Chinese Humanities Scholars in Russian Postgraduate Education: Expectations and Realities

The growing number of Chinese applicants forces us to talk about “educational expansion”, the benefit from which is small for Russian science. Survey data of Chinese citizens studying in Russia indicate that the quality of the training they receive does not satisfy their demand for educational services. The obviously lowered requirements for “Chinese dissertations” devalue Russian academic degrees and contradict the desire to increase the competitiveness of national science. The article examines some apparent problems that arise when teaching Chinese citizens in humanities postgraduate programs at Russian universities and research institutes (drawing on the case of art history). The study is based on data on defenses of Chinese applicants provided on the website of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Russian Federation. It draws attention to the duplication and insignificance of selected research topics, the weakness of academic supervision, the “easiness” of requirements for the quality of dissertations and the insufficient preparedness of universities and dissertation councils to work with foreigners in general.