Starting tomorrow, federal officials in Russia want universities nationwide to move to remote learning

Russia’s Science and Higher Education Ministry is calling on universities nationwide to move all class instruction to online and remote learning, according to orders issued by Minister Valery Falkov. The ministry wants in-person classes suspended by Monday, March 16. 

Within the next three days, the Science and Higher Education Ministry is expected to release a list of online courses that will be made available to university students for free. 

On March 14, Russia’s Education Ministry advised regional officials across the country to transfer children in grade school to remote learning “as appropriate.” The same day, public schools in Moscow and the Moscow region introduced a voluntary attendance policy. 

According to the latest data, as of March 15, Russia has confirmed 63 cases of coronavirus. Nearly all these individuals recently returned from foreign countries where the disease has spread out of control, though Russia has also started witnessing COVID-19 cases apparently caused by local transmission.