14%

of Russian students intend to move to a different Russian city following university graduation.

Another 5% want to return to their hometown, and 9% intend to go abroad. Exactly half of the students surveyed plan to remain in the same city where they are studying. Another 22% were unable to answer the question.

When it comes to whether young people are ‘settled’ or ‘mobile’, no significant differences by gender or place of study (state-funded or private) could be found. The experience of migration is important: among students who are not studying in their hometown, more are planning to move.

These data are presented in a report by Saida Ziganurova, research assistant at the HSE Centre for Institutional Studies, entitled ‘Graduates of Regional Universities as a Potential for Migration: Motives and Choice of Direction’.