Interesting, because although my grandfather was born, lived and worked in Russia, he was sent to England to school. He went to Bishop Vesey in Sutton Coldfield so could probably have gone to College in Birmingham too. My grandparents were married in Aston, Birmingham and there was a technical college there (now part of Birmingham University I think).
It seems odd though that he would have enlisted in the Royal Engineers and then returned almost immediately to Russia. As far as I am aware, he never served in WWI as he was in Russia during that period. I know this for sure because my father was born in Orenburg in early 1917 and my grandfather was apparently engaged in some sort of liaison role between the Tsar and the British Ambassador during these years.