The Pushkin State Russian Language Institute has launched an express Russian as a Foreign Language (RFL) course on its Education in Russian website, a spokesperson for the Institute's press service told RIA Novosti.
The Russian language is growing increasingly popular around the world as Russia expands its economic ties with other countries and attracts more tourists, says Olga Kultepina, of the Higher School of Economics at the National Research University, who helped develop the course.
"I notice that the number of RFL groups grows with every passing year. Many students come to Russia with a good level of knowledge and want to improve. New online resources have appeared as well, which reflect an interest in Russian. For example, 5.81 million students have subscribed to the Duolingo Russian course, which is fourth in the ratings," she told RIA Novosti.
The express course is in the MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) format for maximum access and includes video lectures, references and an interactive capacity for communication between teachers and students.
Each course is 45 hours long and consists of 15 lessons with individual assignments and tests. Upon completion, students are issued a certificate.
The RFL-1 and RFL-2 courses were developed under the Russian Language Federal Targeted Program of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science.
