07.11.2019

​The number of foreign students studying at Siberian Federal University in 2018-2019 amounted to 955 people, which is more than twice as much as in 2014-2015, the SFU press centre informs, – just about 440 exchange students studied at the university back then. The growth compared to the 2017-2018 academic years (890 people) increased by 8.5%.

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The detailed statistics of this year include following figures:

  • bachelor’s — 642 people
  • specialist’s — 82 people
  • master’s — 79 people
  • post graduate — 26 people
  • prep school — 126 people, about 50% of them go on to enter the university educational programmes

Most foreign students 2018-2019 in Siberian Federal University are from Kyrgyzstan (199 people), Kazakhstan (173 people), China (149 people), Tajikistan (116 people), Iraq (111 people) and Guinea (36 people). Apparently, students from some of the more exotic countries are also on the list: Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Haiti and Burkina Faso.

Noticing the interest in studying at SibFU shown by international youth, the university launched a new project titled «SibFU like home for foreign students»: it aims to show what exactly attracts foreign people enough to enter a distant Siberian university.

The main participants of the project are a married couple of scientists from India, a Spaniard, who mastered Japanese in six months, coming to work in one of Professor Vaganov’s Scientific Schools, a young man from Jamaica who arrived (courtesy of RUSAL) in Krasnoyarsk and completely fell in love with the whole dancing community of the city, and a bilingual from China, who basically became a friend of all those Chinese people studying in the city.

One of the participants of the new SFU project Junior Bartley (Jamaica): 

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— When I first arrived, there were a lot of minor incidents. For example, I did not know any Russian letters and once accidentally went into the women's bathroom because there were no indicators except for «Ж» and «М». Also, there were not a lot of black people in the city beforehand, and mind you, this is not a funny story. So, sometime upon getting here in Krasnoyarsk, me and my friend decided to go to the pharmacy for some vitamins, as we needed to take them regularly for a while. Then some old man came into the pharmacy and looked sincerely frightened when he noticed us. At first I found it somewhat offensive. But we understand that people here have a different mentality, they are not used to the influx of foreigners.

Alberto Arzac (Spain): 

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— Last time we were on an expedition in Irkutsk Region, a truck ran us off the road, then two guys with guns got out of it and started nearing us. We had to cry something along the lines of «Мы из Академия наук, мы из Академия наук (We’re from the Science Academy, we’re from the Science Academy)», as they thought we were poachers.

Teng Lei (China): 

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— Students often advise the newbies, like «just talk to Teng Lei», and I never refuse to help them out, because being abroad you feel stronger about your nationality, every person of your nation instantly becomes a part of a big family: we celebrate Chinese holidays together, uphold traditions, help each other. Once I visited my Chinese friends in Moscow, they study at Moscow State University, and there were some guys who opened a restaurant specially for Chinese students, or a hair salon, or a shop…