15,000 Foreigners Can Enjoy Free Tuition at Russian Universities

Tuition-free education is provided under the Russian government quota for the 2018/2019 academic year.

Every year the Russian government sets aside 15,000 university places (scholarships) for foreign nationals on undergraduate, specialist, graduate, PhD or internship programmes. The 2018 quota has remained unchanged from the previous year but priority was given to applicants from Asia and CIS countries. The largest number of scholarships was allocated to Vietnamese and Chinese nationals, 958 and 950, respectively. The Russian government reserved 618 university places for Tajikistan, 500 for Mongolia, 490 for Ukraine and 400 for Kyrgyzstan. Applicants can choose from 450 state-owned universities, including prestigious higher education centres such as Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, Higher School of Economics, People’s Friendship University of Russia, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Novosibirsk State University, National Research Tomsk State University, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Far Eastern Federal University etc.

To qualify for a Russian government scholarship, candidates have to pass rigorous competitive selection; admissions boards operate in 140 countries. The selection of candidates for the upcoming academic year has been completed. The 2019 intake will begin in February-March depending on the country. If you failed to get a scholarship, you can apply for a student contract. Tuition fees at Russian universities are lower than in America or Europe. More information on tuition fees is here.