IV International Summer School on Higher Education Research in Russia

The Institute of Education at the National Research University – Higher School of Economics (Moscow), China Institute for Educational Finance Research and Graduate School of Education at Peking University invite early-career researchers, institutional researchers, and doctoral students to apply to the upcoming 

June 4 – 10, 2016, St. Petersburg

For the 2016 Summer School in Russia applicants with backgrounds in all relevant fields (sociology, economics, political science, education, public administration, management, psychology, etc.) are encouraged to apply. 

The objective of the International Summer School is to provide unique learning opportunities by bringing together both young and senior researchers in higher education. Such exchange of perspectives will advance our understanding of higher education and foster  integration of young researchers into the international professional community.

The IV International Summer School is focused on the relationships between higher education, society and state in international and historical perspectives. The discussion aims to revive and illuminate the role of society in the development of higher education, while remaining aware of the state. In recent academic debate, one intellectual tradition has focused on the opposition between state and market, while another has emphasised their synergy. Relatively little attention has been given to the role of the society as a broader entity of diverse, stratified and inter-connected groupings. In the meantime, the society is often seen as largely subsumed by the market, or identified as a market force itself, which in turn reduces the research and policy framework for understanding transformations in higher education. The Summer School’s multidisciplinary perspective will enable its participants to explore higher education in the larger social, economic, political and cultural framework, and link changes in higher education to the developments in society and state, occurring in countries around the world.

The faculty and participants will discuss such issues as:

• key concepts of the society and social changes and their implications for higher education dynamics;
• key concepts of the state, changing nature of the state and its relationships with higher education in a historical comparative perspective; 
• key concepts in higher education (human capital theory, markets in higher education, public and private goods in higher education, etc.);
• the roles and effects of society, state, market on higher education transformations in comparative perspective; 
• the limits of existing frameworks and emerging potential frameworks for understanding higher education dynamics.

Confirmed faculty of the Summer School includes distinguished international researchers and experts in higher education with various professional backgrounds: Isak Froumin (Institute of Education, HSE), Simon Marginson (Institute of Education, UCL), Pedro Teixeira (Vice-Rector on Academic Affairs; Research Centre on Higher Education Policy (CIPES) and Faculty of Economics, University of Porto), Jussi Välimaa (Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyvaskyla), Mingxing Liu (China Institute for Educational Finance Research).

The format of the Summer School includes seminars, discussions of participants’ research projects, workshops on research methodology and writing articles for academic journals.

The working language of the summer school is English. Participants must have a strong command of spoken and written English.

Participation fee is 300 EUR for double accommodation and 400 EUR for single accommodation. It includes lodging for 6 nights, three meals daily, coffee breaks, welcome and farewell dinners, excursions. Travel expanses should be covered by the participants.

Ten scholarships will be provided to cover participation fee for applicants chosen on a competitive basis.

The deadline for applications is March 20, 2016. In order to apply, you will need to submit online:

1. Summary of your current research project dealing with higher education (you will be expected to present it at the Summer School), including the objectives of the study, its theoretical/conceptual framework, methodology/design, and significance (in English, 500-1000 words).
2. Personal statement outlining and explaining your interest in your participation in the Summer School (in English, 300-500 words).
3. Recent CV detailing your education and work experience, publications, and other professional activities.

The selection of Summer School participants will be made no later than March 31, 2015. Please consider that you might need to apply for Russian visa in order to come to St. Petersburg.

Online application form can be found here.

Information about previous International Summer Schools: 
- "Higher Education and the State”(June 13–19, 2015, St. Petersburg) 
- “Higher Education, Finance and the State” (July 5–11, 2015, Beijing, China) 
- “Who are the Students in Higher Education? Changing Roles, Changing Systems, Changing Lives” (June 8–14, 2014, St. Petersburg) 
- “Creating Effective Universities” (June 7–13, 2013, St. Petersburg)  

Questions could be addressed to Nelly Pavlova: tel. +7 495-623-52-49, nellypavlova@hse.ru.

The Organising Committee (HSE): Alexander Sidorkin (Dean of the Graduate School, Institute of Education, HSE); Anna Smolentseva (Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Education, HSE); Nelly Pavlova (Manager, Institute of Education, HSE).