KALININGRAD, January 24. /TASS/. The number of foreign students who come to study in Russia under a priority project to promote Russian education abroad is to double by 2025, Mark Kalinin, Head of the Department for Cooperation in Education and Science at Russia’s Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo), said on Wednesday.

"This project implies a substantial, more than twofold increase in the number of foreign students who come to study in Russia in all forms and types of education by 2025," Kalinin said at the Moscow-Kaliningrad teleconference titled "The results of the Russian-Chinese Accreditation of Russian and Chinese universities’ curricula - 2017".

He noted that Rossotrudnichestvo, in partnership with the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Education and Science, is selecting students in more than 150 countries who will study in Russia’s universities and noted the growing interest in Russia and the Russian education system. According to Kalinin, in 2017, more than 120,000 foreigners applied for education in Russia, while in 2018, that number will grow significantly, according to Rossotrudnichestvo’s forecasts.

The participation of Russian universities in international rankings and the availability of international professional and public accreditation of training programs plays an important role, Kalinin added.

Vladimir Navodnov, Director of the National Center for Public Accreditation, said during the teleconference that the receipt of accreditation confirms the conformity of universities’ curricula to international standards and the possibility of training foreign students. According to Navodnov, 438 training programs in 40 universities have passed international accreditation, and work along these lines continues.