We just talk about the good stuff

New guidance on academic freedom took centre stage at a recent event hosted by the UN Human Rights Council and Scholars at Risk, as stakeholders warned that it is increasingly under threat worldwide.

At the event in early July, the latest from the Principles for Implementing the Right of Academic Freedom, which has been developed by an international working group, was detailed.

“Academic freedom is essential for any healthy democratic society,” said Eamon Gilmore, European Union Special Representative for Human Rights. “Without it, critical thinking cannot be cultivated and critical thinking is key to freedom, prosperity, progress and innovation.

“People need to be able to share and access information in order to develop new ideas and the freedom to research, teacher, debate and disseminate is central to the advancement of knowledge.

“Academic freedom is also key to holding authorities and governments to account,” Gilmore added.

However, he warned that it “continues to decline across the world”.

“Reports of threats and attacks against the academic community are steadily increasing. Higher education institutions are also confronted with disinformation and information manipulation attempts. We need to work more closely together to stop this disturbing trend.”

SAR senior advocacy officer, Jesse Levine, referred to the academic freedom index when he shared that more than half the world’s population – four billion people – lives in states where academic freedom has been in decline for the last 10 years.

“Reports of threats and attacks against the academic community are steadily increasing”

The organisation identified 391 distinct attacks on higher education in the year ending September 1, 2022.

“That is the largest number of attacks we have ever tracked,” he added. Attacks include violence and wrongful imprisonment, institutional takeover by state authorities and the allies and increased restrictions on student protest.

“The world has yet to recognise that academic freedom is as important to a free society as an independent judiciary, strong civil society or a free press,” he said.

Earlier this year, a Joint Statement on Academic Freedom signed by 74 countries was delivered.

SAR added that there had been progress on support for academic freedom in recent years, reflected in the UN special rapporteur’s 2020 report on academic freedom and UNESCO’s parallel advancement of the conversation on science and scientific freedom.

Farida Shaheed, UN special rapporteur for the Right to Education, stated that “if we believe in democratic spaces, then that space for thinking differently – even if we don’t like that opinion – must be there in terms of education”.

“Without academic freedom societies lose not just an essential element of democratic self governance, but the capacity for self reflection, for knowledge generation and for a constant search for improvement of peoples’ lives and social conditions. Surely, this is exactly what the purpose of education should be,” Shaheed added.

“Making academic freedom a practical, on the ground reality, it must be a central part of our understanding of what is required for social and scientific progress and democratic advancement and the realisation of the sustainable development goals,” Levine added.

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As US stakeholders continue to celebrate international education being included in the government’s National Export Strategy for the first time. Some are also urging the government to build off this momentum and take action to further protect the sector’s leading position.

“The 2023 NES signals the Department of Commerce’s recognition that international education is not just a nice-to-have, but a must-have, for the US’ global competitiveness,” said Mark Overmann, executive director, Alliance for International Exchange on the long-awaited strategy.

Overmann said that although the US remains the number one destination for international students, it is losing its market share, and that is why it is therefore “critical” that Commerce is officially joining the Department of State and Education in its efforts.

Although the recommendations largely mirror activities already happening, Commerce will be able to amplify this work in unique ways, said Overmann, such as through export promotion services, deep connections in foreign markets and trade mission activities.

The strategy showcases the “novel approaches” in five areas being taken to promote the US as a leading study destination.

Jill Welch, senior policy advisor at the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, too highlighted global competition for students growing stronger each year.

She told The PIE that although the news is “another important step forward by the government in leveraging the power of international education to create jobs and further develop our knowledge economy”, there is more to be done.

“What we really need now is a whole of government approach that catapults us from this new export strategy and the 2021 Joint Statement of Principles to set clear goals for diversifying international education and allocating the resources needed to implement effective strategies.”

Another key player to applaud the decision is NAFSA.

“It is gratifying to see the agency recognise the economic and strategic advantages associated with international education and exchange and it speaks to the high level of respect and communication between our sector and the department,” said Jill Allen Murray, NAFSA’s deputy executive director of public policy.

She added that NAFSA has long been advocating for the government to make a “coordinated commitment to international education” to ensure the country has the talent pool necessary to “innovate and engage with the world”.

The association is therefore calling for the Biden Administration to build off this momentum and establish a coordinated national strategy for international education.

“Such an approach would harness collaboration between multiple entities – namely the US Departments of State, Education, Commerce, and Homeland Security – to set targets, establish policies, and fund programs that elevate US efforts to recruit the world’s best and brightest students to its campuses and equip its domestic students with the international experience needed to be successful in an increasingly interconnected world,” Murray told The PIE.

International education is not just a nice-to-have, but a must-have, for the US’ global competitiveness

“The impact will be far-reaching, serving to enhance American foreign policy, diplomacy, innovation, national security, economic growth and global competitiveness.”

Samrat Ray Chaudhuri, assistant vice president at Webster University, said the inclusion of international education in the NES is “great timing” for US universities who were, until now, “staring haplessly at the much discussed enrolment cliff which is approaching faster than predicted”.

Chaudhuri now expects many universities to double down on international markets to bridge the gap arising due to this enrolment cliff in domestic undergraduate population.

However, he told The PIE that for the US government to “really level the playing field” it must reconsider its position on off-campus jobs for international students beyond the current CPT and OPT policies.

“Allowing a 20-hour per week off campus work permit during their study duration will allow US institutions to better compete with other destinations such as Australia, Canada and the UK, where such provisions exist,” he said.

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The TOEFL iBT test will be unavailable for Australian visa purposes as ETS rolls out an “enhanced” test and waits for Australian authorities to review the new exam, the testing provider has confirmed to The PIE.

According to the Department of Home Affairs, the TOEFL iBT will no longer be offering English language tests for Australian visa purposes from July 26.

The enhanced version of the test, launched on July 25, is being reviewed by DHA and the test is not being accepted for visas during the evaluation.

ETS noted that it is not clear how long the review will take and emphasised that the test is still accepted by Australian universities.

There is no impact for other countries, such as the UK or Canada, where the test was recently approved by authorities for use in the Student Direct Stream.

The enhanced TOEFL iBT has “been designed to improve the test taker experience, reducing the test time and streamlining the registration process, while maintaining the rigour and reliability the test is known for”, Rohit Sharma, SVP of Global Higher Education and Workskills for ETS, noted.

“[The review is] part of a standard process the Department takes to evaluate English language tests”

“ETS has submitted the enhanced test to Australia’s Department of Home Affairs to be reviewed as part of a standard process the Department takes to evaluate English language tests. We commend the DHA for this thorough review which ensures that its high standards for measures of English proficiency are upheld.”

Test scores obtained from tests taken prior to July 26 will still be recognised for relevant visa sub-classes to Australia, the testing provider emphasised.

The test, which is also accepted by 100% of Australian universities and Australian education providers, can continue to be accepted for university admission purposes, it added.

Scores obtained both before and after July 26 can be used for admission purposes, ETS clarified.

“We are communicating directly with impacted stakeholders to share pertinent information and will continue to keep them apprised of updates as they are available,” Sharma added.

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There are concerns that public sentiment towards international students and the international education sector in Australia may decline in the next years, with stakeholders calling for more to be done to celebrate their positive impacts.

Warnings arose during the opening panel of the PIE Live Australia conference in Brisbane on July 24.

Leading the panel as chair, deputy vice chancellor of University of Newcastle, Kent Anderson, stated that approaching the outbreak of the global health crisis in early 2020, public sentiment towards the sector was “neutral”.

“I don’t think it was positive or negative because I don’t think it impacted on most people,” he told the audience.

“For the larger Australian society, [international education] was neither here nor there. I’d like to see us move back towards positive.”

There is “pressure coming” with a number of the federal reviews, such as the Migration Review, the Universities Accord and the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade inquiry into international education, CEO of English Australia, Brett Blacker, continued.

“I still think as an industry, we’ve failed to really represent our value within the Australian populace,” he said.

He commended IEAA, which recently launched a national marketing campaign to address the issue, but added that the sector could become “almost a victim of our own success” following the Covid rebound.

“Where I see the influences that are coming, particularly in federal government on student volumes… is that international students are being seen as the problem for accommodation and the rental crisis, even though we’re not back to 2019 levels, when we weren’t at a crisis level,” he detailed.

“We all need to own trying to change the narrative around international students”

A recent report from a conservative think tank in Australia calculated that international students are expected to “take up” almost 55% of net new accommodation on average across the country in this financial year.

The sector needs to come together, specifically within the English language component, which he referenced as an “easy target”, Blacker added.

“We all need to own trying to change the narrative around international students, the value they play and the English language proficiency, because it’s a really easy target for the government to point to English language standards as a quasi indicator for poor quality.”

“We are in fact improving year on year in our academic performance,” Blacker continued.

As government looks to adapt and change policies affecting the international education sector, “we need to be on the front foot working with government about what represents a genuine student”, he added.

“I do think it’s a collective failure for us to be able to put those good news stories out around students. I know the good news doesn’t sell news, but we are the champions of that story.”

Asked whether the sector had been allowed to “run a little bit too hot” in the lead up to the pandemic, executive director for commercial business at Victoria-based TAFE provider The Gordon, Jana Perera, acknowledged that Blacker’s comments were pertinent given Australia’s skills shortage.

The vocational education system is a “great foundation” for students arriving in Australia, she said.

“The employment rate is really high for students who completed vocational programs. We need people in industries like aged care, in nursing and hospitality, they are crying out for workers, which is exactly what the vocational system is all about,” Perera explained.

The federal government has “obviously recognised” the value add of the VET, as well as higher education, sector to fill skills shortages, she continued. The Job Skills Australia initiative – announced in November 2022 – is evidence of that, she suggested.

In addition to international students’ contributions to Australia, panellists emphasised the importance of meeting their expectations.

Torrens University, which panel chair Anderson described as the “biggest rebounder” from the pandemic and has displayed “phenomenal” growth from 2022, was best placed as a result of its online first approach.

“We couldn’t prepare for Covid, no one could,” said Rob McGowan, vice president of International at Torrens University. But with 20% of students exclusively online and the other 80% learning in a hybrid environment, the institution had found a gap in the market in 2019.

“We found ourselves quite well prepared for a dramatic change because of that innovation we went into 2020 with… the university that we built [had] no single dependency on one audience or one delivery model,” he said.

“We have an obligation to students to focus on their career readiness from day one and that be embedded in the curriculum so that it’s not optional it’s mandatory for students. By mandating that, we guarantee that there are graduate attributes that Torrens students take into the market, which then will support that transition.”

Giving a New Zealand perspective, Ainslie Moore, deputy director for International at University of Auckland, noted that “if we don’t position them for employment success in their home country, then we’re not delivering”.

“We need to be thinking about what their choices are, what we teach them and why the skills we give them will be useful to them in their home country.”

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The latest Franco-Indian roadmap will see a new target of 30,000 Indian students in France by 2030, as well as a five-year short-stay Schengen visa for Indian master’s graduates who have spent a semester in France.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the 1998 Franco-Indian partnership, the two countries have adopted the new roadmap to set the course of a bilateral relation until 2047, which will ultimately coincide with the 100th anniversary of Indian independence.

The announcements were made during Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to France.

“The deepening of our links in education, sciences and technologies, and culture, and the blooming exchanges between our young people, as well as the success of a diaspora in expansion, bring together our people and set the bases of future partnerships,” said a joint press release from the two countries.

The roadmap set out France’s ambition to welcome 20,000 Indian students by 2025, and 30,000 by 2030, with a significant increase in the resources of the Campus France network in India. 

The European nation previously had a target of hosting 10,000 Indian students by 2020.

According to the latest statistics from Campus France, in 2021, some 6,321 Indian students were enrolled in French higher education institutions in 2021, making India the 14th highest country of origin sending students to France.

Since 2016, the numbers of Indian students enrolled in French institutions increased by a staggering 92%.

In a bid to create a community of Indian alumni in France, it was announced that Indian citizens who hold a master’s degree from any country and who have completed at least one semester in France can apply for a five-year post-study short-stay Schengen visa.

Fabien Chariex, attaché for science and higher education at the French embassy in India, told The PIE that the the new alumni visa is particularly strategic as it rewards students for choosing France as a study destination, including those who came on exchange for only a few months or more.

The visa is designed to allow such students to stay connected to France, as well as a tool promote France as a study destination, said Chariex.

India and France are celebrating 25 years of strategic partnership made of trust and friendship, which are only getting stronger with time.

Dear @NarendraModi, welcome to Paris. pic.twitter.com/s03htftpTw

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) July 13, 2023

It was also announced that a new format of international classes will be created in order to facilitate the integration of non-French-speaking Indian students into the French higher education system.

Through the new courses, Indian students will be trained in French language and academic topics and completion will allow them to then join Bachelor programs taught in French language.

The French government will “experiment the creation of such classes while the Indian government will promote it within the secondary education system of India”, the French Embassy in India said in a statement.

Chariex told The PIE that this decision was born out of the idea that in order to reach the ambitious targets of Indian students in France, set by the government, France needs to increase its efforts in delivering an international track for first years in public universities which until now has not existed.

“That’s the difference that you can see with Germany or the Netherlands, even with Spain or Italy. We are very shy in the English language because we have this long standing tradition of standing up for French,” said Chariex.

“You need to accept them as they are and as they are is that they don’t speak French”

“If you want to have more students from [those countries], you need to accept them as they are and as they are is that they don’t speak French.”

Chariex told The PIE that in recent years there has been a shift in the mindset of the sector when it comes to diversification of its international students. Previously, when most inbound international students to France were from Francophone Africa, there was less of a need to cater to English-speaking students. As more Anglophone African countries, and students from elsewhere around the globe, choose France as a study destination, Charieux is encouraging of this shift.

Although the “fight for the French language” remains and rightly so, said Chariex, this new avenue will allow universities to welcome non-French speaking students and allow them the time and resources transform into French speakers, through a one-year course designed to allow them to progress.

“They will be acclimatised within the international class and they would be eligible to go straight to the first year of university,” Chariex continued.

“The idea is to do the transition and make a bridge for those students who are coming from the secondary schools in India.”

Chariex strongly believes that for France to reach its target of 500,000 students by 2027, public universities must get on board with such measures.

He added that he hopes to initially see 15-30 public universities volunteer to invest in the new courses, which he says in terms of cost, can be self-sustainable after only two or three years.

Outlining the benefits to universities, Chariex said that students who enrol in the new international classes will be “faithful” to the universities which offer it to them, suggesting that students will be more inclined to progress to a master’s degree at the same institution.

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Bangladeshi students wanting to study in major destinations are having issues paying their tuition fees due to dwindling forex reserves, The PIE has learned. 

The country has suffered heavily with its finances in recent months, with the forex exchange reserves reportedly falling to a seven-year low of $29.85bn in May. 

This followed a fall to $32.29bn in January 2023, then dropping to just over $30bn in April. 

The figure has since risen back up to over $31bn in June according to the central bank, but it also began posting its gross international reserve according to the IMF’s balance of payments manual, alongside the usual figure – this stands at just $24.7bn.

Shamim Ghani, sales and marketing director at SAMS Global, said the problem has been compounded by the volume of students leaving the country.

“The amount of students coming out of Bangladesh has always been a little bit muted when you compare it to India or Pakistan – it’s not a massive market in South Asia,” explained Shamim Ghani, sales and marketing director at SAMS Global, speaking with The PIE News.  

“Certainly in the last few years, the number of Bangladeshi students that have been coming out has been on the rise, as in tune with most of the markets.”

UNESCO data indicated that in 2016, the number of students leaving Bangladesh to study abroad stood at 33,139. In 2021, by contrast, it showed the number had shot up to 49,151 – triple what the figure was in 2007 at 15,700. 

“I think this [rise] is what’s triggered a bit of a panic by the central bank – there are the private banks in Bangladesh that most international students will want to use, banks like Standard Chartered, HSBC etc, rather than local banks.

“Now, these banks, the private ones, are basically saying that students can’t transfer their money, or there are delays in transferring money because those international banks also have links to one or two local banks,” explained Ghani. 

TCL Global’s Noor Hasan Mahmud, the agency’s country director for Bangladesh, confirmed that there had been issues surrounding fees. 

“In Bangladesh, there are those three types of fees that they have to pay to go to the UK, the tuition fee, the IHS fees, and the visa fee. 

“Right now, tuition fees are proving very difficult to make [up], because there is not enough reserve in Bangladeshi private banks.”

Ghani compared the situation to that of Nigeria’s, where devaluation of the Naira has seen students unable to meet fee deadlines amid their funds losing over 40% of their value.

“[Forex reserve falls] triggered a bit of a panic by the central bank”

“It’s a simplistic problem in Bangladesh. You have a student that’s ready to pay a deposit, going to the bank to make a deposit payment and they can’t,” Ghani added. 

“But what we’ve discovered is there are one or two local banks that are actually willing to to do transfers. SAMS in Bangladesh is currently trying to build relationships with those banks, because we’ve got students that we need to to get out of the country [for study], and need to get money out of the country.

“It’s just been an extremely messy scenario,” Ghani said.

Mahmud also said that there is a bank confirmed to be making payments – Premier Bank Limited – and students would need to open an account with the bank to be able to eventually make the payment through them. 

“Some students are also going out of Bangladesh and some are also using credit cards to pay the fees,” he added. 

“It’s doubly problematic because the delays could really impact on the rush to get students enrolled,” Ghani noted, citing again the similar issue in Nigeria bearing the same panic for students.

“It’s just been an extremely messy scenario”

In June, Bangladesh attempted to relieve the strangle on its reserves by floating the local currency, the Taka, after its IMF loan it was awarded in February failed to patch the ongoing issues. 

At the beginning of July, Reuters reported two banks in the country, Eastern and Sonali, would even be offering some trade transactions in Indian rupees, where the national reserve is extremely strong compared to its neighbour. 

Mahmud also said that despite UK IHS fees set to almost double for students in the coming months and visa fees to rise, there remains a big appetite for global study – which stakeholders said in October 2022 presented a “huge growth opportunity”.

“Students will need permission from the banks to be able to make a payment of more than £300 for the IHS fee – the visa fee at this time is not an issue, students can easily make that payment without permission.

“But even with the IHS going up, students will still pay the fee and want to go,” he concluded.

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International students are not “taking seats away” from domestic UK students, stakeholders have reiterated after various media outlets have led with stories suggesting otherwise.

After pressure from right-wing members of parliaments and calls for resetting the government’s investment in UK higher education, the Financial Times and The Telegraph have run articles with headlines about British students ‘missing out’ on places to international counterparts.

The FT suggested that it is becoming “apparent that the big increase in the share of places offered to international students was starting to affect the chances of British children attending the highest-ranked universities”.

The report highlights proportional changes in the numbers of international students at Russell Group, highlighting that more than a quarter of places at English Russell Group universities went to international students last year, up from 16% between 2012-2017.

However, the use of ratios has been questioned by some, who point to absolute numbers.

Imperial College, which the paper notes has increased its share of international students to over 40% over the past seven years, for example increased the number of UK students in 2021/22 to 10,150 from 8,645 in 2014/15.

Founder and director of Education Insight and sector commentator Janet Ilieva reiterated on LinkedIn that international students “do not displace home students”.

Referring to HESA statistics for the 2021/22 academic year, she noted that international student growth was only at the master’s level, which is “area of weak domestic demand, particularly evident at a time of record low unemployment and a high volume of vacancies in the economy, pushing up the opportunity cost of education for home students”.

The figures show that overall international master’s student numbers rose to 526,645 from 482,895 in 2020/21. This is compared to a decline among domestic students across the UK nations from 280,465 in 2020/21 to 259,850 in the following year.

Speaking recently with The PIE, outgoing chair of BUILA and associate pro vice-chancellor (Global Engagement) at the University of Portsmouth, Bobby Mehta, also highlighted the point.

“From an international student perspective, the growth has been in postgrad. It doesn’t compute, because we are talking about undergraduate students here, we are not talking about postgrad. The major growth in the UK from the last number of years has come from the postgrad area, so it’s not stealing at all,” he said.

“The issue here is about domestic student funding.”

There are fears that headlines such as these will be misleading, especially in terms of the value contributions international students make to university finances, research and the UK as a whole.

“The issue here is about domestic student funding”

Recent research found that international students boosted the UK’s economy by £41.9bn in 2021/22, while it is often pointed out that overseas students expand options for domestic students by propping up some of the 30,000 courses available across the country with their tuition fees.

“Over 90% of the full-time student population studying engineering and technology at the master’s level, also business studies, are from outside the UK,” Ilieva noted. “These courses would not be viable if it were not for international students.”

It comes after some UK universities were accused by UK prime minister Rishi Sunak of offering “rip-off” degrees at the expense of the UK taxpayers.

StudyGroup’s James Pitman described the government’s announcement as “pure politics”, while UUK chief executive Vivienne Stern said a “broad understanding” of value in higher education is need.

“Measures of quality and value should certainly not be based on income data alone,” she said.

There are “ways to fix” the perception that there are not enough seats for domestic students, Mehta continued.

“The government has the levers, but they are not doing anything about that, and that is addressing the domestic fee issue. What they are doing is wrongly conflating it with something that is not related.”

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The Institute for International Education and the AIFS Foundation are highlighting the importance of mental health and wellbeing within the international education sector.

Through a recent report entitled, Mental Health and Well-Being in International Education: Reflections on Providing Support for Students and Administrators, along with a related webinar on the topic, the organisations have joined forces to underscore ongoing concerns and offer recommendations to better support students and administrators.

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, promoting awareness of student mental health issues and providing enhanced supports has taken on a heightened sense of significance on campus communities and within the international education sector at large.

Leah Mason, IIE’s research, evaluation and learning team lead told The PIE, “IIE and the AIFS Foundation are committed to raising awareness around mental health and well-being within the international education community”.

Mason added that the research “emphasises that the attention brought to mental health and wellbeing through the Covid-19 pandemic has led to the expansion of proactive practices, tools, and resources, which can have life-changing outcomes for students, enabling them to participate in international exchanges.”

The joint report was based on a series of interviews of staff from IIE, AIFS, and HEIs in the US. The findings were triangulated with recent research on international exchange students, such as the Open Doors report on international students with disabilities.

Mason and co-author, IIE consultant, Sarah Ingraham, indicated key findings as belonging to the central categories of support for students and support for administrators.

Regarding support for students, study participants indicated the need for more proactive responses, including promoting well-being as a core component of exchange programs early on. They noted this can be achieved by having prominent resources on program and university websites, in orientations and during program activities.

They also stressed the critical nature of effective communication with study abroad students, including frequent check-ins, in-person engagement and creating a “brave space” for disclosure.

The findings indicated the most significant barrier for students was the stigma that mental health issues often carry. As such, recommendations from the report suggested maintaining an assets-based approach.

“While it may be difficult for students to disclose their mental health and well-being needs during pre-departure, respondents recommended garnering trust and condemning stigma from the outset to foster open, honest dialogue before the student departs to their study abroad location, whether that is the US or abroad.”

The report and corresponding webinar also addressed supports IE administrators need to address student mental health concerns as well as their own wellness needs.

“A commitment to sharing best practices, comparing both successes and challenges, is vital to the future of our field”

Mason told The PIE, “Our commitment extends beyond students to support the advisors and practitioners, who work across their organisation with health care professionals and others, and ensure we recognise the critical role their wellbeing plays in program success by providing them with training and resources.”

Recommendations from both interview respondents and webinar panellists suggested that administrators should establish boundaries regarding the way in which they support students’ mental health and wellbeing.

This includes enlisting the assistance of mental health experts instead of having administrators take on those roles themselves. As well, more training for administrators on addressing student mental health concerns was warranted.

The theme of integrated support was also emphasised. “When all offices, departments or units serving international students studying abroad can collaborate, this significantly streamlines efforts, creates more robust networks and strengthens the support provided,” the authors asserted.

“In a time where offices and organisations are being asked to ‘do more with less’, I am personally trying to ask questions, be curious, and to reach out to check in, learn, and stay connected with colleagues,” Kelly Holland, VP of institutional partnerships at AIFS, added.

“A commitment to sharing best practices, comparing both successes and challenges, is vital to the future of our field.”

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Organisations marketing Russia as a study destination plan to take advantage of the upcoming high level Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg in late July to strike deals with African governments.

The organisations, including the study in Russia body Racus and state universities, are also optimistic that along the sidelines of the summit taking place July 27-28, deals will be clinched resulting in more African students enrolling in Russian universities.

They predict that the summit, the second one since 2019, will contribute to boosting destination Russia to rival popular ones in Europe and North America.

“We are in great in great anticipation of that event, and we expect educational cooperation deals to be reached or signed,” said Asya Manvelyan, Student services manager Department of Middle East and Southern Africa at Racus.

“We will definitely take advantage of the opportunity and maintain meetings with the ministers of Education of African countries, who will be in Saint Petersburg at that time.”

“We will definitely take advantage of the opportunity”

The body is looking forward to getting invited to the high-level event, noting that one such offer had been received from the Ambassador of the Republic of Angola to the Russian Federation, Augusto da Silva Cunha.

“We do not anticipate, we are sure that stronger Russia-Africa relations will make the number of African students coming to Russia grow even more in the future,” Manvelyan told The PIE News.

“The world is changing and Russian universities are aiming to become equal alternatives to European and American universities, especially in the light of coming independence from the US dollar and Euro because for the majority of Africans buying dollars and Euros to pay the university fees has become an ‘unsolvable’ problem.”

The summit is expected to serve as a platform for Russian and African leaders to discuss bilateral and multilateral issues. Additionally, they will explore opportunities for cooperation on a wide range of topics, including trade, investment, infrastructure development, energy, security, healthcare and education.

In Uganda, Russian ambassador to the country Valdlen Semilovos said the two countries prioritised education cooperation, adding that a Russian language centre was being opened at the country’s leading university Makerere.

Despite the optimism, studying in Russia for Africans has been blighted by last year’s deaths of students fighting for the country in its invasion of Ukraine.

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