New Delhi: Russia is seeking to promote its education and culture in India and strengthen people-to-people ties ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s expected visit here later this year.
India and Russia will sign an agreement on the mutual recognition of higher education diplomas, which would help increase the flow of Indian students to Russia, Fyodor Rozovsky, director of the Russian Centre of Science and Culture (RCSC) here, told IANS. Russia’s largest cultural representation abroad is in India, with five RCSCs in New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Trivandrum.
“This agreement will make it possible to increase the number of Indian students studying in Russia, either on government stipends or at their own expense,” Rozovsky said.
There have been other changes effected in Russian law this year to benefit foreign students in Russia.
“In the past, foreign students in Russia couldn’t work while they were students, but since January 2014, in accordance with changes to the law on Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in Russia, they can both study and work,” said Rozovsky, who heads the India office of Russia’s Agency for CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) Affairs, Russian Compatriots Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo) which has offices in 68 countries.
Rozovsky outlined some of the other programmes for the year that will ease the way for Indian students. “In the 2014-2015 academic year, there are plans to offer government funds to around 40 Indian students to go to Russia to study at the bachelor, specialist and graduate levels, and to nine students to get training in teaching Russian”, he said.
“After recent legislation, prospective students can now designate one or more universities where they would like to study, while earlier they could choose only the area of study and the Russian education ministry chose the institution.”
From modest levels in 2000 of hundred-odd Indian students annually going to Russia for under-graduate and post-graduate studies, the figure has risen to 1,000-1,100 students a year since 2012.
Eighty percent of Indian students enrol for medical courses, an area of Russian expertise available at quite cost-effective rates. For instance, of the 1,100 who went to Russia in 2012, 865 went to learn medicine and dentistry and 235 opted for engineering courses, according to the RCSC.
The big majority are drawn to medicine, because of the reasonable course fees, that are even lower than those charged by private medical colleges in India, and almost a fifth of such education costs in the US.
President Putin is slated to visit India in November this year.(IANS)
