Russia: Simplified Foreign Degree Certification Program

Recently, the Russian State Duma passed a bill that simplifies the degree certification process for first-rate foreign universities to help foreign scientists and scholars come to Russia to study and work, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of Russian science education in the international arena.
According to this bill, the Russian Ministry of Education will draw up a list of first-rate universities that can be simplified with degree certification procedures. The conditions for the selection of these first-rate universities are: (1) ranked “Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)” and “World University Rankings” top 300; (2) from other G8 members. Countries (including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Canada); (3) have state funding instead of relying solely on private funds for operations.
Russian domestic higher education experts generally believe that the bill will promote the development of higher education in Russia. As of now, those foreign experts who are invited by government funding to work in Russia are often unable to fully carry out research or establish research laboratories because their doctoral degrees cannot be certified.
The bill will be formally implemented on February 1, 2012.