The organisations, including the study in Russia body Racus and state universities, are also optimistic that along the sidelines of the summit taking place July 27-28, deals will be clinched resulting in more African students enrolling in Russian universities.

They predict that the summit, the second one since 2019, will contribute to boosting destination Russia to rival popular ones in Europe and North America.

“We are in great in great anticipation of that event, and we expect educational cooperation deals to be reached or signed,” said Asya Manvelyan, Student services manager Department of Middle East and Southern Africa at Racus.

“We will definitely take advantage of the opportunity and maintain meetings with the ministers of Education of African countries, who will be in Saint Petersburg at that time.”

“We will definitely take advantage of the opportunity”

The body is looking forward to getting invited to the high-level event, noting that one such offer had been received from the Ambassador of the Republic of Angola to the Russian Federation, Augusto da Silva Cunha.

“We do not anticipate, we are sure that stronger Russia-Africa relations will make the number of African students coming to Russia grow even more in the future,” Manvelyan told The PIE News.

“The world is changing and Russian universities are aiming to become equal alternatives to European and American universities, especially in the light of coming independence from the US dollar and Euro because for the majority of Africans buying dollars and Euros to pay the university fees has become an ‘unsolvable’ problem.”

The summit is expected to serve as a platform for Russian and African leaders to discuss bilateral and multilateral issues. Additionally, they will explore opportunities for cooperation on a wide range of topics, including trade, investment, infrastructure development, energy, security, healthcare and education.

In Uganda, Russian ambassador to the country Valdlen Semilovos said the two countries prioritised education cooperation, adding that a Russian language centre was being opened at the country’s leading university Makerere.

Despite the optimism, studying in Russia for Africans has been blighted by last year’s deaths of students fighting for the country in its invasion of Ukraine.