Moscow Expanding Network of Central Asian Branches of Russian Universities, Likely to Save Money Now Spent on Bringing Central Asian Students to Russia Itself

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 15 – Moscow is dramatically expanding the network of branches of Russian Universities in Central Asia and the Caucasus, increasing their number in Uzbekistan alone over the last three years from four to 14, a move that allows Moscow to continue to use this form of Soviet powers at less cost than bringing Central Asians to Russia.

            At present, analysts say, it costs Moscow six to eight thousand US dollars per student per year to bring Central Asians to universities in the Russian Federation. Training them at Russian schools located in the region is much less expensive and is now a growth industry (bugin.info/detail/filialy-rossiiskikh-vuzov/ru).

            That suggests that Moscow plans to reduce the number of scholarships given to Central Asians to study in Russia itself by increasing the number of students studying in branches of Russian universities in their homelands. At present, there are some 60,000 Uzbeks in Russian universities in Russia, but only 10,000 in Russian branches in Uzbekistan.