Potential of export education services of leading Russian universities

This article is devoted to the analysis of dynamics of main internationalization performance criteria of leading Russian universities that are members of the Federal project on upgrading international competitiveness of the Russian universities among the leading academic and research centers (Project 5-100). The article also looks into the practices of recruiting foreign graduate and postgraduate students and possibilities of education export commercialization among the Russian universities. Obtained results demonstrate that despite the growth of foreign students numbers at most of Project 5-100 participants opportunities for education export commercialization for many of these universities are limited. Some of the reasons of insufficient realization of the Russian universities education potential are: absence of single strategic document at the federal level that would state priority areas, forms and mechanisms of international cooperation; insufficient development of electronic and information services in foreign languages at university websites; considerable opportunities for obtaining financing for foreign students education from the Federal budget. Results of the research presented in the article can be useful for representatives of the Russian Federation administration in charge of formulating and implementing educational policy, as well as for research on the following implementation of Project 5-100 and education internationalization in general.