IOE Staff Members at QS Worldwide Conference

QS Worldwide conference took place in Nizhny Novgorod on September 28-30. The mission of the conference is to promote the development of higher education in Russia and Central Asia through international partnerships, to support the processes that lead to greater worldwide recognition of universities in Russia and Central Asia. Delegations from 37 countries took part in the event. The conference was organized by QS, Lobachevsky University and Project 5-100.

Deputy Minister of Science and Education of the Russian Federation Alexander Povalko, Rector of Lobachevsky University Evgeny Chuprunov, and Chief Executive Officer at QS Asia Mandy Mok delivered a welcome message at the opening ceremony.

Plenary sessions on September 29 were dedicated to the challenge of creation of world-class national universities. University Administration from Holland, Singapore, and India shared their experience in implementing strategies for improving university rankings. The cases of Russian and Hong Kong universities were also analysed. 

Isak Froumin, Academic Supervisor of the Institute of Education, presented his keynote address ‘“Accelerated” World-Class Universities: What is Their ‘Secret’ and How It Could Be Measured’ at the event. The report was dedicated to the analysis of the factors that promote acceleration of the universities. Isak Froumin named the following ‘key ingredients’ of acceleration: renovation of educational programs with the involvement of employees and foreign partners, development of double degree programmes, attracting foreign students,  establishment of international laboratories and centres of excellence, availability of grants and incentives for new forefront projects and initiatives, and emphasis on computer science and natural science.