The number of Iranian students in Russian universities has almost doubled over the past three years
Today, 4.7 thousand Iranian citizens are getting a higher education in Russian universities in bachelor’s, specialist’s, and master's programs. The number of Iranian students in Russia over the past three years has increased by 1.8 times: in 2019 there were 2.6 thousand of them, in 2020 their number equaled 3.7 thousand. Russia and Iran are also working on joint scientific projects.
In order to improve cooperation between universities, since 2015 the Forum of Rectors of Russian and Iranian Universities has been regularly held. Based on the results of the 5-th Forum, the parties approved a joint resolution. It included initiatives on the expertise exchange, and joint programs in the field of online education, establishing joint academic centers and programs, and mutual promotion of Farsi and the Russian language.
The leaders in the number of students from Iran are Lomonosov Moscow State University, Sechenov Medical University, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, and RUDN University in Moscow, Pavlov State Medical University, and Mechnikov North-Western State Medical University in St. Petersburg, Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, and Kazan (Volga Region) State University.
The most popular specializations and areas of training among Iranian students are medicine, linguistics and literature studies, applied mathematics and physics, pharmacy, and economics. Along with bachelor's, master's and specialist’s degrees, many Iranian students also choose postgraduate programs.
30 students from Iran are studying at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU), and a significant part of them are in postgraduate programs. Among the areas of training that Iranian students often choose are mechanical and power engineering, thermal power and heating engineering, IT, business and management, etc.
“I graduated from Polytech with a master's degree, and now I am actively learning Russian, in order to continue my postgraduate studies at SPbPU. My area of research is related to industrial automation. Our university has great industrial automation laboratories. In general, SPbPU has a very good atmosphere. In studies, I had no problems, in any situation I found support and help. The university campus is very diverse, there are many students from various countries, and an active and vibrant student life,” said Amir Bahrami, an SPbPU graduate from Iran.
