Nikolai Pogodaev, Ekaterina Dudzik. Per doctrina sapientia augescitur – Through learning wisdom grows: Tajik and Uzbek Students on Tomsk's Academic, Everyday, and Urban Spaces

The primary driver of mass educational migration from Tajikistan to Russia is students' aspiration to obtain more affordable and higher-quality education than is available in their home country. As of the beginning of the 2025-2026 academic year, over 31,000 Tajik citizens were enrolled in Russian higher education institutions. In both 2024 and 2025, 1,000 quotas were allocated for their studies in Russian universities—the largest number among all foreign students in Russia. In Tomsk universities alone, 565 individuals from Tajikistan were studying at the start of the 2025-2026 academic year.

Educational migration of applicants from Uzbekistan to Russia is driven by the high quality and accessibility of Russian education. Uzbekistan ranks among the leading countries sending students to Russian universities. According to data from the Russian International Affairs Council, approximately 47,500 Uzbek students were enrolled in Russia during the 2024-2025 academic year. In Tomsk universities, the number of students from Uzbekistan at the beginning of the 2025-2026 academic year stood at around 1,184, accounting for roughly 12% of the total foreign student population.

As part of our work under an RSF grant, we conducted twenty individual semi-structured interviews each with students who had come to Tomsk universities from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, using a targeted sample and the "snowball" sampling method. The interviewees included both bachelor's and master's students. Tajik students were represented exclusively by the titular ethnic group, while Uzbek students included both Uzbeks and Russians...