Migrants' Children's Orientations Toward Acquiring a Higher Education

• Published in: Russian education and society Vol. 48; no. 5; pp. 73 - 90
• Main Authors: TIURIUKANOVA, E.V., LEDENEVA, L.I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 01.05.2006; M
• Subjects: Acculturation; Demography; Educational Attainment; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; Immigrants; Migrant Children; Migration; Public Policy; Russia; Russian; Social Change; Social Environment; Social Status; Russia
• ISSN: 1060-9393; 1558-0423
• DOI: 10.2753/RES1060-9393480505

The article, based on a study carried out in 2003, discusses Russia's migrant children's orientations toward acquiring higher education in the Russia Federation. The focus of this study was to determine the educational factors that motivate migrants to relocate to the Russian Federation. Immigrants in Russia make up more than 5 percent of the country's population, and the children of these migrants have experienced language and psychological difficulties in school, lowering their chances for access to higher education. There are various reasons for this deprivation of educational rights: (1) many of these children are of a different ethnocultural and linguistic community; (2) immigrants, finding themselves cut off from their familiar social environment, from their acquaintances, friends, and relatives, do not have any way to enter into social relations that play a major role in adaptation, in dealing with urgent problems, and in satisfying their most vital needs, including the need to acquire an education; (3) the social status of many immigrants has been drastically reduced due to the fact that most immigrants, even those who had formerly been engaged in intellectual work, take jobs that do not require high qualifications; (4) the migration and social policies that have been implemented in Russia, along with the housing laws, have placed migrants in a very vulnerable position; and (5) the rapid transformation of the migration situation, along with the substantial change in the ethnic composition of the population in a number of the regions and cities of Russia as a result of large-scale immigration, have increased antimigrant feelings in society. The authors conclude that if there is to be successful integration of migrants into Russian society, it will be necessary to foster the educational orientations of their children. (Contains 1 footnote.)