Geoinformation monitoring and modeling of student immigration to Russia

Abstract

The article presents the experience of developing geoinformation monitoring of foreign student immigration to Russia. A conceptual scheme of monitoring is proposed, its basic structures and principles of functioning are considered. It is proved that the use of geoinformation monitoring makes it possible to process large amounts of information, form databases, and perform qualitative evaluation and analytical procedures the aim of which is optimizing of management activity. The monitoring system is developed on the basis of the ArcGIS GIS platform and includes three main modules: organizational, visualization, expert-analytical, each of which represents certain functions. The central place of the article is devoted to examples of modeling processes and visualization of data characterizing foreign student immigration. According to the authors, the methods of cartographic anamorphic images and ring maps provide the greatest visibility. The possibilities of the centrographic method for calculating the center of gravity of foreign student immigration across Russia are demonstrated. The moving of the all-Russian center of gravity from Tatarstan to the southwest was revealed, which reflects a decrease in interest in Siberian scientific and educational centers and proves an increasing attractiveness of Southern European ones. Preliminary results have been obtained on the current state and transformation of the educational immigration space in Russia, the main feature of which is strong polarization. The uneven distribution of foreign students by region is obvious. The traditional centers of attraction are the capital territories and ancient university centers. At the same time, there is an activation of peripheral regional universities, increasing the recruitment of foreign students, increasing the status of the regions in which they are located. An important factor in choosing a university, along with the image, is the positional factor reflecting the influence of the location of the place of study in Russia.