CONDUCTING
empirical research in the field of Russian and foreign higher education
RESEARCHING
the academic and extracurricular experience of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students
EVALUATING
the effectiveness of educational practices, technologies, and learning formats
CREATING
tools to measure academic experience and the behaviour of students and alumni
DEVELOPING
an online-education research methodology
Thematic map of our research
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STUDENT EXPERIENCE
We assess factors which determine students' engagement in the educational process and extracurricular activities, analyse models of student behaviour and educational trajectories, explore factors which contribute to students' psychological well-being and gender stereotypes.
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TRANSFORMATION OF DOCTORAL EDUCATION AND DOCTORAL STUDENT EXPERIENCE
We identify factors of doctoral students’ success and the effectiveness of doctoral training, audit of measures and practices to improve the quality of doctoral education, and analyse reforms of the doctoral education system.
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UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
We explore how Russian universities transform their campuses to increase student engagement and foster student integration into the educational environment.
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THE QUALITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION
We examine the quality of higher education in Russian universities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and assess the effectiveness of introducing new educational quality management tools.
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DEVELOPMENT OF ONLINE LEARNING
We assess the effectiveness of online and hybrid learning formats, take inventory of educational digital tools, and measure the level of students’ digital competencies.
Expertise and consulting in the field of education
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Education quality analysis
- Evaluating the effectiveness of online courses and educational programmes
- Assessing students’ needs and preferences
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Research of doctoral education
- Evaluating the effectiveness of doctoral programmes
- Analysing institutional measures of doctor training enhancement
- Studying the experience and success of doctoral students and early-career researchers
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Consulting for educational organisations
- Developing recommendations for doctoral programmes improvements
- Advising on the support systems for doctoral students and early-career researchers
- Providing recommendations for the development of student involvement in research and science
Our research projects
Models of students' behaviour in relation to success indicators
The research is aimed at studying the behaviour of students in Russian universities within the framework of the project of the National Research University Higher School of Economics ‘Human Success and Autonomy in a Changing World.’ It has been conducted for four years and aims to formulate informed decisions to improve students' academic performance. The research covers several universities, allowing comparison of results, and contributes to the scientific understanding of students' behaviour in Russian universities.
Contact person: Ksenia Vilkova
Mirror Laboratory ‘Psychological Well-Being of Students in Russian Universities’ with Tomsk State University
We research how studying at a university affects the psychological well-being of students. We analyse the links between students’ sense of psychological comfort, their academic performance, and participation in extracurricular activities. We examine how supportive programmes can help students feel better about themselves. The goal is to understand how to best improve students' psychological well-being during their studies.
Contact person: Elena Gorbunova
Master's programme research
We conduct a comprehensive analysis of master's programmes and compile a socio-demographic portrait of current master's students. We explore their motivation for enrolling in graduate programmes and determine the competencies required by graduates in today's labour market. We manage the product campaign ‘Development and testing of the intra-university model of master’s degree analysis’, with which we map out managerial decisions and available data. This allows us to make optimal choices and test them within the framework of a master's programme.
Contact person: Anna Korchak
The role of gender stereotypes in the career choice of females in engineering and technology programmes
We study the relationship between gender stereotypes and females' choice of engineering and technology courses. The results of the study can be used to develop policy measures and interventions needed in the field of sustainable social development policy. RSF Grant No. 22-28-00882.
Contact person: Natalia Maloshonok
Transformations of doctoral education and doctoral student experience
We explore the factors contributing to the success of doctoral students at multiple levels, including national, institutional, and individual. We analyse the quality of supervision, academic support practices, admission and selection procedures, and other aspects of doctoral training through surveys and interviews. Based on our findings, we develop recommendations for doctoral programmes and provide advice on supporting doctoral students and early-career scientists, as well as offer guidance on development of student involvement in research and science.
Contact person: Svetlana Zhuchkova
Applied projects
Team
Director
Deputy Director of the Centre, research fellow
Senior research fellow
Senior research fellow
Research fellow
Research fellow
Junior research fellow
Junior research fellow
Analyst
Junior research fellow
Scientific and Educational Projects Support Department: Head of Department
Research assistant
Research Assistant
Research Assistant
Research Assistant
Research assistant
Research assistant
Research assistant
Research assistant
Research assistant
Research assistant
Publications
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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.
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Active versus Passive Teaching: Students’ Perceptions and Thinking Skills
Most studies show that active teaching approaches positively affect student development when compared to passive teaching approaches. However, the literature is still unclear if an active teaching approach is more effective in all circumstances. This is because some studies find no differences in learning gains between the two approaches. Therefore, this study looks at how different levels of knowledge from Bloom’s taxonomy are affected by the active versus passive teaching approach. The research was conducted with a group of students of economics and management. A validated standardized instrument to assess microeconomic and macroeconomic competencies (TUCE Test) allows us to model added value to the following cognitive levels: knowledge and understanding, explicit application, and implicit application. The cognitive levels are constructed in accordance with a revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy. The results show that the active teaching approach is positively linked to academic performance at two cognitive levels: recognition and understanding and explicit understanding, with no significant relationship at the level of implicit understanding. On the other hand, a passive teaching approach has a negative relationship with academic outcomes at all the three cognitive levels.
Educational studies. 2024. Vol. 1. No. 3. P. 129-150.
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Higher education and regional elite formation in Russia
Massification of higher education system may have changed significantly the roles of different types of universities in elite class formation. While the educational background of political elites in general has been widely studied, some questions have been left on the periphery. First, social sciences focus mostly on the political elite at the centres of power, with regional elites receiving little attention. Second, the analysis of political elites usually does not take into account the transformations of the higher education system – stratification of the sector, the differences between elite and mass segments, changes in the dominant fields of studies – and how these might intersect with elite formation. This chapter aims at addressing the above limitations. It focuses on the Russian regional political legislative elites. We analyse changes in their educational background and connect those changes to transformations in the higher education systems and larger society.
In bk.: Assessing the Contributions of Higher Education: Knowledge for a Disordered World. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023. Ch. 14. P. 286-299.
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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.