EDUCATIONAL MIGRATION IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION INTERNATIONALIZATION CONTEXT: URAL FEDERAL UNIVERSITY CASE

Abstract

Introduction. The article examines the results of the development study of the international educational migration in the context of the internationalization of higher education in Russia using the example of Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin (UrFU). The relevance of the research problems is due to the growing scale of international educational migration and its significance for the socio-economic and cultural development of the countries involved in this process.

Materials and methods. The research was based on regulatory documents governing the internationalization of higher education in the Russian Federation, statistical data from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, as well as the internal UrFU documents related to its international educational activities. This research also included information and the results of a sociological survey with participation of respondents from both Russian and international UrFU students studying abroad.

The study used a qualitative analysis of regulatory documents, information on the university website and social media posts, a comparative analysis, and students’ survey.

Results. The results obtained demonstrate that Russia has accumulated significant experience in the internationalization of higher education, which it uses as a form of «soft power» to advance its interests internationally. The characteristics of contemporary international educational migration, in which Russia actively participates, are described. Based on the data obtained during a sociological survey conducted by the authors, the motives of students participating in international educational migration, the challenges they face, and their plans for the future have been identified. The study's novelty lies in its substantiation of future developments in international educational migration based on the accumulated historical experience and the use of unique empirical data characterizing the process of internationalization of higher education at the Russian university that takes an active position in the development of this area of educational activity.

Discussion. The promising areas of migration education policy have been proposed. Their implementation at the Russian government and individual university levels could contribute to the implementation of plans for the development of higher education internationalization and improve the effectiveness of this process. A promising direction for research into student educational migration could be the segmentation of international educational flows by the countries of origin and a detailed analysis of their motivation and adaptation to the educational conditions in host countries.