Nearly all of Russia's top 50 universities have begun recruiting students to sign military contracts

At least 47 of Russia’s 50 top-ranked universities have begun recruiting students to sign military contracts, an investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europe has found. Thirty-two of the institutions also run training programmes for drone operators.

At 43 of the universities, recruitment takes place at the main campus, while four more carry it out through satellite campuses. Novaya Europe could find no publicly available evidence of recruitment efforts at Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, Belgorod State University, or Moscow City University.

Forty-four universities advertise contract military service directly on their websites and social media pages, most often promoting enlistment in the Unmanned Systems Forces. The ads promise students career prospects and high pay, and claim that service will last just one year. Human rights advocates say this is misleading: recruits sign a standard Defence Ministry contract that carries no right to discharge and no guarantee they will serve as drone operators at all.

In some cases, students facing possible expulsion are the ones pushed hardest to sign. This practice has been applied at the Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and Samara University. At St. Petersburg State University, students are offered academic leave along with a stipend of 50,000 rubles (€500). At Novosibirsk State Technical University, they are promised a state-funded education after completing service in the drone forces.

At least four of the top 50 universities appear to have introduced mandatory recruitment quotas. A department of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics is reportedly required to send two students a month to sign contracts. Novosibirsk State Technical University’s administration is said to be planning to send 140 students to war, while the Russian State University for the Humanities is reportedly set to send 200.

The independent outlet Faridaily previously reported that Russia’s Education and Science Ministry had instructed universities to get at least 2% of their students to sign contracts.

At a minimum, 46 of the 50 top universities are steering students specifically toward the Unmanned Systems Forces. Students are also being recruited into other units: HSE, the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), and the Moscow Aviation Institute all promote enlistment in the BARS Moscow volunteer formation, whose duties include countering drones. HSE offers free bachelor’s and master’s study after a year of service.

At Kazan Federal University, military personnel reportedly offered students contracts with the Defence Ministry's “Africa Corps”, promising deployment to Africa. Human rights advocates have noted that no such country-specific contracts actually exist, and that new recruits can be sent to Ukraine regardless of what they were told.

Additionally, at least 32 of the top 50 universities run educational programmes tied to drone development or operation, ranging from short courses and continuing-education programmes to full bachelor’s, specialist and master’s degrees. Tomsk State University, for instance, has launched a five-year bachelor’s programme in “software and hardware for unmanned aviation systems”, in which students design, assemble and operate drones.

Russian Technological University (MIREA) runs a specialist degree in “unmanned aerial vehicle control systems”, while Southern Federal University offers a master’s in “secure unmanned automated systems”. The Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MEI) runs a 250-hour course to train drone operator-instructors, and RUDN University offers a 44-hour continuing-education programme for UAV operators, held in a hybrid format.