60 Kenyan students to study in Russian universities

A section of the 60 kenyan students who will be traveling to Russia for various scholarship programmes. [Mwangi Maina, Standard]

Russia has offered scholarships to sixty students from Kenya.

The students are expected to have arrived in their respective universities in the Eastern European country by latest November.

Speaking during a pre-departure briefing for the 2023 applicants, the Russian ambassador to Kenya, Dmitry Maksimychev said this was in a bid to strengthen their public diplomacy and relations with Kenya.

Maksimychev said the embassy has tripled the number of governmental scholarships over the last five years and they're working to increase the number.

The students were also briefed on the history of the friendly relations between the two countries, education plans, life in Russia and the formal procedures they will undertake before and after arriving at their universities.

The beneficiary of this scholarship will be required to study the Russian language during their first year of study.

The envoy announced that the mission in Nairobi will inaugurate the Russian Center for Open Education in September for Russian language courses.

More than 300 Kenyan citizens willing to learn the Russian language will be taught pro-bono.

Boniface Muthoka, a beneficiary and Chairman Russia and CIS alumni association in Kenya vouched for the Russian scholarship noting that it is not limited because a student pursuing an undergraduate degree is given a priority to progress their education up to masters and PhD if they're interested.

For decades, Kenya has been receiving free governmental scholarships from Russia.

Since the mid-1960s, thousands of Kenyans have been trained in Soviet and Russian universities to become professional doctors, engineers, teachers, civil servants, and, most recently, IT experts and software developers.

In Russia, foreign students with students visas have a legal right to work, and Kremlin offers them with a monthly stipend for the duration they will study.

The Russian higher education standards are considered to be one of the best in the world.