Institute of Education

Publications

• Book

  Mehrotra S. K., Singh A. P.

  Reconfiguring India’s Qualifications Architecture: TVET Reform from the National Skills Qualification Framework to the National Credit Framework

  Under what institutional conditions do qualifications frameworks become trusted mechanisms for progression, mobility, and labour-market signalling? This paper starts with this question, and then examines the evolution of India’s qualifications architecture through the trajectory of the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) and the emergence of the National Credit Framework (NCrF). More specifically, it addresses the question: why did the NSQF fall short of becoming a trusted qualifications framework, and to what extent can the NCrF overcome these limitations to create an integrated and credible qualifications system? The NSQF, introduced in 2013 as a learningoutcomes-based framework, sought to improve progression, portability, and comparability across education and training. However, its implementation became concentrated on short-duration skilling programmes and fragmented institutional arrangements, resulting in weak assessment credibility, limited labour-market recognition, and constrained learner progression. Drawing on policy documents, implementation evidence, and comparative institutional analysis, the paper argues that these shortcomings were structural rather than technical: qualifications frameworks cannot generate trust or mobility without robust institutions for assessment, certification, quality assurance, and recognition. Against this backdrop, the NCrF (2023), introduced under the National Education Policy 2020, represents a second-generation reform. By integrating school education, higher education, technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and experiential learning within a unified credit architecture, it has become the organising framework of India’s qualifications system. The paper shows that India has effectively moved from a single-framework model centred on the NSQF to a more complex architecture incorporating the NHEQF, NSEQF, and NCrF. It further argues that the alignment of the NSQF and NCrF has transformed India’s qualifications structure from what is commonly described as an eight-level framework into a 13-level progression system through the introduction of intermediary levels between Levels 2 and 7, with important implications for progression, comparability, and learner mobility. Drawing on international experience, the paper concludes that successful qualifications reform depends less on framework design than on trusted certification, visible progression pathways, and employer recognition. India’s next phase of reform must therefore shift from training expansion to assessment-based trust, progression-oriented qualifications, and stronger integration with domestic and international labour markets.

  Vol. 18709. IZA Discussion Paper, 2026.

• Article

  Ulgen H.

  Peer networks as epistemic infrastructure: Rethinking social support among Turkish students in Russian-medium higher education

  This study reports a secondary analysis of phenomenologically informed, semistructured interviews with 15 Turkish undergraduate and graduate students at three universities in Moscow and examines how peer networks function beyond emotional buffering to support academic engagement and institutional navigation in Russian–medium higher education. Drawing on social support theory, communities of practice, and community cultural wealth perspectives, reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop three themes: emotional buffering, through which peer networks provided psychological protection and cultural continuity; epistemic infrastructure, through which peers mediated access to disciplinary knowledge, institutional expectations, and academic survival strategies; and cumulative institutional literacy, through which students moved from reactive coping to proactive navigation and transmitted navigational capital across cohorts. The findings extend the dominant social support literature by developing the concept of epistemic infrastructure—peer networks in linguistically demanding academic environments operating not only as psychological buffers but also as structured channels through which institutional knowledge is generated, distributed, and transmitted across student cohorts.

  Journal of International Students. 2026. Vol. 16. No. 17. P. 283-312.

• Book chapter

  Zagranichny A., Koroleva D., Дашкина И. Р.

  Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions and the Choice of AI Regulatory Approaches by University Staff

  Быстрая интеграция искусственного интеллекта (ИИ) в высшее образование усилила потребность в нормативно-правовых рамках, которые уравновешивают инновации и снижение рисков. В данной главе исследуются регуляторные предпочтения сотрудников высших учебных заведений в отношении ИИ. Анализ основывается на рамке культурных измерений Хофстеде для изучения того, как индивидуальные культурные ориентации влияют на отношение к регулированию ИИ. Эмпирическая выборка включает 363 сотрудника высших учебных заведений из 37 регионов Российской Федерации. Данные были собраны с помощью опроса. Результаты показывают, что дистанция власти связана с поддержкой более строгих регуляторных мер, включая формализованные правила и возможные запреты на использование ИИ. Избегание неопределённости коррелирует с предпочтением централизованного, основанного на правилах управления, направленного на снижение технологической неопределённости. Коллективизм связан с поддержкой регуляторных подходов, делающих акцент на коллективном принятии решений, а не на индивидуальном усмотрении. Дескриптивный анализ указывает на умеренные уровни дистанции власти и коллективизма, относительно низкое избегание неопределённости и относительно высокую долгосрочную ориентацию. В целом, респонденты склонны поддерживать разработку чётких и централизованных правил использования ИИ в высшем образовании, демонстрируя при этом готовность вкладывать усилия в изучение и внедрение технологий ИИ. Полученные результаты подчёркивают важность понимания культурных особенностей при внедрении технологий ИИ в образование. Они также дают практические ориентиры для разработчиков образовательной политики, администраторов университетов и других ключевых участников образовательного процесса. Кроме того, исследование открывает возможности для будущих межкультурных исследований по управлению ИИ в высшем образовании.

  In bk.: GenAIED: Cultural and Pedagogical Catalysts in Higher Education. L.: Routledge, 2026. Ch. 12.

• Working paper

  Antipkina I., Ivanov A., Guzhelya D.

  Explicit continuum scale format reduces the ceiling effect in self-report questionnaires comparing to Likert response format

  This study presents a methodology for developing a new questionnaire format called explicit continuum scenario scales, in the example of a client focus questionnaire. Elements of the Rasch Guttman scenario scale methodology were used in its development. In three consequent studies, different aspects of the scale functioning were investigated. In Study 1, on the sample of 100 respondents, it was shown that the explicit continuum scale produces reliable results and helps avoid the ceiling effect shown in the Likert response format version of the client focus questionnaire. In Study 2, the scale was administered in a competition environment, in a sample of 735 people. Despite the positive shift of scores, the instrument shows excellent psychometric characteristics and still resists the ceiling effect. In Study 3, new items were included, and the scale was presented in an interactive format. In the sample of 65,000 university students, it demonstrated the robustness of its psychometrics characteristics including dimensionality. The results of the three studies show that the explicit continuum format has the advantage of the stable dimensionality similar to the expanded format and is promising for measurement in social sciences.

  Basic research program. WP BRP. National Research University Higher School of Economics, 2024