Topic: Using Education as a Bridge Toward the Future — Writing a New Chapter in China-Russia Education Cooperation
The bond of ink and books connects both nations, and the torch of education illuminates the future. The threads of the times have carved a new coordinate for China-Russia education cooperation.
On May 20, the first national-level themed year focused on education between China and Russia, the “China-Russia Education Year,” opened in Beijing. President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin jointly attended the opening ceremony. The “China-Russia Education Year” brings new opportunities for bilateral education cooperation and injects new momentum into deepening people-to-people exchanges, mutual understanding, and the development and revitalization of both countries.
Education cooperation helps foster closer ties between the peoples of China and Russia, especially the youth, and is crucial for the long-term development of bilateral relations. In his address, President Xi Jinping pointed out that China-Russia education cooperation has been deepening with notable results over the years, enriching the connotation of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era.
President Putin stated that education cooperation is an indispensable and important part of the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between the two countries, and launching the “Russia-China Education Year” is a milestone.
In recent years, China and Russia have made sustained and intensive efforts in the field of education cooperation, vividly illustrating the stable and enduring development as well as the passing of the torch for their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era.
Using education as a bridge, with continuous hard work, education cooperation has yielded fruitful results.
A few days ago, the 6th Russia HSK Study in China and Employment Exhibition was held in Moscow, attracting 45 Chinese universities and institutions as well as 8 Russian local universities and institutions to participate.
Valeria, a student at the All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade who has studied Chinese for two years and is passionate about Chinese martial arts, has won awards in several martial arts competitions. She lingered for a long time in front of the Sun Yat-sen University booth: “I am just a freshman, but I have already set the goal of going to China for graduate studies.”
Currently, the scale of two-way study between China and Russia has exceeded 80,000 people. Igor Morgulov, Russian Ambassador to China, said that the target set in the “Roadmap for Russia-China People-to-People Cooperation before 2030” of achieving 100,000 two-way study trips by 2030 is expected to be realized ahead of schedule.
In broader educational settings, the breadth and depth of bilateral education cooperation continue to expand.
In higher education: As of now, 15 university alliances, including the China-Russia Engineering University Alliance, the Medical University Alliance, and the Culture and Arts University Alliance, bring together over 800 universities from both countries, conducting joint scientific research and collaborative innovation, achieving a series of internationally influential scientific results.
In vocational education: In June 2025, a Luban Workshop jointly built by Chinese and Russian universities was officially inaugurated. As the first Luban Workshop globally to introduce 5G technology in professional development, it realizes complementary advantages in educational resources and joint improvement of educational levels.
In basic education: The China-Russia Children’s Creative Festival has become an institutionalized brand project, collecting approximately 55,000 works from young people of both countries. The China-Russia “Thousand Schools Hand in Hand” plan specifies that within five years, it will promote regular exchanges of teachers and students, curriculum sharing, and teacher training among about 1,000 primary and secondary schools.
President Xi Jinping emphasized that China and Russia should deepen talent cultivation cooperation, jointly cultivate top international talent teams and national strategic scientific and technological forces, tackle cutting-edge scientific problems together, and assist the innovative development of both countries.
Education professionals from both countries generally expect that the “China-Russia Education Year” will further promote bilateral exchanges in depth and substance, elevate education cooperation to higher quality and levels, and serve the development and revitalization of both nations.
Using education as a bridge for deep integration helps the long-term development of youth.
In April this year, the “China-Russia Literature Center” was officially inaugurated. Relying on the Russian language talent training system of Capital Normal University, the center focuses on cultivating a group of young cultural ambassadors and professionals proficient in both Chinese and Russian languages, familiar with the literature of both countries, understanding each other’s national conditions, and possessing a sense of patriotism.
Currently, the enthusiasm for language exchange between China and Russia continues to heat up. 185 domestic universities in China offer Russian language majors. In
