"Russian universities actively engage with the world's leading universities on various matters, including promoting and enhancing student mobility, developing and implementing joint educational and international academic mobility programs," Ogorodova said. "We consider that broadening and expanding cooperation programs has become very prominent, and we continue to implement them, including with the United States."
Ogorodova noted that the Ministry of Education and Science has been supporting the initiatives of Russian education institutions, and there are results already.
"Particularly, the United States is one of Russia's key partners in terms of cooperation in the scientific sphere. From 2013 to 2016, Russian and American researchers and scientists jointly published more than 15,000 scientific papers works in journals indexed in the largest Scopus database," she pointed out. "Most of the joint publications by Russian and American scientists are in the fields of physics, chemistry, engineering, biology, ecology, earth sciences, as well as clinical medicine."
The Deputy Minister also stated that regarding the student exchange, 266 US students studied in Russia just in the universities of the Project 5-100.
"In 2015-2016, cooperation with US academic and educational institutions in the framework of student and academic mobility has broadened substantially," she explained. "We also notice that a number of Russian universities, Project 5-100 participants, engaged in this type of cooperation, have increased too."
Ogorodova pointed out Russian universities, Project 5-100 participants, attracted more than 6,350 international students, including from Germany, Italy, China, the United States, and France in 2016. Moreover there is also encouraging momentum, for example in academic reputation, excellence in research and teaching.
"There has been a significant increase in the number of foreign professors, teachers, and researchers in the universities, Project 5-100 participants, in comparison with 2013. Their share in the number of university staff increased by 4.5 times," she said. "In 2016, more than 1200 research projects were implemented at the universities participating in the Project 5-100 with the involvement of leading foreign and Russian scientists and researchers."
The Deputy Minister added that 577 new educational programs had been developed and implemented by the universities of the Project 5-100 was 577 during 2013 —2016, including 436 higher education programs and 141 continuing vocational education programs.
"In 2016, the universities participating in Project 5-100 introduced 183 new educational programs developed in partnership with leading foreign universities and scientific organizations, including 11 from the USA (in 2015 there were only 5 of them)," Ogorodova said.
The Project 5-100 is a government run Russian Academic Excellence initiative. The aim of the Project 5-100 is to strengthen Russia’s position as an outstanding place for education and research in the long term and further improve its international competitiveness.
It is designed to continue the development of Russian leading universities by supporting education and research of the highest standard, promoting internationalization, teaching and studying in Russia, enhancing universities’ profiles, and facilitating cooperation. It tells about the universal access to the high quality education in Russia and a global character in the sphere of education, inclusiveness, and cultural diversity.
The Deputy Minister spoke ahead of the annual NAFSA education conference set for May 28 — June 2 in the US city of Los Angeles.
The Russian delegation that will be headed by Ogorodova expects to hold meetings with the representatives of the professional community.
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