Attracting Educational Migrants to Universities: An Overview of Institutional Resources

The paper presents an overview of key institutional resources for attracting educational migrants, including compatriots, to Russian universities. The theoretical base includes Russian and foreign works on the theory of educational migration and adaptation of foreign students. It is revealed that there are not enough studies evaluating institutional resources to attract educational migrants to universities. It is mainly due to the fact that the work with foreign students in universities is embedded in the concept of “soft power”. The novelty of the study consists in our attempt to fill this gap, review institutional resources for attracting educational migrants to universities, and systematize the data of theoretical and empirical studies. The practical side of the problem is reflected as well: statistical indicators from various Russian sources on educational migration and voluntary resettlement of compatriots to Russia are presented in fragments, which makes it difficult to compare them. We use qualitative analysis of documents in the public domain to obtain the data that made it possible to review the main institutional resources of Russian universities to attract educational migrants, including compatriots. We consider which resources of Russian universities in working with foreign students can be interpreted as “attracting” factors; whether there are special tools for working with foreign students from CIS countries and/or compatriots. We draw conclusions that Russian universities do not have well-elaborated strategies to encourage young compatriots (Russophones) to participate in educational migration. Universities do not consider this category of applicants as a separate group, which would help optimize management decisions focused on the development of migration, demographic and educational policies. These circumstances bring to the fore the need to optimize institutional resources and management decisions regarding the attraction of Russophones to Russian universities.