[ad_1]
At the same time, changes are taking place in Russian universities that will make it more difficult for students to go to study elsewhere, writes Business Insider.
Since the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, multinational companies have massively withdrawn from Russia and the list of sanctions imposed on it by the world’s major economies is growing day by day.
At the same time, changes are taking place in Russian universities that will make it more difficult for students to go to study elsewhere, writes Business Insider.
“We are really in an unknown territory.” says Hassan Malik, a senior analyst at Boston-based consulting firm Loomis Sayles.
Experts for Insider say that just a few months after the start of the war it is impossible to know exactly what the consequences are for young people in Russia. However, they also state that the generation that grew up during Putin’s rule, which began in 2012, now faces Russia, which is very different from the one in which they have lived so far.
Putin’s generation has known only one president in his entire life. This group of young people aged 17-24, often referred to as the “Putin generation”, have known only one president in their entire lives, according to the Wilson Center. They grew up eating at McDonald’s, watching Hollywood movies and posting on Instagram. None of this is available after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Two experts interviewed by Insider analyzed how difficult it will be for Russian youth at school and at work.
As in many countries, the value of quality education in Russia is that it opens the door to employment not only in domestic companies, but also in multinational corporations that offer employees the opportunity to move freely in the European market. These opportunities in Russia are rapidly disappearing.
“Many corporations have promised good and sustainable careers, where the individual can thrive thanks to their talents as in Western capitalism,” said Andrew Lohsen, associate professor of Europe, Russia and Eurasia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“These opportunities are disappearing as corporations leave Russia and some industries that have so far promised high wages have begun to feel the effects of sanctions,” he added.
Lohsen cited the oil, gas and IT sectors as examples where multinational corporations are leaving en masse, meaning great uncertainty for those who have so far wanted to work in these industries.
Earlier this month, US tech giants IBM and Microsoft laid off hundreds of employees in Russia, pulling out of their market.
Such layoffs do not only have consequences on the job offer. They will also cripple both the training and professional development opportunities available to Russian-educated workers, Malik says.
As a result, tech workers are leaving the country, Insider reported in April. And while many left for fear of being recruited in the war, some say they left Russia because of the consequences that sanctions have left on their jobs.
In April, the World Bank voiced expectations that the Russian economy would shrink by 11.2 percent in 2022, meaning the biggest downturn in three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Experts interviewed by Insider expressed concern about the Russian academic system. Russia wants to get out of the Bologna process by which European governments harmonize educational standards and qualifications.
“This means that Russians who think about education in Europe – especially vocational or doctoral studies – will now have far more obstacles in trying to conquer European universities,” Lohsen said.
Russia plans to return to the Soviet standard, which means it will be very difficult for European universities to verify the academic certificates of Russian students, he added.
Moscow in recent years has begun to intensify propaganda that promotes a strict hierarchy with the government, the military and the church at the heart of Russian society, Lohsen says.
Combined with the Kremlin-controlled media scene, such messages could draw citizens’ attention to economic hardship, he added.
Some young people dissatisfied with Putin’s rule have fled the country since the start of the war. But those who want to start from scratch in a new country need to think about practical everyday issues, such as long-term visas, employment, financial resources. All of this has become more difficult to access because of sanctions, Malik and Lohsen agree.
In Russia, support for the war is stable. In late May, an independent pollster, the Levada Center, conducted a survey of 1,634 Russians who found that about 60 percent of young people aged 17 to 24 supported the war.
There are few signs that anything could change politically, even if there are small rebel centers, Malik says.
“Revolution is more likely in a democracy than in an autocracy – because in a democracy you can just hold elections,” he said.
After all, economic conditions in the Soviet Union were worse than in Russia today, and nothing has changed for decades, he adds.
“In an autocracy, it is almost impossible for dissatisfaction to turn into a change of policy, let alone a change of regime,” Malik concludes./KosovaPress
[ad_2]
Source link
