TOMSK, Apr 5 – RIA Tomsk. Tomsk universities plan to increase the number of international students by 10 thousand by 2024 and by 40 thousand by 2030 within the framework of the Big University project; educational institutions rely not on bachelors, but on masters and graduate students, TSU Vice-Rector for International Affairs Artyom Rykun told reporters on Monday.
Earlier it was reported that the Big University project involves the unification of all universities and research institutes of Tomsk into a single scientific and educational consortium with the preservation of the legal autonomy of all participants. The main goal of the project is to unite the scientific, educational and infrastructural capabilities of universities for their full-fledged competition with world university centers.
It was also reported that, according to the plans of the project's working group, in 2035, 100 thousand students will study at the Big University, 35-40% of whom are international students (mainly from non-CIS countries).
"The task is to ensure the quality of education with the explosive growth of international students. The figure is ambitious – by 2030 they should give plus 40 thousand students in all universities of Tomsk, and by 2024 – plus 10 thousand," Rykun said during a round table on the export of education at the RIA Tomsk media center.
He added that at the same time, universities are planning to "shift the proportions": "Now we have bachelors dominating. We must ensure that a significant proportion of students are at higher levels – it is a master's degree, PHD, postgraduate. In this way we will provide an inflow to our scientific schools, as well as ensure the training of personnel for Russian high-tech industries."According to the representatives of universities participating in the round table, at present there are 3.2 thousand international students studying at TSU (of which about 900 are citizens of far abroad), at Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) – about three thousand, at Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics (TUSUR) – about 2 thousand international students.
At the Tomsk State University of Architecture and Building there are about 1.4 thousand international students, at Siberian State Medical University (SSMU) – about 1.8 thousand.