Russia’s Selective Openness Comes with Close Surveillance
Molnia | 06 August 2025 | University World News
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia’s higher education system has undergone a profound transformation. Confronted by an international boycott, its withdrawal from the Bologna Process, and intensifying anti-Western rhetoric at home, Russian authorities are scrambling to project an image of stability by reorienting their educational partnerships.
This pivot involves banning cooperation with ‘hostile’ countries while actively pursuing academic mobility with new, sometimes unexpected, partners in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Alongside these shifts, Moscow has set ambitious goals for foreign student enrolment and significantly revised university curricula…