Applicants from Nizhny Novgorod have shifted their focus from China to Malaysia.

      04 September 2025 10:27

      [142]

      Society

      Traffic to the internet platforms of universities in China, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Japan grew by 138% year-on-year. According to an analysis of anonymized traffic data from MegaFon, in 2025 Malaysian educational institutions showed the highest growth rate — interest in them increased nearly 8.5 times.

      Although China remains the largest destination by share of visits — 31% of all traffic to Asian universities’ websites — its share more than halved over the year: in 2024 it was 72%.

      Against the backdrop of declining interest in China, traffic to Malaysian university websites rose sharply. The biggest contribution came from Universiti Putra Malaysia, which specializes in agricultural sciences. Visits increased 75-fold over the year, and the institution became the most popular Asian university among Nizhny Novgorod residents, garnering almost 17% of all traffic.

      In second place by visits this year among residents of the region was the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (share 8%). Third was Korea University (7.5%), while fourth and fifth — with almost identical results of 7% each — were the National University of Singapore and Peking University. In 2024 the top three had been entirely Chinese, with Tsinghua leading at 17%.

      Most visits come from men — they account for 87% of all users who visited Asian universities’ sites. By age, the most active group was 35–44-year-olds (45%), followed by 25–34-year-olds (26%). Potential applicants themselves, aged 18–24, showed less interest — their share was only 6% of total traffic.

      “The start of the new academic year prompts people to think about further education and university admissions. To keep prospective applicants and their parents connected with the whole world, we are systematically developing telecom infrastructure. This year our engineers built and modernized more than 250 communications facilities, improving voice service quality and data transfer speeds not only in the regional center but also in small settlements of remote districts; in particular, we carried out refarming in Tonshaev — the most remote district center of the region. Now business negotiations can be held there and various digital tasks can be resolved promptly,” says Alexey Mikhaylov, director of MegaFon in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

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