Centre of Sociology of Higher Education

Publications

• Book

  Alcott B., CohenMiller A., Sandygulova A. et al.

  Gender Equity in STEM in Higher Education: International Perspectives on Policy, Institutional Culture, and Individual Choice

  This timely volume brings together a range of international scholars to analyse cultural, political, and individual factors which contribute to the continued global issue of female underrepresentation in STEM study and careers. 

  Offering a comparative approach to examining gender equity in STEM fields across countries including the UK, Germany, the United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Africa, and China, the volume provides a thematic breakdown of institutional trends and national policies that have successfully improved gender equity in STEM at institutions of higher education. Offering case studies that demonstrate how policies interact with changing social and cultural norms, and impact women’s choices and experiences in relation to the uptake and continuation of STEM study at the undergraduate level, the volume highlights new directions for research and policy to promote gender equity in STEM at school, university, and career levels. 

  Contributing to the United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in science education, higher education, and gender equity in STEM fields. The text will also support further discussion and reflection around multicultural education, educational policy and politics, and the sociology of education more broadly.

  NY: Routledge, 2022.

• Article

  Smirnov N., Tarasova E.

  Motivation matters: How enrollment motives shape doctoral experiences and career aspirations

  This study examines the motivational profiles of Russian doctoral students and their implications for academic success, satisfaction, and career aspirations. We employ data from a nationwide survey of doctoral students at Russian universities (N = 1,267). Using latent class analysis we identify four distinct motivational profiles: Academic Orientation, Unconscious Motives, Topic Devoted, and Everything Everywhere All at Once. Our findings reveal that students with academic orientations exhibit higher satisfaction, greater confidence in successfully defending their dissertations, and a stronger intention to pursue research careers. In contrast, students with unconscious motives demonstrate lower satisfaction, reduced confidence, and a weaker inclination toward research career paths. These findings highlight the role of unclear enrollment goals or non-academic motivations, such as military service deferment, in shaping doctoral outcomes. Additionally, our analysis shows that engagement in research is the only aspect of the doctoral experience that fosters research career aspirations among students with initially non-academic motivations. These findings emphasize the need for Russian universities to reconsider admission policies, doctoral program structures, and academic support mechanisms to better accommodate the increasingly diverse expectations of doctoral students. The study contributes to the broader discourse on doctoral education by providing empirical insights into the relationship between motivation, institutional factors, and career trajectories.

  Plos One. 2025. Vol. 20. No. 9.

• Book chapter

  Minaeva E., Zakharova U., Zhuchkova S.

  MOOCS as a Tool for International Student Recruitment: A Cross-Country Analysis

  One of the promises of MOOC platforms that were widely discussed during the first two waves of MOOC popularity in 2010–2016 was its marketing potential for international student recruitment. However, the research on the effects of MOOC on international enrolment is currently scarce. Based on the data from Coursera and edX platforms for MOOC supply information, and Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THE Ranking) for national and international students’ statistics, this research aims to explore whether the MOOC supply is positively associated with international students enrolment. Results of regression modelling reveal that, considering the whole sample and all other factors being equal, there is no significant association between the number of MOOCs university supplies and the percentage of international students at this university. However, the second model, which includes interaction term, and thus divides the overall effect of MOOCs by different countries, demonstrates that for some countries such an association does appear. These countries are the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and Russia. For all four countries the detected effect is positive. Finally, the study presents MOOC description page content analysis to define the elements that might promote the university enrolment and push the MOOC learners through the Marketing Funnel from Awareness and Interest to Desire and Action. This paper might be of interest for the university international affairs and student recruitment deputies, to benefit from MOOC supply the university has, or vice versa for the online learning department managers to contribute to the university key performance indicators improvement designing and redesigning online courses for the international audience.

  In bk.: Digital Education: Shaping Sustainable Lifelong Learning for All in the Era of AI. 9th European MOOCs Stakeholders Summit, EMOOCs 2025, Paris, France, June 30 – July 2, 2025, Proceedings. Springer, 2026. P. 130-143.

• Working paper

  Валединский П. И., Ivaniushina V. A., Alexandrov D. A. et al.

  Factors Influencing Adolescent Alcohol Consumption: Parents And Depression

  Alcohol use is a common form of risky consumption among adolescents. Little research has been carried out on the influence of such factors as parental control, relationships with parents, and teenage feelings of depression on the frequency of alcohol consumption among adolescents in Russia. In this paper, structural models were developed to describe the influence of these factors on adolescent alcohol consumption and the relationship between the factors. Alcohol consumption in adolescents is represented in the work in two ways: casual alcohol use and binge drinking (the consumption of four or more servings of alcohol at a time). The respondents were students at vocational schools who participated in a longitudinal project to study the risky behavior of adolescents in St. Petersburg. Four waves of the survey were used: 1, 5, 6 & 7. According to the results, the strongest direct negative effect on alcohol consumption is caused by parental monitoring. However, the direct influence of monitoring on adolescent alcohol consumption was significant in Wave 1. But in Wave 6, this influence was insignificant, which can partially be explained by the age of the respondents, most of whom were already adults at the moment of completing the questionnaire in Wave 6. Regarding the relationship with parents, no direct influence on alcohol consumption was detected—only an indirect effect mediated by parental monitoring. The positive correlation between the relationship with parents and the level of monitoring was significant in Waves 1 and 7. The level of depression in adolescents was a significant predictor of drinking behavior only in the model describing alcohol consumption as the frequency of casual drinking. In the models describing binge drinking, this relationship was insignificant. In all models, there was a stable negative relationship between the relationship with parents and depression in adolescents.

  Sociology. SOC. Высшая школа экономики, 2023. No. 101.