Conceptual Approaches аnd the Program of Polimas-Stability Study of Migration of Foreign Students in Russia

Introduction. Student immigration is considered as one of the most active forms of youth spatial mobility. The main task of the study is to develop conceptual approaches and a program for studying the spatial features of student immigration in Russia.

Materials and research methods. The study is based on the analysis of extensive literature materials that reveal the main theoretical and methodological provisions of the analysis of educational migrations. Their strengths and weaknesses have been established, the need to develop new approaches related to identifying the spatial aspects of international student migration has been proved.

Results of the study and their discussion. Based on the key theoretical and methodological provisions and the revealed facts, taking into account our own proposals and accumulated experience, a conceptual scheme and a program for studying the features of the spatial differentiation of student migration in Russia have been developed. As core areas of research, the following are proposed: identifying spatio-temporal features of development and differentiation of processes associated with the immigration of foreign students at the global, country and regional-local levels; establishing positional factors influencing decision-making when choosing places to receive higher education abroad; disclosure of intra-country inequality in the distribution of foreign students depending on the characteristics of the sending countries and receiving regions; detection of country and regional models of adaptive behavior of foreign students. In accordance with the logic of the developed concept, a program for studying the spatial features of the immigration of foreign students in Russia is presented. The step-by-step algorithm of the research program includes several stages, reflecting the nature and content of the main tasks to be solved.

Conclusions. An analysis of the state of the theoretical and methodological base on the problem of migration of foreign students made it possible to establish the lack of elaboration of aspects related to the spatial features of their transformation and, in particular, the adaptation of foreign students in host countries. The proposed conceptual approaches and research program are aimed at filling the identified gaps.

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