"A fundamentally different position": Konstantin Mogilevsky, Deputy Head of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, on promoting the development of African states

According to the Deputy Minister, as of today, students from 56 African countries study at Russian universities. This academic year, more than 34.4 thousand African students were enrolled in universities, which is almost 4 thousand more than last year. Many of them study for free under the Russian Government's special quota for foreigners, which is constantly and steadily increasing and will continue to do so in the future.

"What modern colonial powers do is to draw out talented and capable people, and not to train personnel for the economies of African states themselves. Russia has a fundamentally different position here. Our policy is aimed at assisting the development of African states, to train human resources for their economies. We welcome African children to Russia. This is a good Soviet tradition of training African students in our country," said Konstantin Mogilevsky.

According to him, currently the question of opening representative offices of Russian universities and joint educational programs in African countries is being raised. For example, negotiations are currently underway to open a branch of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI in Egypt. In 2021, the country became a full member of another pioneering Russian scientific organisation, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research.

"The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna is an international organisation at the forefront of modern science. Now the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, together with the institute, is negotiating with a number of African states, most notably South Africa. South African nuclear physicists deserve the opportunity to work in the best scientific teams at the most modern facilities," said Konstantin Mogilevsky.

It is worth noting that the topic of combating colonial policy was first voiced during the meeting of the President of the Russian Federation with historians and representatives of traditional religions on National Unity Day in 2022. The Head of State instructed the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, together with the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Historical Society to prepare materials on the history, development and consequences of colonial policy of the European states on the African continent for the International Forum "Russia-Africa". In addition to the historical-documentary exhibition to be presented at the forum in May, the Russian Historical Society is planning to hold a roundtable discussion on the history of colonialism in Asian countries at the Eastern Economic Forum.