ИСТИНА

Arab countries' co-operation with the Russian Federation and the United States in the field of higher education has been rapidly gaining momentum in recent years. First of all, the relevance of the topic is justified by the increased need for Middle Eastern countries to exchange knowledge and experience with Western colleagues and Russia in the field of higher education. According to the research of the authoritative magazine QS World University Rankings for 2023, 6 Arab universities are included in the list of 400 best universities in the world. The United States demonstrates a high level of immersion in higher education in the Arab world. Pro-American universities (American University in Beirut, American University in Cairo, New York University in Abu Dhabi, etc.) occupy leading positions in QS rankings and attract a significant number of applicants with their liberal education model, imposing pro-Western ideology on students. The relevance of the topic is also conditioned by Russia's geopolitical and economic goals. According to the approved by the President of the Russian Federation Mr. Vladimir Putin's Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation, Russia intends to give priority attention to the development of public diplomacy mechanisms with the participation of representatives of the expert and scientific community who are constructive towards Russia. As part of the realisation of this goal, the prospects for Russian-Arab cooperation are becoming clearer not only at the inter-university but also at the national level. The paper considers the evolution of approaches of Russia (USSR) and the USA to co-operation with Arab countries in the above-mentioned sphere.