Globalization has embraced many areas of society, and education is no exception; Internationalization of higher education is a key direction of globalization [Altbach 2019].

It involves purposeful integration of international dimensions into national higher education systems, which includes global university rankings, and internationalization of the curriculum, teaching, and learning (de Wit, 2019). International mobility of students provides a very important part of internalization of higher education. The number of international students is a significant indicator the quality of education [de Wit 2019]. Over the past fifty years, student mobility has steadily expanded. Higher education researchers predicted a further increase in the enrollment of foreign students to universities (De Wit, Altbach, 2021). Increasing the number of international students is a priority for higher education policy in Russia.

The expansion of internationalization faces a major challenge in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic turned out to be unexpected and provoked a crisis of academic mobility around the world. First expectations of a quick end to the covid 19 pandemic are gone.  There is no consensus among researchers as to the long-term effects of the pandemic on academic mobility. One of the effects is that at least part of the universities began to actively develop and implement the development of distance or blended learning programs. Russian universities are no exception.

University researchers studying the situation of international students during the COVID‑19 pandemic are mainly focusing on how students are coping with the transition to distance learning and how this has affected their mental health. Surveys were conducted to find out how students solved some practical problems and how they reacted to decisions taken by host governments and host universities; to a lesser extent, such studies concern sociocultural aspects of adaptation to distance learning.

We are going to find an answer to how international students perceive distance learning. In particular, what benefits and challenges of distance learning matter to them? Do local and international students differ in perception of distance education? What factors influence any differences within the category of international students?

The research question is whether such learning formats are suitable for international students

The results of the report are based on data from a blended design study. The research is based on data obtained in a countrywide survey of Russian university students as part of the project Research and Instructional Design Support for the Development of a Quality Measurement System in Higher Education During the COVID 19 Pandemic and Beyond. The project was administered by a group of 13 universities on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia. the results presented in the report are based on data from a mixed design study. The first study of international students was conducted in May-June 2020. The study had a qualitative design. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with university international service staff. Geographically, universities cover the entire territory of the Russian Federation. Also 7 focus groups were held with foreign students from 7 Russian universities. Each focus group involved 4 to 7 foreign students. One of the focus groups was conducted in English, another was in Russian. Most of the students were in Russia, some - outside, at the place of permanent residence. The study was conducted remotely. The Zoom program was used, all participants had a video camera turned on, while the interview was recorded only on a voice recorder. The second data was collected using a quantitative methodology. The chosen method is an online survey during the period from June 1 to July 16, 2021. The final database included responses provided by 36,519 students from 473 Russian universities, including 3,909 international students (10.7% of the sample) from 289 universities. The survey covers all the regions of Russia, all the types of universities (leading, flagship, and all the other types), and three types of degrees: Bachelor’s, Specialist’s, and Master’s.

The beginning of the pandemic in 2020 was an extremely difficult time for foreign students. Psychological difficulties became the main challenge for foreign students at the beginning of the pandemic. Both the students themselves and the university staff noted that the main emotions were fear, anxiety, lack of calm. During this period, safety and health issues were more of a concern than the quality of education at universities No significant reduction in international enrollments was observed in Russia in 2021, and our research found no symptoms of mass dropout. The vast majority intend to continue their education, with only 3% of students planning to leave. When answering the question about overall satisfaction, the majority agree (83%). Assessing their personal experience of emergency distance learning, students expressed diametrically opposed opinions: almost half of students (48%) liked to study online, and a slightly smaller proportion expressed the opposite opinion (44%). However, international students do not currently consider fully online learning to be a quality education. International students complain about communication issues in distance learning: lack of interactions with faculty and peers or constraints in such interactions. Factors affecting communication in distance learning formats can be grouped into three main categories: 1) technical issues, 2) characteristics of online class organization and material presentation, 3) language and cultural barriers, including cross-country differences in learning organization. The type of university plays an important role in how international students perceive different learning formats. Students of leading universities in Russia more often believe that the quality of education are independent of the format. Probably because the leading universities give more adequate conditions for distance learning. The high potential of distance learning formats is confirmed by the survey data showing that over 40% of international students would prefer blended learning.

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