Here's a surprisingly good news. According to the statistics, the number of foreign students in Russia increased by two and a half times for the past three years.
In this regard let's get back to the International Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi.Should we expect an even bigger increase in foreign students? Nikolay Zakharov is reporting on what attracts international students who came to Russia to study for a long time, and not for a week.
One, two. Come on. Simultaneously. Follow Zhenya. He became Zhenya at the first rehearsal, shortly before he realized: the Russian language isn't easier than the Chinese letter.
When he just came here he could only say "Hello", "How are you", "it’s alright'' and "Good bye", "I'm from China", "I don't know."
He came to Moscow to study dance because he believes that the Beijing school of dance is much weaker. After the lessons, he was surprised to find that a Chinese will also like what's good for a Russian.
Zhen Haozhe, student:"Borsch, of course, borsch. And Caucasian food too. Like shawarma or samosa".
After moving to another country, he did not even have to change his habits. Between lectures and preparation for seminars, Eric goes to train American football with Russian fellow-students.
Eric Sentochnik, student from the US:"They're really good in American football. I'm shocked. Especially by individual players, they play better than me".
He says that he came to study, having quarreled with the whole family. His relatives were sure that he would be kidnapped for ransom. In Vladivostok, the future political analyst realized many Americans are hostages of stereotypes:
"If seriously, the Russians are very smart, they learn a lot. To study here is a great opportunity. Here you can get a better education for less money than in America".
That's an understatement. A year of study in one of the elite Russian universities — in MGIMO costs six times cheaper than, for example, in Harvard. This is another reason why now almost 300 000 foreign students study in Russia.
Manuel Gomez Peinado, student from Spain: "When I came here, I was impressed by nature, I did not expect to see such a beauty".
If you can say so, the student boom, meaning foreign students took place in our country after the Festival of Youth and Students in 1957. In order to teach foreigners who poured into Moscow, an entire university was built, the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. Every year it received several thousand applicants.
The archive still stores Soviet newspapers, that wrote about it for example, Pravda. But in the 70s this issue was evaded. The influx of foreign students reduced. Instead of expected 8500 students, the University accepted one thousand less.
And in the 80's this topic appeared in the press again. Another Festival of Youth and Students was held in Moscow in 1985 and after it, the USSR ranked third in the world in terms of the number of foreign students. There were 130,000 foreign students.
This year Russia held the Festival of Youth and Students for the third time. So, should we expect another wave? So what do foreigners want to become when they come to our universities?
Let's look at the statistics. 8% choose health care, a little less — mathematics or science. Art and culture is also in Top-3 of popular areas of study. 5,1% of foreigners arrive to get this degree.
Randa Bosnina, a Russian language teacher in Tunisia:"They used to ask me why do I study Russian? Now they know very well that Russia has the best faculties in the world".
Moreover, after gaining the diploma many of them stay here. Masami Chimo says that she would never become a ballet dancer in Japan. This performing art is not very popular in her country. And in Moscow, she finished the university and now she has her own class and performances on stage.
Masami Chimo, ballet-dancer:" I got to know the fabulous Russian school and now I don't find it interesting to come back to Japan".
For the best foreign students to stay and continue to develop science, art or technology State Duma MPs even proposed to simplify the procedure for obtaining the Russian citizenship so that passports are issued after three years of permanent residence in our country instead of five years.
Nikolay Zakharov, Ilya Baev, Vitaliy Kridanovich, Andrey Kolesnikov, Arina Tretyakova. for Vesti on Saturday.
