On September 29, 2014, Alexander Arefiev, deputy director of the Social Science Research Center in the Science Ministry, Russia, brought to IICE his lecture titled “Education of Foreign citizens in Institutions of Higher Education in Russia: history, current situation and prospect” in Room 723, Yingdong Building, Beijing Normal University. The presentation was moderated by Professor XiaoSu, and attended by some doctors and postgraduates from IICE.
Professor Arefiev has been in charge of scientific research work in the Educational and Social Research Center, Ministry of Education and Science, Russia since 1993. Besides, he participates in the research and formulation work of educational reform policy in Russia. In recent years, he has been an expert consultant of Russian educational policy and reform in the Education Section of Chinese Embassy in Russia.
Professor Arefiev’s lecture was divided into two parts. In Part One, he made a historical introduction of the experience of Russia’s foreign talent cultivation since the 19th century. He focused on the situation of the institutions which trained overseas students in Soviet times, the origins of foreign students and their tendency in the choice of majors. In Part Two, he explained the situations of education of overseas students in Russian Federation after the collapse of the Soviet Union in a comparative way, which mainly covered the origins of students and their tendency in their choices of cities where they studied and the majors of study. He also focused on the situations in which Chinese students studied in Russia. In his two and a half hours lecture, Professor Arefiev used a large number of accurate statistical data, vividly showed the foreign citizens education and internationalization of education in colleges and universities in Russia, and analyzed the success and regret of foreign citizen education in Russia. Professor Arefiev showed great expectations for the future. Professor Arefiev’s lecture was rigorous and the atmosphere was free, which made the teachers and students have a more in-depth understanding about the higher education internationalization and overseas students training system.
