"Sign - or deport"

The number of foreign students receiving higher education in Russia increased by 10%last year. Most of all those who wish to learn come to the Russian Federation from India and China (growth by 20 and 10%, respectively). The most popular are engineering and technical specialties (they are selected by 21.7% of students), in second place is medicine, in third-economics and management. But the "growth" of foreign students also turned out to be the reverse side. As Radio Liberty found out, about 150 Indians who came to Smolensk to study at doctors and have already paid a six -year contract, will return to India in the coming days. Those who remain, compare the living conditions with the position of serfs.

Vasim Shankh and Sikhani Kundoikar from the Indian state of Maharastra came to study at the Smolensk State Medical University in 2012. For five years they lived in a hostel, went to lectures and successfully handed over sessions with a degree in the "medical business". On September 3, 2017, they returned from India from the holidays and found out that they could not finish the sixth course and they would not receive a diploma. They were not allowed into the hostel, they did not give any documents on their hands. Later it turned out that both of them were expelled from the university in June with the wording of "at their own request". Vasim and Sikhani wrote several statements with a request to restore them at the university, since they had no desire to throw the institute, but they were told that they were late for three days with the submission of documents, since the acceptance of such statements was completed on August 31. Students appealed to the Smolensk district court with a demand to restore them after illegal deduction.

Sikhani knows in Russian only "hello" and "goodbye", all five years teaching went at the university in English. After receiving a diploma in Smolensk, the girl’s family planned that she would leave to work in the UK.

I can’t imagine how I will return home without a diploma

“I don’t know how to live on, I don’t understand what we were kicked out for,” Sikhani says, holding back his tears. - We have passed all the exams, there have never been any problems with study, there is no financial debt either. I can’t imagine how I will return home without a diploma, this is simply impossible.

The expelled students say that the girl has already had several attempts at suicide over the past two weeks. The fact is, Vasim explains that only one diploma is recognized in India, if the last sixth year they will study at another university, then, consider that they did not study at all. According to him, not a single employer will accept such a document. This rule was established by the medical council of India, and it applies to all foreign universities. The resulting diploma, by the way, must then be confirmed in India by handing over a special test. Since 2008, students of the Smolensk medical university have occupied in India 1st place in terms of the number of those who have passed the test among universities around the world who returned to their homeland.

Vasim speaks well in Russian. He recalls how he was preparing for the last exam in pediatrics and at the same time packed his suitcases, since the tickets to India were the next day.

Because of the temperature, I did not figure it out well, my friend does not speak Russian in Russian. We were scared and signed something

“I was sick, there was no strength to gather, and even the exam in the morning,” says the young man. - I asked my friend Sikhani to help me with training camps, we just put things together. But then the commandant of the hostel came to my room and said that we can’t be together and if we don’t sign pieces of paper immediately, we will be deported from Russia and we will not be able to return here. Because of the temperature, I did not figure it out well, my friend does not speak Russian in Russian. We were scared and signed something. We passed the exam and flew home. Already in the fall, after we were not allowed into the hostel and did not give us any documents ( they were given an order to expel them only after the students came to the university with a lawyer. - RS ), it turned out that we supposedly voluntarily asked us to expel from the university.

Indian students, with whom Radio Liberty managed to communicate, say that they study and live in Smolensk as under serfdom.

After 20 hours, you can’t even go out into the street, neither to the store, nor to the pharmacy. We must live only in a hostel and nowhere else

- We are strictly forbidden to smoke and drink alcohol, not only in the hostel, but also in any other places of the city. You can communicate with your classmates in a hostel only from 16 to 19 hours. After 20 hours, you can’t even go out into the street, neither to the store, nor to the pharmacy, in general. We must live only in a hostel and nowhere else. There are no such brutal demands for Russian students, why then such discrimination in relation to us? -One of the medical students is outraged.

-And if someone doesn’t like something, then “hints” follow immediately: “Do you want to hand over the session? Do you need a diploma?” - adds the second.

The conditions for life, the Indians complain, also leave much to be desired. In February last year, a fire occurred in a hostel due to faulty wiring, in which two students from India died.

Things, if they do not take them out of the dormitory for the summer, or disappear, or will be dumped into such boxes and heaps, the Indians say.

“Of course, when we saw an announcement in a local newspaper that you can study in a doctor in Russia, there was not a word about the conditions in which we would live,” says Vasim Shankh. - And that our things can throw out of our rooms - last year I had disappeared for 40 thousand rubles. Yes, and that we ourselves can be thrown out of the university at any time, we, of course, did not know, of course.

In 2001, due to the difficult economic situation, the university was on the verge of closing

Indian students appeared at the Smolensk Medical University in 2001, when, due to the difficult economic situation, the university was on the verge of closing. It was then that the cooperation agreement was signed between the university and the Indian company Cosmos Education Consultants (head of Aeron Alock), according to which foreign citizens were involved in the university for a paid basis, at that time for the university this was a way out of a financial dead end. And already in 2002, the first hundred students from India studied in Smolensk honey.

- Currently, Aeron Alock continues to work under this exclusive agreement, in fact, he is the only "supplier" of Indian students of the university. The entire university administration works with him in close contact and is not trying to prevent him from establishing his own rules. There is no question of participating in resolving disputed situations, ”says Said Suleimanov ’s lawyer. -When students try to resolve any educational issue, for example, with accommodation, they are forced to secretly turn to ALOK, and not to the dean of the university, which exists for this. Alock, not embarrassed, uses the fact that he has an exclusive agreement with the university, abuses his position and threatens students even for the slightest violations of the rules by deductions, which violates their rights and interests. As a result, students become victims of illegal actions and, in fact, hostages of the rules of a particular person who, apparently, without knowledge and understanding of the legislative and regulatory framework existing in Russia.

The rest of the received - and this is more than a hundred people - are expelled, supposedly at their own request

Indian students claim that they pay about $ 6,000 per year, in addition, they can, if desired, pay more about 180 thousand rubles for food in the dining room, which, according to the students, also belongs to Aerona Alock. On average, more than 200 Indian students enter the Smolensk medical university. At the same time, the diplomas of the successful completion of training are issued a maximum of 110–120. The rest of the received - and this is about a hundred people - are expelled, allegedly of their own free will, ”said lawyer Suleimanov.

The Commissioner for Students' Rights in Russia, Artem Khromov , says that the ban on the exit from the hostel after a certain hour, as well as the inability to be in the room of another student illegal.

“Around this there were many scandals throughout Russia, but the prosecutor’s office always sided with the students, these requirements have already been canceled almost everywhere, although, as it turns out, in some places ridiculous and illegal demands still remained,” explains Khromov.

Aeron Alock claims that Vasim and Sikhani personally persuaded not to write a statement of expulsion, because they are well studied, but that they were found in the room together is not a reason for the tragedy and, moreover, deportation.

The student can recover at the university for five years, this is precisely the period to which the ban is extended

- You know, now everything is being poured on me, they say, I have survived them from the university, but they wrote a statement by hand, although I asked them not to do this. But Indian students really do not know the laws of the Russian, they decided that they were now expelled from the country, ”says Alock. - Having written such a statement ( about the deduction. - RS ), they had to wait for two weeks of a new visa to fly home to India on it. But the guys, without listening to anyone, fell off the next day, as planned, according to the previous educational visa and on it, they returned to Russia in September. And now, it turns out that they violated the law (their educational visa was canceled in the summer) and they can really expel them and ban them to enter Russia for five years. Under the contract, the student can recover at the university for five years, and this is just the period that the ban on entry is extended. I am sorry for the guys that they acted so thoughtlessly, but it seems to be not seen for them now and all the years of study at the university were wasted.

Alock says that he is proud of the successes of Indian doctors who studied in Smolensk.

- More than a thousand students have passed through my company, only last year I paid more than 32 million rubles to the Russian treasury as taxes. I myself am selecting Indian students, they should not only be well prepared, but really should dream of becoming doctors. Our guys learn in good faith, and I am proud that when confirming a diploma in India, students of Smolensk medical university have been showing the highest results for several years.

Smolensk medical union in the Arbitration Court of Smolensk tried to challenge the exclusive agreement with Cosmos Education Consultants Aerona Alka. The trial was under the former rector of the university Igor Rogin, the new rector Roman Kozlov, the son of a senator from the Smolensk region, a member of the LDPR Lyudmila Kozlova, entered into his place, concluded a settlement with ALOK. However, now the scandal with Indian students has entered the federal and even world level. About 160 students who came from India to Smolensk to study at doctors through another company - the company Center for International Education - submitted applications for deductions of their own free will, promising to attract the Indian embassy to the conflict.

“We all went to study in English, as it was all previous years, but they told us that we will now teach us in Russian, which we, of course, do not know,” says one of the students of the medical university. - True, we were told that we can study in English if we re -sign the contract with another company - Cosmos Education Consultants.

The Embassy of India in Russia Radio Liberty said that they were aware of the current situation and are now conducting their investigation of what happened, they refused further comments there.

They all must leave Russia in the coming days so as not to violate migration legislation

As Radio Liberty managed to find out, Ruseducation was engaged in a set of students in India, which never had an agreement with the Smolensk medical union. From future students, they immediately took the entire amount for six years of study - from 1.2 million rubles to 1.5 million rubles. Arriving in Russia, students from India entered into a contract with the Center for International Education, which has an agreement with the university. But in this agreement there is not a word that students will teach in English. In fact, it turned out that foreign students through different companies scored twice as much as they could teach. And now, after submitting applications for deductions, they all must leave Russia in the coming days so as not to violate migration legislation. According to the student ombudsman, Artem Khromov, the non-understanding of migration legislation and the related problems of foreign students complain very often. But such a mass scandal with foreigners who came to study in Russia, and there is no one to teach them for the first time.

Operational commentary in the Smolensk Medical University could not be obtained. An informed interlocutor at the university says that they tried to solve the issue with Indian students, but did not find so many teachers who could read medical disciplines in English. The fact that the Indian students are advised to renew the contract with the company of Mr. Alka simply explain: about 40 more places left to listen to lectures in English, but only he has such a contract. According to Mr. Alock, after interfering in the situation of the Indian authorities, several students have already returned the money paid for their studies, but they will solve the issue with everyone is still unclear. The fact is that the company through which students arrived in Smolensk is legally connected with Russia, and it can only be influenced in India. Having taken from students immediately for all the years of study, the Center for International Education sent a payment to the university itself only for a year of study, which, in fact, is provided for by the contract. And in fact, believing in high -quality Russian education, the young Indians were left without money, and lost at least the academic year. Meanwhile, according to 2016, about 240 thousand foreign students are studying from us, and Russia ranks fifth in terms of those who want to study in its universities (for comparison: in 1980 the USSR ranked third in the world, second only to the United States and France ).

Vasim and Sikhani, who were expelled from the Smolensk medical university, who just really want to finish their studies in Russia, say they hope for the humanity of our justice. Statistics, however, are not on the side of young doctors: according to the migration service, from 2013 to 2016, 400 thousand people were sent from Russia, and 1.6 million foreigners for five years prohibit entering the country.