Migration from Central Asia to the Russian Federation: The Educational Aspect

The paper analyzes the role of education in shaping the trajectories of migrants from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), who came to Russia for the purposes of study or employment, i.e. for labour migration or educational migration. The authors present the results of their research, conducted in 2020-2022, which applied sociological methods and involved further analysis of the data in the context of Russia’s interaction with Central Asian states. The paper consequently considers the social characteristics of the studied group, the the migrants’ level of education, the role of education in motivating them to move to Russia, and the motivation of students to enroll in Russian universities. The study also considers the migrants’ knowledge of Russian language, as well as the continuation of their language learning while already residing in Russia. Finally, the study explores the migrants’ plans regarding their further education or employment in Russia, or their native countries, or elsewhere abroad. The results of the research suggest that, while a proportion of the youth from Central Asia are somewhat committed to pursuing education in Russia, the majority of labour migrants are not interested in improving their educational level. This is despite the fact that the absence of essential knowledge invariably exerts a negative in uence on their professional skills, employment prospects, and language pro ciency, as well as on their understanding of the receiving state’s culture, legal system and traditions. The authors posit the necessity of the cultural adaptation for migrants and the need for employers to make compulsory e orts to raise their educational level, which should be organized and controlled by state authorities. The research highlights gaps that need to be lled to promote interethnic harmony and mutual understanding in the society.