Researching Higher Education in Russia Attracts Growing Number of Foreign Specialists
On October 16-18, the 5th International Conference of the Russian Association of Higher Education Researchers took place at the Higher School of Economics. The theme of this year's conference was 'Managing Differentiation in Rapidly Changing Higher Education Systems: Challenges and Opportunities.'
Among the special guests present were Ulrich Teichler, Director at the International Centre for Higher Education Research (Kassel, Germany); Cristopher Morphew, Professor and Department Chair in Educational Policy and Leadership Studies in the College of Education at the University of Iowa; and Ellen Hazelkorn, Director of Higher Education Policy Research Unit (HEPRU) at the Dublin Institute of Technology.
On the role of universities in global development
The overwhelming majority of research discussed at the conference was comparative in nature, emphasized Yaroslav Kuzminov, Rector of the HSE. This research is conducted in different countries on the basis of materials from universities in different countries, which offers researchers an opportunity to participate in a global academic division of labour. Represented by its leading universities, Russia has long been a participant in this research. Its students study at the Master’s and advanced postgraduate levels in leading universities around the world, and Russia hosts students, young teachers and scholars from other countries.
The organizers of the Russian Association of Higher Education Researchers – the HSE’s Institute of Education and Centre for Institutional Studies – have always been open to global cooperation, inviting foreign colleagues to take part in their conferences. Their number has grown each year. Approximately 30% of the more than 200 participants who registered for the conference were foreign scholars from a variety of countries.
Scholars’ findings as the basis for the actions of politicians
The first crosscutting theme of the conference was the transformation of national higher education systems, with a focus on post-Soviet systems. Higher education in post-Soviet countries has its own specific features, said Kuzminov. The traditions of organizations working in higher education are based on an industry-specific and narrow professional approach, i.e., when a university trains students for specific industries that use certain technologies.
Usually, we are talking about the quality of research, university infrastructure, and ratings. The topic of students often comes in last, so this time several sessions are devoted to student-related themes.
In many post-Soviet countries, including Russia, the number of people receiving higher education is growing, and this growth is taking place against the backdrop of a significant backlog in the supply of resources and a rupture with labour markets. In almost all post-Soviet countries, this has led to a phenomenon that is now called pseudo-education, or general higher education masquerading as professional education. Either way, resources are being spent without achieving certain goals both for both students and for the state and society.
According to Kuzminov, a way out of this situation must be found. These problems ‘colour’ research studies and give their authors considerable enthusiasm because there is more at stake here than academic interest. In general, researching higher education is very close to educational policy, as the findings of scholars are often the basis for the actions of managers and politicians.
50 reports in 18 sessions
Opening the plenary session was a report by Ulrich Teichler called ‘Diversification Trends in Higher Education Systems, National Structural Policies and Institutional Profiling Strategies.’ Teichler is Director of the International Centre for Higher Education Research (Kassel, Germany). In addition to the plenary presentations, the conference on October 17-18 featured 18 sessions where 50 reports were made on a variety of topics, including the academic profession, the role of the university in modern society, research of the student community, among others. ‘Usually, we are talking about the quality of research, university infrastructure, and ratings,’ noted Maria Yudkevich, Vice Rector of the HSE. ‘The topic of students often comes in last, so this time several sessions are devoted to student-related themes.’
Theoretical reports were interspersed with reports by education practitioners at the conference, a combination that provided a good basis for discussion. According to Isak Froumin, Academic Supervisor at the HSE’s Institute of Education, the quality of reports at the Russian Association of Higher Education Researchers conference are capable of competing with the best international conferences of this type.
Boris Startsev, specially for the HSE news service
Maria M. Yudkevich
See also:
Higher Education and State-building: Methaphors of Universities Revisited
How has higher education influenced the evolution of nations since the Second World War—and vice versa? Stanford professor Mitchell Stevens and Institute of Education researcher Ekaterina Shibanova have tried to answer this question in a special issue of the European Journal of Higher Education. They invited renowned historians, political experts, sociologists and economists to develop ‘a consensus on the role of higher education in political and social history after 1945.’ The special issue was created with input from researchers from Canada, Luxembourg, Russia, Germany, France, the UK, and Sweden.
Researchers Assess Student Performance in Mathematics, Physics, and Critical Thinking
A group of researchers representing four countries summed up the results of the Supertest, a large-scale study of the academic performance of engineering students in Russia, China, India, and the United States. It is the first study to track the progress of students in computer science and electrical engineering over the course of their studies with regard to their abilities in physics, mathematics, and critical thinking and compare the results among four countries. The article about study was published in Nature Human Behavior.
How Academic Dishonesty Seeps into the Workplace
How does academic dishonesty of students correlate with honesty in further work? A group of scientists, including Evgenia Shmeleva, Research Fellow at the HSE Institute of Education, conducted research answering this question. During an open online seminar of a research group dedicated to ‘Academic Ethics in the Educational Context,’ Evgenia Shmeleva presented ‘Does Academic Dishonesty Seep into the Workplace? Evidence from a Longitudinal Study,’ which was prepared jointly with Igor Chirikov (University of California at Berkeley-HSE University) and Prashant Loyalka (Stanford University-HSE University)
Why High-Ability School Graduates Choose Low-Quality Universities
According to the findings of HSE researchers, up to one-quarter of school graduates in Moscow enrol in low-quality universities despite scoring highly on their Unified State Exam, the final school exam and a standard university admission mechanism in Russia. This academic mismatch limits their life opportunities and often stems from unequal starting conditions in the family and at school.
World Bank—HSE University Webinar Examines the Costs of School Closures During the Covid-19 Pandemic
On May 21, the joint webinar series, ‘Education under COVID-19: Problems, Solutions, Perspectives, Research’ began with a session about the effects of school closures under the pandemic. Harry Anthony Patrinos of the World Bank presented the results of a model that he and a team of researchers developed in order to predict the extent to which the closures may reduce learning and lead to future losses in labor productivity and earnings for today’s students. The webinar was moderated by Isak Froumin (Head of the HSE Institute of Education), while Professors Tommaso Agasisti (School of Management, Politecnico di Milano) and Sergey Kosaretsky (Director, HSE Centre of General and Extracurricular Education) served as discussants.
‘No One Expected Online Education to Receive Such a Powerful Impetus for Further Development’
On March 17, the Institute of Education hosted its annual seminar dedicated to issues in education. This year’s seminar addressed the topic, ‘Higher Education during an Epidemic: The Possibilities of Digital Technology’. For the first time in eight years, the seminar participants—representatives of Chinese, American, and Russian universities—participated in the event remotely.
A Journey of a Thousand Miles
Ruoqi Cao, from Harbin, China, graduated from HSE University’s Masters’ programme in International Business. She is now working on her PhD at the HSE Institute of Education, where her research focuses on the influence of higher education on the economics of the regions in Russia and China. She has shared with HSE News Service her story of coming to study and work in Russia.
International Higher Education Conference Opens at HSE University in Moscow
The tenth International Russian Higher Education Conference (RHEC) has commenced in Moscow this week and will last until October 25. This year’s conference focuses on ‘Contributions of Higher Education to Society and Economy: Global, National and Local Perspectives.’
American SemyonovAward Recipient to Look at Higher Education’s Relation to Civic Engagement in the Russia
Radomir ‘Ray’ Mitic just completed his PhD at New York University and will be joining the Council of Graduate Schools as a postdoctoral fellow this coming fall in Washington, D.C. This summer, he received an HSE SemyonovAward Research Internship to research civic engagement among Russian university students at the Institute of Education at HSE University. Last week, he participated in the International Summer School of Higher Education at HSE – St. Petersburg, and now he is conducting field research in Moscow. HSE News Service spoke with Ray about his research, his impressions of the two Russian cities, and his future plans.
International Advisory Committee Recommends a More Focused Approach
Members of the International Advisory Committee (IAC) and the HSE administration have discussed the results of the committee’s annual meeting.
Maria Markovna Yudkevich
Vice Rector of the HSE