AI knowledge outsourcing and professional formation among journalism international students in Moscow universities

Section: Education in Journalism

This study explores how journalism international students in Moscow experience AI knowledge outsourcing in their everyday learning practices. Focusing on the Faculty of Journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University, the research investigates how linguistic difficulty, institutional expectations, and digital mediation influence international students’ approaches to news studying and classroom participation. Fieldwork was conducted over one academic year through classroom observation at Moscow State University and in-depth interviews with journalism international students from both Moscow State University and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. Additional interviews with senior faculty administrators provided an institutional view of how journalism training adapts to changing learning habits. The findings reveal that outsourcing ideas, translation, or drafting tasks has become a common strategy to manage linguistic insecurity and time pressure. While this practice offers short-term efficiency, it weakens reflection, authorship, and the sense of professional responsibility central to journalism education. Faculty respondents emphasised the importance of preserving critical judgment, verification, and writing discipline as core elements of professional formation. The study concludes that digital literacy in journalism should be understood as an ethical and pedagogical commitment to nurturing independent thinking within an increasingly mediated learning environment.

DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.3.2026.137159

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