Foreign students in MAI: admission results and pandemic
This year more than 600 foreigners became the freshmen of Moscow Aviation Institute. Over the past six years, this figure has more than doubled, and in 2021 the total number of foreign students at MAI exceeded 1,700 for the first time.
MAI international family
Today students from more than 80 countries study at Moscow Aviation Institute. Education received at Moscow Aviation Institute is in high demand in China: this year the community of Chinese citizens at the university exceeded 450 people. MAI is also popular among applicants from the neighboring countries and such distant countries as Malaysia, Vietnam, India, etc.
As part of the admission campaign in 2021, MAI held series of Open House events both in Russian and English. These events allowed applicants to learn more about the university, about the admission rules and get answers to important questions.
– The admission process was organized online: applicants sent their documents via their personal account, passed entrance exams online, contributed funds for training via MAI internal payment system. All these technologies save time significantly, and they were used at Moscow Aviation Institute long before the pandemic,” says Alexey Zarechensky, Deputy Head of the International Affairs Department of Moscow Aviation Institute.
Entering Moscow Aviation Institute, foreign applicants choose traditional areas of training most often. Most foreigners study at institutes No. 1 "Aviation Technology", No. 2 "Aircraft, Rocket Engines and Power Plants", No. 3 "Control Systems, Informatics and Power Engineering", No. 6 "Aerospace".
I have always dreamed of devoting my life to the sky, and therefore my choice fell on the Institute No. 1 "Aviation Technology" of MAI, says Yana Skondakova, the student from Tashkent. – All my expectations became real: highly qualified teachers work at the Moscow Aviation Institute, and students have the opportunity to study in laboratories with all the necessary equipment. Now I am completely absorbed by my studies and I am sure that I made the right choice.
In person and online
Taking into account the fact that some foreign students are not able to come to Russia due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mixed learning format has been introduced at MAI: disciplines are taught both face-to-face and online. Distance learning for MAI residents is carried out mainly at the LMS MAI (learning management system) platform. A full-fledged distance learning system built at the university allows teaching all subjects in accordance with the curriculum.
Using the experience of the world's leading online platforms, we have improved the LMS MAI platform and adapted its interface to the requests of foreign citizens, notes Alexey Zarechensky. – A full-fledged multimedia complex was created at the university. Lectures are pre-recorded in high quality, access to them is provided in accordance with the individual schedule of students, and practical and laboratory classes are conducted online using additional software and hardware.
– This approach to teaching has a number of advantages: lectures can be watched at a convenient time, and even rewatched for more details. For face-to-face studies, the recorded online course can be used as supplementary material.
– We do our best to adapt the educational process as much as possible to the current realities dictated by the pandemic. This is especially important for those who entered a university not in their own country, – emphasizes Alexey Zarechensky. – Taking into consideration the results of the past sessions and the number of foreign students this year, we see that the experience was successful. We expect that in the future the new format will be in demand not only for foreign students, but also for the implementation of other online projects of Moscow Aviation Institute.
