StudyQA — Top tendenices in Russian students' educational preferences

From statistics to tendencies

         The planet is revolving, the world is evolving. That is how the things are so far. The process of evolution is reflected in different spheres of human activities and the education is certainly not an exception. Modern trends in the developing world are likely to bring about changes in the universities’ studying processes, or otherwise, graduates would try to find the closest post office to send their application to the employer’s e-mail address that does not sound as the good credentials to the education system. Therefore, monitoring of various university statistics is an essential part of building up the data, which may be potentially fruitful to keep pace with the current tendencies. Besides, this information can be converted in the efficient university strategies that respond with dignity to the present needs and requirements of labour market. 

         There exists an extremely wide range of different statistics that might be relatively beneficial but the utility of it always depends on the goal. Regarding tendencies in Russian students’ preferences, it seems reasonable to turn to the following data:

1. The countries chosen by Russian students to study in.
2. The dynamics within the specialities that are popular among Russian students.          

Welcome to Europe

         Concerning the country preferences, statistics lay bare some strong tendencies in receiving education abroad by Russian students. According to UNESCO data, there were approximately 56 000 Russian students abroad in 2015. The country list is quite thought-provoking:

1. Germany (9953 students)

2. Czech Republic (5305 students)

3. United States (5203 students)

4. United Kingdom (3933 students)

5. France (3599 students)

6. Finland (2799 students)

7. Italy (2178 students)

8.Others (in sum 23358 students)

        The number of students receiving education in these countries comprise almost 60% of the total. Putting aside Germany, the percentage would be just 40%. It clearly illustrates the idea of the balanced leadership. Obviously, Germany gives quite impressive figures comparatively to other countries but in general, we can deduce that the environment is quite competitive without pronounced leaders. What is more, European education seems to be more attractive to Russian students than studying in others corners of the world and there is no sign of change over there. Apparently, the quality and prestige of the university are not the only criteria to opt for the one. The possibility of scholarship, average level of life in the country, availability of visa, distance to Russia and many other parameters influence every individual choice. No doubt, more affluent families consider more options to get education for their children, but taking the average Russian family into account, there is no surprise that the European countries prevail in this list.

Technological specialities – YES, Economics and Management - NO

        It is impossible to depict more or less serious tendencies using just one parameter to analyse. The dynamics of the popular specialities in Russia appear to be more than promising if we want to elicit well-founded conclusions. Up-to-date researches in this field give us quite interesting picture. For instance, the most demanded jobs in 2016-2017 (the rate of job placement for graduates in Russia 89-95%) are in the following spheres:

• Pharmacy
• Nuclear power engineering
• Fundamental medicine
• Health sciences
• Rocket and space industry
• Aircraft industry

Top 3 popular master programs in Russia in 2017 are:

• High-tech engineering
• IT-technologies
• Pedagogics

Some other statistics for 2017, concerning education in Russia, which might be usefully employed:

• The average price for fee-based programs has showed 16% increase without losses in demand.
• The fee-based enrolment has risen for the programs of IT-technologies (+22.5%), International Relations (+21%), Law (+17.5%), PR (+13.9%), Linguistics (+13.8%), Health service (+8.7%)
• The fee-based enrolment has declined for the programs of Economics (-7.7%) and Management (-8.8%)*

         Considering aforementioned statistics, one will probably see the expressive figures confirming popularity of technological specialities, especially IT-technologies. At the same time, the programs with more faded employment perspectives in todays’ realities, like Economics or Management, are demonstrating significant decrease in its entry figures for both free and fee-based education during recent years. Perhaps, that is not the case for these domains in some foreign universities, which still look quite alluring to some Russian students with its international flavour. No doubt, there is something to digest and sleep on but right conclusions may help foreign universities to elaborate the best strategies to attract students, considering current tendencies and inner institutional resources.  

*According to research carried out by HSE in collaboration with other organisations

More on the topic: learn what Russian students expect from education abroad.

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