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Is “pre-training” the unsung hero of effective learning—or just an unnecessary hurdle for already smart students? That’s the research quest Anna Gorbunova, Anastasiia Kapuza, Ouhao Chen, and Jamie Costley embark on in their recent study, Rethinking Pre-training: Cognitive Load Implications for Learners with Varying Prior Knowledge. Published in Frontiers in Psychology, their work dives into how priming your mind before tackling complex material can transform the learning experience, challenging long-held beliefs about how we actually absorb knowledge.

Researchers discovered that language proficiency tests could be significantly shortened by processing responses more effectively. An international team of scholars, including a researcher from the Institute of Education, demonstrated this using data from around 3,000 students who took English listening tests.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of everyday academic life. While much attention has been paid to how students use AI in learning, far less is known about how faculty members engage with AI tools in their own research writing and publication practices. A new study by researchers from the HSE Institute of Education and the Academic Writing Centre offers rare insights into how university instructors are navigating this emerging terrain.

Around one in three doctoral students begin their studies without clear goals, while only around 10% of graduates successfully defend their dissertations on time. What factors have influenced this trend over the last decade? Researchers from the IOE Centre of Sociology of Higher Education conducted a study examining the motivations of PhD students across Russian universities.

In just two years, generative AI has traveled an astonishing path—from a clever novelty to a genuine game changer in higher education. As tools like ChatGPT exploded into academic life, scholars across the globe rushed to make sense of what this new technology means for universities, teaching, and knowledge itself. That urgent, fast-moving response is what an international team of scholars—Isak Frumin, Anton Vorochkov, Margarita Kiryushina, Daria Platonova, and Evgeniy Terentiev—set out to explore in their sweeping new study, Mapping the Generative AI Research in Higher Education: 2022–2024 Insights. Published in Higher Education Quarterly, the research analyzes more than 4,000 publications produced between 2022 and 2024. The result is a vivid, data-rich portrait of a field evolving at breakneck speed—revealing not only what researchers are studying, but how, where, and with what mix of excitement, concern, and uncertainty. What emerges is academia in full sprint, trying to keep pace with a technology that refuses to slow down.

How do students actually feel at school, and how does this change as they grow older? Does well-being decline with age, and do boys and girls experience school differently? A new study by researchers from the Centre for Psychometrics and Measurement in Education at the HSE Institute of Education offers new evidence-based answers to these questions, with important implications for schools and education policy.

The KIVO Innovations in Education Contest, curated by the Laboratory for Educational Innovation Research at the HSE Institute of Education, is a long-running platform for identifying, supporting and connecting educational innovators. In 2025, the contest once again demonstrated its scale and relevance by attracting a record number of participants and showcasing diverse educational solutions. It reinforced its role as not only a competition, but also a sustainable professional community.

In our annual review, we look back at the key milestones, research highlights, international partnerships, and events that shaped the year at the Institute of Education.

In September and October, Diana Koroleva, Scientific director of the Laboratory for Educational Innovation Research at the Institute of Education, participated in several significant international academic and policy-oriented events in Europe and Asia. These included the CEPE 2025 Conference in Rome, the G20 Education Forum and the APEC International Forum on Lifelong Vocational Skills Training, both of which were held in Beijing.

Researchers from the HSE Institute of Education took part in the International Academic Forum ‘Russian Education: Inheritance and Transformation,’ held on December 5–7 at Nanjing University and organised with the support of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China. The forum explored how education systems respond to social, technological, and institutional change, with Russian education serving as the central lens for international comparison and reflection.