Irkutsk State University became the only university in the Irkutsk region which was awarded a right of priority to receive prospective foreign master and graduate students at the expense of the federal budget in 2015/2016 academic year.

In total, 147 Russian universities took part in a public competition by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and only 52 were given the quota.

Also, in April 2015 as a result of another public competition by the Ministry of Education, the Irkutsk State University received a quota of 92 budget-funded places at the preparatory faculty.

It is worth mentioning that ISU has a rich experience and long tradition in teaching foreign students. Programs for foreigners were launched in 1925 when the first group of Mongolian students was enrolled. Since 1960 training for the Mongolian national economy became so widespread, that in 1966 ISU opened one of the largest in the USSR preparatory faculty for the Mongols.

According to the Department of International Relations, 337 foreigners from China, Korea, Mongolia, Germany, United States, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and other countries currently study at the Irkutsk State University. Both humanitarian - history, philology- and natural sciences - geology, geography, biology,- are popular among foreign students but the major priority is given to the International Institute of Economics and Linguistics.