Key Problems of Political socialization of International students studying in the Russian Federation

Abstract

The relevance of this topic is due to the need to realize the maximum potential of Russian higher education as an instrument of “soft power”. The purpose of this article is to analyze the problems that accompany the solution of the main task — the political socialization of international students studying in the Russian Federation. The article covers three main aspects. The first is the absence of a minimum level of knowledge of the host country for high-quality political socialization of international students; the second is the lack of full-fledged motivation for real, not formal socialization, the third is the lack of the same motivation for the effective and meaningful implementation of a set of profile measures among the employees of the receiving side. The lack of resolution of the above three problems makes it impossible and meaningless to work to achieve the main goal — the political socialization of international students studying in the Russian Federation. The main reason for the urgency of the first problem is the orientation of higher education of foreign students in the Russian Federation to maximize profits to the detriment of its other goals, the second is the cultural code of the majority of international students, and the third is systemic management ‘failures’ in Russia itself. At the same time, the unresolvedness of these problems significantly complicates the work with one of the most promising categories of international students — immigrants from the countries of the Greater Middle East, Africa, South Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.