Andrey Maslov discussed the prospects of Russian-African educational cooperation at the RIAC seminar
On February 27, 2025, an expert seminar "Russian-African cooperation in education today: Challenges and Prospects" took place at the Russian Council on International Affairs (RIAC). Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center for African Studies, took part in the discussion of Russian education policy in Africa.
Among the participants of the event were Russian officials, heads of Moscow and regional educational institutions, representatives of Rossotrudnichestvo, representatives of expert associations and non-government agencies. Artem Kozvonin, Head of Unit in the Department for Partnership with Africa at the Russian Foreign Ministry, delivered a welcoming speech at the seminar. Two sessions were held within the seminar: "Strategies for exporting Russian education to Africa", and "Evaluating the effectiveness of education as a tool of "soft power”.
The seminar was also attended by Maxim Zalyvsky, Head of the Project Office of the Russian-African Network University; Marina Reketz, Candidate of Political Sciences, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of the RUDN University; A.A. Zabella, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and History of International Relations, RUDN University, and others. According to experts, 60% of the African population are young people under the age of 25 who need education. Russia, with its rich potential in the field of education, has a lot to offer its African partners.
“Russian-African cooperation in the field of education has a long history and good traditions. Domestic education enjoys a very good reputation in African countries. This creates a solid foundation for building further cooperation in this area,” said Andrey Maslov.
According to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, almost 35,000 African students are currently studying at Russian universities, of which 6,000 are on a budgetary basis. As it was noted during the first session, Russian Language Centers have been opened in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau. Other successful cases of cooperation include the opening of the pre-university courses by Novosibirsk State University in Niger, as well as the functioning of pre-university engineering faculties for African students at four Russian universities. Experts also commented on the related challenges: the difficulty of adapting African students, an insufficiently developed grant system to cover all their needs, and competition from China and the United States. In this regard, Andrey Maslov noted, it is important to increase Russian-African educational cooperation according to the concept of active engagement:
“Despite the fact that the quota of scholarships for the 2024-2025 academic year has more than doubled since 2022, which is very encouraging to hear, the competition for African students applying to study in Russia amounted to five people per place. This means that not all young people from Africa can afford to go to Russia, even under a scholarship program. Our goal is to achieve the figure of at least two people per place,” - Andrey Maslov summed up.
During the second session, the seminar participants looked at Russian education in terms of “soft power”. Andrey Maslov spoke about the e-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program, launched in 2022 with the support of the Government of the Russian Federation and in partnership with Innopraktika.
“Experience and knowledge-sharing allow us to move from attempts to sell and implement some particular technologies to building our own technological base in Africa and improving conditions for long–term cooperation,” - said Andrey Maslov.
Cooperation in the field of education corresponds to the implementation of the Action Plan for 2023-2026 of the Russia–Africa Partnership Forum (paragraph 146 on increasing cooperation between Russia and Africa in the field of educational exchanges, including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
Currently, 106 intergovernmental agreements and memorandums in the field of science and higher education, as well as agreements on the mutual recognition of higher education documents, have been signed with African countries. Inter-university relations are actively growing. More than 850 cooperation agreements are in force to date, of which more than 200 were signed over the past two years.
A detailed analysis of the current state of the education sector in Africa, the challenges that African countries face in this area, as well as the impact of external factors are presented in one of the chapters of the expert-analytical handbook “Africa 2025 - Prospects and Challenges”, prepared by experts from the Center for African Studies in 2024. To read the “Education is power: who teaches African leaders” chapter, follow the link.
