Russia Backs Sending Top Students Abroad With a Catch

First time accepted submitter Clark Schultz writes "Vladimir Putin plans to send the country's top domestic students abroad in an effort to prepare engineers, doctors, and scientists with the most modern education. The initiative comes with a catch: Students must return to Mother Russia to work. Though critics say that the students may be tempted to stay abroad after receiving their advanced degrees, Putin is confident they will be properly motivated to keep up their end of the bargain. As one advocate notes, the 'brilliant' practice of educating Russians at top global universities dates back to the times of Peter the Great."

Comments

The actual catch...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just don't come back gay.

Seems reasonable

[mirix]

If they don't want to go back to Russia, they don't have to accept the grants.

I'm not really seeing a problem here?

Re:Seems reasonable

[Anonymous Coward]

Surely since it is Putin: if they don't want to come back it is fine as long as they don't mind their tea tasting of Polonium.

Re:Seems reasonable

[icebike]

Actually, they have apparently been accepting grants all along, for many years, but never coming back.

The new decree (Do they not pass laws over there?) simply says:

Students who earned bachelor's degrees in Russian universities may enter leading [foreign] universities... and be eligible for financial support from the government.
If these students would like to stay overseas after graduation, they would have to pay a hefty amount to Russia that would include all the money spent on the education plus a fine twice as large as this amount.

Good luck collecting, unless they want to hire a boat load of lawyers in each country students go to. (If they thought US tuition was high, wait till they see US lawyer bills). Maybe they will get the parents to co-sign these grants so they can at least threaten to put the parents in the hot seat if young Doctor Ivan doesn't come back.

With US student loans defaulting at a rate of 10% they are just as likely to learn bad habits here.

On the other hand if you can legally wipe out all or most of your student loans by getting a good paying job in Russia (by virtue of your prestigious foreign doctorate), it just might work.
It all depends on the job and pay opportunities at home, and how much of the government loans will be forgiven. It might be pretty hard to pay back a western sized debt on a Russian sized salary unless most or all of it were forgiven by the Russian Government.

 

Re:Seems reasonable

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, they have apparently been accepting grants all along, for many years, but never coming back.

The new decree (Do they not pass laws over there?) simply says:

Students who earned bachelor's degrees in Russian universities may enter leading [foreign] universities... and be eligible for financial support from the government.
If these students would like to stay overseas after graduation, they would have to pay a hefty amount to Russia that would include all the money spent on the education plus a fine twice as large as this amount.

Good luck collecting, unless they want to hire a boat load of lawyers in each country students go to. (If they thought US tuition was high, wait till they see US lawyer bills). Maybe they will get the parents to co-sign these grants so they can at least threaten to put the parents in the hot seat if young Doctor Ivan doesn't come back.

With US student loans defaulting at a rate of 10% they are just as likely to learn bad habits here.

On the other hand if you can legally wipe out all or most of your student loans by getting a good paying job in Russia (by virtue of your prestigious foreign doctorate), it just might work.
It all depends on the job and pay opportunities at home, and how much of the government loans will be forgiven. It might be pretty hard to pay back a western sized debt on a Russian sized salary unless most or all of it were forgiven by the Russian Government.

France for instance not only subsidizes students that enter the top univerisities (ecole polytechnique and ecole normale superieur among others) but it also pays the students a stipend. The catch is that once you graduate you owe the French state 10 years of your life. After that you can enter if you want the private sector, but the first ten years must be given back to the public sector. Else you must reimburse the money the French state invested in your education. And you can bet your ass they do come after you if you don't uphold your end of the bargain.
Russia is doing nothing alien. They pay for their student's education, even paying their stay abroad. It is only natural those students give back to the Russian state some years of their lives.
Only in the US (temple of individuality) does the state subsidize your studies (if you're fortunate enough) but then you are not compelled to give back. Individuality taken to the extreme, and then we ask ourselves why all the worlds big problems stem from that country.

Re:Seems reasonable

[AlphaWolf_HK]

They could probably just levy the fines as a tax, and have them extradited for tax evasion through existing tax treaties.

The US already does something similar, and there is a large body of signing countries to this convention. If you live abroad you still have to pay US taxes even if you never make use of any US services. If you renounce your citizenship, you have to pay the US government a large tax as if you have sold every single asset that you presently own (so basically 30% of everything you have) plus some other fees and levies - if you don't do this, then the US will have you extradited and jailed. (This is why those complaining about those ex-patriots who renounced their citizenship to avoid future taxation have unfounded complaints - they already had to pay more than their pre-existing dues just to renounce their citizenship; they just want to avoid paying future taxes to a government that doesn't provide any services to them whatsoever.)

Re:Seems reasonable

[w_dragon]

The US is about the only country that taxes citizens regardless of where they live and work. Which leads to a fun situation where the kids of US citizens born abroad are considered natural US citizens and expected to file taxes, but may not be eligible to vote depending on which state their parents were from. Taxation without representation.

Re:This is how it *should* work.

[MightyMartian]

It worked for Meiji Japan. They sent off boatloads of students to foreign universities, brought in foreign experts and jumpstarted Japan's industrialization (which was probably the most rapid industrialization in history). In the mid-19th century, Japan was still to a large extent a late Feudal state. By the beginning of the 20th century, it kicked the crap out of the Russians and by WWI was considered a Great Power.

Re:The actual catch is ...

[vikingpower]

China - I can understand. But for Russians ? I worked with several Russians, all of them very-good-to-brilliant programmers and scientists. They had no trouble in getting recognition for their work and skills. Could you expound a bit on your remark ?

Re:Nothing new.

[Aeonym]

But to complete your comparison, you'd also be able to make 4 or 5 times as much money overseas because wages in the US were considerably lower. In the short term, debt forgiveness is appealing--but in the long term it's a bad deal compared to the extra earnings/savings you could accrue.

In Soviet Russia ...

[PPH]

... student loans collect you!

Re:The actual catch is ...

[Roger W Moore]

... the world out there will NOT believe in you when they know you are from Russia

Really? All of my Russian colleagues in physics are incredibly talented and well trained and have great senses of humor too! Based on this experience I'd have zero hesitation in accepting a suitably skilled Russian grad student and I hope this programme causes more of them to apply to my institute. If they have to go back to work in Russia afterwards then that's not a bad thing - science it a global enterprise and it will undoubtedly help Russia build ties with the global community is is good for everyone.

Re:The actual catch is ...

[shutdown -p now]

I'm Russian in "the world out there", and I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. No-one had ever looked down on me because of my national origin.

Have you considered that the problem might actually be with yourself?