Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation was the federal executive body that oversaw state policy and legal regulation in education, scientific and technological activity, innovation, intellectual property, and youth policy in Russia until its reorganization in 2018. Its remit covered the full education system—from general education and secondary vocational training to higher education and postgraduate scientific training—and it also directed federal policy for research organizations and state scientific certification. A concrete marker of its role was the administration of the Russian government scholarship quota for foreign citizens and stateless persons studying in Russia. Through this system, the ministry and its subordinate structures organized opportunities for international applicants to pursue higher education in Russian universities, linking the ministry’s work not only to domestic schools and universities across the Russian Federation but also to cross-border academic recruitment. The ministry also supervised major federal services and agencies in its sphere, including bodies responsible for oversight in education and science and for youth affairs. In May 2018, the ministry’s functions were divided by presidential decree between two successor institutions: the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. That split separated school-level and related educational policy from higher education and research administration. The former ministry therefore occupies an important place in the recent administrative history of Russian education and science: it served as the central coordinating authority for national education governance, research policy, and international academic engagement before those responsibilities were redistributed across the new ministries.