The IOE experts participated in the Tsinghua Higher Education Forum 2025 in Bali

On 17–18 October, the IV Tsinghua Forum on Higher Education, an annual international platform for discussing key trends and challenges in higher education development, was held at the Southeast Campus of Tsinghua University (Bali, Indonesia). This year, the forum was dedicated to the future of internationalisation in higher education.

At the invitation of the Faculty of Education at Tsinghua University, the event was attended by Evgeniy Terentev, Dean of the Institute of Education at the HSE, and Maksim Nikitin, Head of the International Cooperation Division at the IOE.

Evgeniy Terentev participated in a panel discussion on global trends in the development of higher education, where he presented findings from IOE research on postgraduate studies. He highlighted how processes of internationalisation are reshaping academic mobility flows and formats of collaboration.

Today, internationalisation is not just a background context but a driving force for change within  universities. It influences how we educate future scholars, what competencies we prioritise, and how we build  academic partnerships. This calls for universities to be more flexible and open to new models of cooperation," noted Prof. Terentev.

Maksim Nikitin presented a paper on the vocationalism of higher education at the forum and invited colleagues to join in a discussion of theoretical approaches to this topic. 

Universities today are constantly seeking a balance between academic knowledge and labour market demands. Our discussion explored how academic and vocational education are increasingly intersecting, and what analytical tools can help us better understand this convergence,” Maksim explained. 

Maksim also joined a UNESCO-supported panel for young leaders in education, which served as the forum’s closing session. The discussion focused on internationalisation and the policy and institutional responses it requires.

The Youth Dialogue was perhaps the most exciting part of the forum,” Maksim shared.
“It was the final event — the entire audience gathered in one hall, and it was quite thrilling to sit alongside leading researchers whose work we often cite ourselves. Together with colleagues from UNESCO and other participants, we developed the session format from scratch — so seeing it come to life so successfully was especially rewarding.”

The panel brought together emerging scholars from the University of Hong Kong, Tsinghua University, HSE University, University College London, and Beijing Normal University.

The Tsinghua Forum has already become one of the leading international platforms for expert exchange in the field of higher education, bringing together researchers, administrators, and policymakers from different countries. It is very valuable that the Institute of Education is among the annual participants of the forum. We appreciate this opportunity to be part of this international conversation," concluded Evgeniy Terentev.

The HSE Institute of Education and Tsinghua University School of Education are currently conducting a joint research project dedicated to the transformation of doctoral education in Russia and China as part of the International Academic Cooperation of HSE University.