Russia training record-high number of African students – EEF experts

Enrollment has reached 37,000 as Moscow expands state-funded university places across the continent

Russia is now training more African students than the Soviet Union did, Andrey Maslov, director of the HSE Center for African Studies, said on Friday at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok.

The number of students from African countries enrolled at Russian universities has reached a historic high of over 37,000 this year, Olga Petrova, Russian deputy minister of science and higher education, reported at the same session. The figure is up from around 17,500 in 2020, according to Fernando Jose Sambu, the head of Direction for Work with Government Bodies and Diplomatic Missions of African Countries.

Russia has also expanded state-funded education opportunities for African students, a policy promoted by President Vladimir Putin at the 2023 Russia-Africa Summit.

In August, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the government-funded quota for Ghanaian students would nearly double from 120 places beginning with the current academic year. Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa later said the allocation had been increased to 240 places.

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Beyond university education, Russia has also expanded programs aimed at training African government officials. Maslov said the HSE Center for African Studies is working with government agencies in more than 20 African countries, including on digitalization, financial monitoring, and cybersecurity.

The expert noted there is strong demand among African governments for Russian expertise in financial monitoring and cybersecurity.

“This is an area that African states are only just beginning to approach systematically in terms of understanding their role in protecting their national digital environments from external influence,” Maslov stated.

The HSE Center for African Studies has been running its E-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program since 2022, providing training for African government officials in the digitalization of public administration. Its first major training school in Moscow in 2023 brought together over 40 mid- and senior-level officials from 23 African countries. The program has since expanded to activities on the continent, including a training school on e-governance held in Tanzania in May 2026.

The 11th Eastern Economic Forum is being held in Vladivostok from September 1 to 4 under the theme ‘The Far East – Development for the Benefit of People’. More than 7,000 participants from 78 countries and territories have attended this year’s forum, according to organizers.