Foreign Students in the Higher Educational Institutions of Russia.

The article presents information on the increase in foreign students pursuing higher education in Russia. Russia is facing a decline in population. About two-thirds of the foreign citizens in Russia over the past five years, who are attending higher educational institutions in daytime enrollment have come from developing countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The most popular faculties among foreign students are machine building, materials processing, metallurgy, transportation and veterinary science. This article includes a survey conducted in May and June 2003 by the Center for Sociological Research of the Russian Ministry of Education. The study examined basic tendencies in this country's higher education with respect to the training of cadres for foreign countries. Compared to the Soviet era, the proportion of students from Eastern Europe has gone down considerably. The average age of the foreign students surveyed is 22.8. Of these 68.8 percent are men. The article also compares the increase of women in higher education.