The signing took place in Moscow on June 29th.

Needless to say that academics on both sides were looking forward to this event. Minister of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov told that the negotiations took about two years. French Ambassador to Russia Jean-Maurice Ripert said that from now on French high school graduates will be able to directly submit their paperwork to enroll in Russian universities, and Russian students can freely transfer to the next year course in French universities.

The experts consider this to be a boost for the French higher education institutions' participation in the Global Education program. Double majors should also have more presence.

Vice-Rector for Education Dmitry Tayursky told us that this is a new era of opportunities for both countries.

"This removes administrative barriers for those French-educated professionals who want to continue their career in Russia. And this is very important. No additional exams will henceforth be needed. Two weeks ago a researcher who received her PhD from Joseph Fourier University returned to Kazan University. She will now have her degree nostrified as a Candidate of Sciences degree and will immediately start working. Of course, this is also of big importance to our students who will now have one more labor market to consider. It must be noted that we have never had problems with nostrification of natural sciences degrees - physics, chemistry. Problems arose with humanities, educational professionals, and especially medicine. So the barriers are removed for them as well".

The asymmetry in the agreement is natural because of the differences between educational systems, adds Dr. Tayursky.

"It must be said that our systems are quite different. For example, bachelor courses only last for three years in France. After that they can go to a preparation class before master's. So French bachelors will have some difficulty enrolling in our master's programs. Our bachelors probably won't need preparatory courses. These kinds of small details lead to the asymmetry".

Similar negotiations are currently underway between Russia and other countries.