A Soviet statue depicts five cheering people raising a globe. A billboard declares the aim of “forming the global elite”. And across the square in front of the main building of The Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, dozens of foreign students hustle through the early morning Moscow cold.

“I wanted to explore opportunities and have a different university experience, learn about other people and other places,” says Desree, a South African student who will graduate from the university, known by its Russian acronym of RUDN, with an agriculture management degree next year. “It’s really interesting to be here.”

Desree is one of 334,000 foreign students enrolled in Russian universities, according to government figures, a cohort that has more than doubled since 2010 as part of a push by Moscow to ramp up a policy that served as an instrument of soft power during the cold war.