According to Interfax.ru (Moscow, 5 December), international students studying at Russian universities who cannot study online will be asked to take an academic leave or postpone classes to a later date period, said Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
“There are specialties and areas in which distance education is excluded, technically: like, teaching a doctor or engineer requires personal presence, otherwise these specialties and related disciplines become impossible to teach” Valery Falkov said in an interview on the Russia 24 TV channel (“Россия 24”, ВГТРК).
“In such situations, the relevant disciplines will be transferred to a later date. Otherwise, in case of absence of opportunity to study them, students will be offered to go on academic leave. Additional classes are also possibleafter a full-time presence,” the Minister has stated.
The minister also mentioned that the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (Министерство науки и высшего образования РФ) understands the difficulties of international students who cannot get back to Russia and continue their education due to restrictions imposed by the spread of COVID-19.
“The most frequent problem faced by students from abroad is the lack of Internet. In some countries, it is particularly a question of electricity or connection costs (…). Now we are carefully looking at all these problems for each student. There is no universal solution”, – noted Valery Falkov.
Earlier in the media, there were reports that due to the pandemic and the closure of borders, many students from foreign countries failed to continue their studies in Russia and would be expelled. The Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation has denied such information, stating that “there were no deductions of international students in connection with the transition to distance learning.”
According to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, 300,000 foreigners are studying in Russia, yet 100,000 of them cannot enter Russia to continue their education. The Ministry has stated that universities aim at individual work with each international student in a distance format.
News Source (in Russian)
Translation: Perm State University
