Russian universities have started testing artificial intelligence that translates lectures directly during classes. The "Bilingvo" system translates the lecturer's speech into the native language of foreign students in real time. The first tests are taking place at Timiryazev Academy and MGIMO.
According to the developers, such translation helps foreign students better understand lecture material by 20–35%. It is expected that the technology will simplify learning at least in the first, most difficult year and help attract more foreign students to Russian universities.
The problem is that even a good knowledge of conversational Russian does not always allow a foreigner to understand the academic speech of a lecturer. That is why a translator during a lecture can be especially useful.
Irina Abankina, Professor at the Institute of Education of the Higher School of Economics, believes that in the future, a similar system could be implemented in all Russian universities.
According to her, students from China show particularly great interest in Russian education. And this is not only about Moscow and St. Petersburg. Chinese applicants are also interested in universities in Siberia and the Far East. In Altai Krai, for example, this applies to creative, engineering specialties and medicine.
At the same time, it is difficult for Chinese students to fully master the Russian language. Therefore, as Abankina notes, they already use translators during their studies, and this helps them in the educational process.
A similar situation is observed with students from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
I think this initiative is promising for universities working in regions with such student flows. Cross-border cooperation is of great importance here, it will be very useful and will allow us to support this flow. However, our unified language exam, if we introduce it, the Chinese will not pass – it is very difficult for them. But they want and can study with us, and translators are a very effective tool here.
Last year, more than 420,000 foreigners from 182 countries studied in Russian universities. Of these, 313,000 studied on a paid basis, the Ministry of Education and Science reported.
Over the past five years, the number of foreign students has grown by more than 25%. The main increase was provided by applicants from China, India, Southeast Asian countries, and Africa.