The article deals with the questions of human capital development in the North Caucasus region, particularly in Dagestan. The author starts analyzing some specific features of human capital formation in Dagestan with educational migration of youth  from rural to urban areas as the most important aspect. The empirical material (semi-structured interviews conducted with high school students in Makhachkala) is used to describe the main barriers to the integration of young rural migrants into urban culture. Moreover, some successful cases of student integration are listed. Finally the author suggests a set of recommendations to ease the barriers to integration of rural migrants into urban culture in Makhachkala.