Institute of Education strengthens cooperation with colleagues from China
The trip began with a visit to Zhejiang University, which is located in the city of Hangzhou. The Institute of Education has previously interacted closely with colleagues from Zhejiang University, and the current visit renewed previous contacts. The parties discussed the possibility of launching a comparative study of vocational education systems, which has become increasingly common in Russia and China recently, and the resumption of a joint summer school on education for young researchers.
The next stop was Nanjing University. The representatives of the Faculty of Education explained that China is now reforming teacher training and now not only Normal Universities are responsible for school staff training, but also leading classical universities are actively involved in the training of teachers. Despite the shift in focus towards school education and teacher training, the topic of higher education and the student experience is still important to the faculty representatives. The point of intersection between the two units here is the longitudinal study of educational behaviour, which is being implemented for the third consecutive year as part of the strategic project "Success and Self-Sustainability of the Individual in a Changing World". One of the key research questions of the longitudinal project - the dynamics of changes in the level of critical thinking of students during their university studies - has attracted the interest of the Chinese side. The idea of replicating this study on a sample of Chinese students was a key outcome of the discussion on the potential of a research collaboration between the two departments.
The final point of the trip was a visit to universities in Shanghai.
The programme in Shanghai began with a visit to East China Normal University (ECNU). ECNU is the leading normal university in China and the Faculty of Education occupies a large part of the university structure. The Faculty of Education shared their experience of organising a significant event, the Asian Doctoral Forum, which provides activities to develop the career and academic skills of young researchers. Representatives of the Institute of Education proposed to join forces and create a full-fledged international association of young educational researchers, where undergraduate and postgraduate students at the start of their careers will be able to get feedback on their research, take part in workshops on academic skills development and career building, and expand their network of acquaintances. Already in September, the first event within the framework of this cooperation will be organised, a joint postgraduate seminar with the presentation of the results of related thesis research of postgraduate students from universities around the world.
The official programme ended with a visit to Shanghai Jiaotong University, one of the oldest universities in China. The dean of the faculty Liu Niancai is the creator of the famous Shanghai ARWU university ranking. On the basis of the Faculty, the Centre for World-Class Universities has been established, the research topics of which are largely intertwined with the Institute of Education's research on assessing the effects of excellence programmes of Russian universities. Agreements were reached to conduct joint research in the future, as well as to publish a monograph with a comparative analysis of excellence programmes.
The trip opened up China's education system from a new perspective and helped to acquire a number of valuable contacts and projects that will deepen cooperation between Russia and China.
