Andrei Ivanets spoke about the growing popularity of Belarusian education during the talk show “To the Point” on CTV on March 31, 2025.
“In recent years, the trend shows a decline in the number of students enrolling in foreign universities. And it’s a sharp decline. It isn’t just about universities in Russia — it also includes Poland and other countries,” the official said.
According to 2024 data, the largest number of Belarusian students studied in Poland — nearly 13,000. Back in 2022, that number was around 11,000. In other words, that’s an increase of about 2,000 students, or roughly 20%, over two years.
In other EU countries, the number of Belarusian students is much smaller than in Poland: in 2022, about 1,200 studied in Germany, nearly the same number in Lithuania, and just over 1,000 in the Czech Republic. Over the past year or two, the number of Belarusian students in each of those countries has seen a drop of about 100 students. But the increase in Poland more than makes up for it.
Russia is the second most popular destination for student migration after the European Union. According to the EAEU statistics department, about 10,000 Belarusian students were studying in Russia in 2022. By 2024, that number had grown to around 12,000. That’s an increase of roughly 20%. In the next 2025–2026 academic year, Russia plans to offer additional state-funded spots for Belarusian students.
It’s still unclear what the situation will look like for Belarusians applying to foreign universities in 2025. In fall 2024, Alexander Lukashenko blamed the heads of Belarusian universities for the outflow of students and ordered them to reverse the trend by Sept. 1, 2025. To make it harder for Belarusians to enroll in foreign universities, the authorities have taken drastic steps. The Department of Education Quality has stopped issuing certificates confirming that a student’s school is accredited in Belarus. Some Polish universities require that document as part of the application process. Minsk has also revoked military service deferments for students studying abroad, including those in Russia. But even if these measures do help reduce the number of students going abroad, one year doesn’t show a picture of a long-term trend.
