Must Increase the Number of Foreign Students in Russia

The number of foreign students in Russia must be increased. As a Rosbalt correspondent reports, this was announced by Russian Education Minister Vladimir Filippov at a press conference yesterday devoted to the international forum of foreign graduates from Russian universities, which will open on May 14 in Moscow. He said 'this is in the political and economic interests of Russia as those foreigners who have studied in Russia and have studied Russian technology and know the Russian language then return to their country and continue to use Russian methods and standards.' According to Mr Filippov, there are about 20 thousand foreign students currently studying in Russia on a government funded basis and about 40 thousand studying here on a fee-paying basis. Moreover, only 4 thousand of those studying in Russia on a government funded basis are from CIS countries. This figure is expected to rise to 6 thousand by 2004 according to Mr Filippov.