Russian universities welcome approximately 30,000 students from Africa every year, Pavel Shevtsov, deputy director of Rossotrudnichestvo, the federal agency in charge of cultural and educational exchanges between Moscow and foreign nations, has said.
Speaking at a session of the World Youth Festival (WYF 2024) in Sirius of the southern Krasnodar Region on Sunday, Shevtsov listed medicine, economics, energy, and construction as the most popular fields among foreign students at Russian universities.
At the Russia-Africa summit last July, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the quota for African students sponsored through the federal budget had increased by 150% in the last three years and is expected to support more than 4,700 people in 2024.
While proposing the establishment of Russian language centers throughout the continent, President Putin said education had always been and will continue to be a “traditional area” of Russia-Africa cooperation.
In March of last year, at its Second International Parliamentary Conference ‘Russia-Africa’, Russia’s federal assembly discussed issues related to promoting education in African countries. During that event, Ivan Melnikov, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, reported that the number of African students studying in Russia had tripled in the previous 13 years. According to him, Russia’s decades-long academic cooperation with African nations is founded on trust and mutual benefit, as opposed to the exploitative approach to the continent by other powers.
Last month, Ghanaian firm Jospong Group of Companies and Russia’s Patrice Lumumba People’s Friendship University, also known as RUDN University, announced a new five-year educational initiative that will provide scholarships to hundreds of students from the West African nation. Ghanaian officials welcomed the agreement as a sign of “great things to come,” referring to Moscow as a long-time ally of Accra.
Meanwhile, delegates from more than 30 African countries are among the 20,000 young experts in various fields taking part in the WYF 2024, which began on Friday in Sirius and will continue through March 7.
Speaking on the sidelines of the festival, Innocent Kagbara, a member of Togo’s National Assembly, told RT that the event is a valuable opportunity for African students, declaring that a multipolar world cannot be built without Russia.