Education chief pushes universities to set up affiliates overseas

Export of Russian educational services will increase by no less than 1,000% in the next few years. The prediction was made yesterday by Vladimir Filippov, Russia's education minister, at a press conference on modernizing Russian education, Rosbalt reported. In the view of the minister, Russia earns far too little from export of educational services. 'The US earns approximately USD 433 million a year for training foreign students, while we make a total of USD 2-2.3 million,' he said.

In his view, Russian higher education is entirely competitive in terms of the international educational market. 'We offer a very attractive package of quality and price,' Filippov noted. 'To make this [increase] a reality, we have to create a mechanism to guarantee the quality of education so that a Russian diploma from an institution of higher learning is accepted throughout the world,' the minister said.

He believes that attracting foreign students to Russian higher education involves, 'not stepping up efforts to attract foreign students to come to our institutions of higher learning,but creation of our own network of daughter institutions of Russian universities and institutes abroad.' As teachers, the minister noted, it would be best to attract graduates of Russian institutions of higher learning. It will also be necessary to translate Russian curricula into foreign languages. Filippov is convinced that Russian education will be sought, first of all, in Third World countries-of Africa and Asia as well as in China.