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Bright thoughts: the international work of universities has returned to the pre-pandemic level
International cooperation between Russian universities has recovered after the recession that was recorded during the pandemic and after February 2022. The active growth of contacts has been observed for the second year in a row, analysts said. This trend was confirmed to Izvestia by Rossotrudnichestvo and a number of universities. Exchange programs have gained momentum due to the CIS and Asian countries, and the number of Russian universities participating in international educational exhibitions has increased. Many joint research projects are conducted in the field of artificial intelligence, most often with China. And the weakening of contacts with Europe has affected cooperation in the humanitarian field.
How universities have restored international cooperation
Russian universities have significantly intensified international cooperation in the last two years, Rossotrudnichestvo told Izvestia. In 2023, the agency held 19 educational exhibitions in 14 countries, while in 2025, 33 such exhibitions are planned in 25 countries. For comparison: in 2019, exhibitions were held in 15 countries.
"We are working with universities to present their opportunities abroad," said Pavel Shevtsov, Deputy head of the department. — For this purpose, Rossotrudnichestvo representative offices in the countries hold educational exhibitions. Both metropolitan and leading regional educational organizations take part in them. Russian universities are steadily increasing the number of foreign students and are included in international rankings.
This year, exhibitions are planned, in particular, in Turkey, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Tanzania, South Africa, Serbia and many other countries.
In the 2025/26 academic year, Rossotrudnichestvo, as the operator of the first stage of the selection of candidates for studying foreigners within the quota of the Russian government, recruited students from 177 countries around the world. More than 78,000 applications were received for consideration, compared to 47.7 thousand in 2022.
Russian universities have shown a significant increase in international cooperation in recent years, according to researchers at the Moscow Institute of Art and Industry. After a five-year decline in activity that began in 2019, in 2024 the number of publications about partnerships with foreign educational institutions increased 3.7 times compared to 2023. Analysts took into account publications in news aggregators.
"The data show that the peak of international activity occurred in 2019 — 900 publications. Then a steady decline began: 2020 — 597 news, 2021 - 490, 2022 — 190. The lowest point was reached in 2023 with an indicator of 144 publications. Growth began in 2024 and continues," the document says.
— We are witnessing a steady recovery of international relations between Russian universities after a difficult period. The pendulum has swung towards multipolarity, and the support of the BRICS countries, Africa, and Asia creates new opportunities for academic exchange," said Larisa Egorova, Vice—Rector for Development and Innovation at Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. — We see how contacts at the student exchange level are being resumed even in Western countries, which indicates a natural need for cultural and scientific dialogue.
In particular, starting in 2019, this university organizes trips every year within the framework of cooperation with the European Cultural Academy — to Barcelona, Venice, Amsterdam. Japanese programs are held annually: this year they will be held twice — in spring and autumn.
— In September of this year, a group of students will visit the international exhibition Expo to study world achievements. In addition, we regularly organize plein—air trips to Turkey, to Marmaris, to develop students' artistic skills," Larisa Egorova added.
Also in 2024, the Narimasu Gallery in Tokyo hosted an exhibition of works by Moscow Art Institute students dedicated to Japanese culture. And in 2025, their students completed a series of creative workshops from Spanish artists in Barcelona.
Who do universities cooperate with?
The number of academic mobility programs in offline format has definitely increased now, Elena Apasova, Vice Rector for Strategic Communications at RUDN University, told Izvestia.
— More than 5 thousand students and teachers participated in the programs — this is both incoming and outgoing data. The most popular countries for educational exchanges are China, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, and Uzbekistan," she said. — Over the past five years, we have expanded our presence abroad, especially in Africa. 11 Russian language centers and 27 specialized classes were opened in 22 countries.
According to her, in just the last five years, the university has concluded more than 300 cooperation agreements.
— In 2022, about 120 of the previously concluded agreements were suspended. But we are constantly expanding our presence in the countries hosting the RUDN University," she said. — All forms of international cooperation have remained, joint programs, educational platforms, the Olympiad for foreign citizens, academic mobility. I would not talk about a decline in cooperation, especially for universities with a strong international component. But the geography of cooperation has changed.
The Presidential Academy (RANHiGS) currently has documents on cooperation with 159 universities and educational organizations from different parts of the world, said Andrei Margolin, Vice Rector of RANHiGS.
Since the beginning of 2025, more than 200 students of the academy have gone to study at universities in China, India, Thailand, Brazil, Vietnam, Serbia and other countries.
The Academy is working on the development of bachelor's and master's degree programs for two diplomas with universities in Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In 2025, the RANEPA held the international Olympiad "Managers of the Future" for the first time in Bishkek and Tashkent, as a result of which 15 winners became undergraduates of the Presidential Academy. The project will be continued, in particular, in Egypt, Vietnam, Mongolia.
Svetlana Matveeva, Head of the International Department at Kazan State Agrarian University, said that the university cooperates with universities in 28 countries.
— Our main partners are our CIS neighbors. We have established stable relations with them, and 17 cooperation agreements are in force," she said. — We are building relations with China from far abroad, where we have partners among the leading agricultural universities that are included in the world rankings. We also cooperate with universities in India, Malaysia, and Turkey.
According to her, it is planned to launch several joint programs with Chinese and Turkish universities by 2030, and expanding contacts through the platforms of BRICS and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is being considered.
"This will attract scientists from world—class universities for joint research," Svetlana Matveeva said. — We are increasing scientific cooperation, focusing on promising areas. We plan to launch research projects in the field of artificial intelligence together with foreign colleagues by 2030. This is a very relevant topic for the agricultural sector — smart technologies in agriculture have great potential.
She also noted that the university has joint publications with foreign scientists. A source at another university also stated that there are publications in rating journals in Europe and the USA.
"There are independent reviewers there," the source explained.
Another source at one of the federal universities noted that the most common forms of international cooperation are presentations at scientific conferences and short—term exchanges.
— Yes, there are fewer trips to conferences, including because trips to unfriendly countries need to be coordinated with the Ministry of Education and Science, — he said.
Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Education and Science with a request to assess the dynamics of international cooperation between universities.
How has reconnecting affected learning
Analysts at Pressindex (which monitors the media and social networks) confirmed that there were significantly more mentions of international cooperation — moreover, a noticeable jump was recorded in 2025. For the sake of purity of the study, analysts excluded any mention of termination of cooperation. From January to July of this year, there were more than 133,000 such news.
For the same period in 2024 — 96.8 thousand, in 2023 — 75.6 thousand, in 2022 - 65.1 thousand. In the pandemic year 2020, the number of publications on cooperation between universities in January–July was 9.7 thousand.
Irina Abankina, a professor at the HSE Institute of Education, noted that "cooperation is recovering very noticeably."
"It is developing especially actively with countries where it was not so active before, for example, BRICS," she said. — There are a lot of joint programs and research with China, where there are huge postgraduate schools.
According to her, many joint studies are conducted in the field of artificial intelligence, as China is one of the world leaders in this area, as well as technologies.
"And the weakening of contacts with Europe affected primarily the humanitarian sphere," the expert believes.
Earlier, according to her, there were many programs with the EU in the field of political science, sociology, and public relations. They have not been fully replaced yet.
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