New Russian Asians: student migration from Tajikistan to Russia as a basis of a cross-border society

The economic and demographic situation in Russia and the countries of Central Asia as well as the interaction between these states throughout the last twenty-five years support a number of trends in labour and student migration that have gained sufficient stability. They affect not only the source and receiving societies but also create new social phenomena such as the formation of a cross-border society. This paper aims to analyse the temporal and topological traits of the cultural and symbolic capital of the Tajik youth that study at Russian universities, as well as the possibility for Tajikistan to provide world-class higher education in the English language for future professionals. The author provides a detailed study of the governmental initiatives of both countries that intend to resolve the contradiction between the falling quality of education in Tajikistan and the increasing requirements for entering Russian universities. Since a large number of the Tajik youth aspire to enter Russian universities, teachers from Russia are now invited to work in secondary schools in Tajikistan. In the paper, the author focuses on the situation when after graduation from Russian universities, a part of the Tajik youth stays in Russia, thus helping construct a society of the "new Russian Asians" - active participants in various aspects of life in both Russia and Tajikistan. The methodological basis of this paper is formed by the works of Pierre Bourdieu; the empirical data was collected in the course of individual in-depth interviews with students of Tajik origin and heads of national Tajik diasporas in Siberian cities.

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