Politically motivated restrictions against Russian higher education of 2022:an attempt in classification

Abstract

A result of intensification of the conflict between Russia and the West in 2022 was that various institutions and countries of the West introduced politically motivated restrictive measures against Russian higher education. This article aims at offering a classification of those restrictions based on the measures introduced in March through September 2022. Analysis of the data allows distinguishing three criteria, according to which those restrictions differ. First, those are restrictions against persons: Russian scholars, students of Russian universities and even potential applicants willing to enrol in Western universities, who are citizens or even residents of Russia or Belarus, and against institutions: Russian research and higher education entities. Second, those are restrictions introduced by all member states of the European Union or sometimes by all Western nations together, and those introduced by certain Western nations or even by certain institutions in those nations. Third, those are restrictions introduced against all Russian citizens or organizations, and those introduced against certain Russian citizens or organizations distinguished by certain criteria such as open support to Russian special military operation. The article concludes that the classification proposed in it will be helpful in understanding the influence of those restrictions on both Russian higher education system and the European Education Area; it is expected that the restrictions will influence the latter negatively, too.