The survey "Monitoring of the Labor Market for Highly Qualified R&D Personnel" is a part of two large-scale comparative international projects: “Careers of Doctorate Holders” (CDH) and "Knowledge for Innovation» (KnowINNO). The CDH project aims at developing internationally comparable indicators on the careers and mobility of the most qualified personnel in science and technology. It brings together researchers from 25 countries under the auspices of the three major international organizations: OECD, Eurostat and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. The KnowINNO project brings CDH methodology into a wider context of comparative analysis of knowledge flows and returns on investment of the long academic training of doctorate holders. It is also coordinated by the OECD and partially funded under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Union. The project involves researchers from 12 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Britain, Spain, France, Japan, etc.
The first round of the monitoring survey in Russia (2010) covered representatives of highly qualified R&D and pedagogical personnel holding academic degrees. The second round (2011) focuses on careers of engineering staff employed in R&D institutions, business enterprises and service organizations (engineering companies, technology transfer centers, etc.). Extension of the survey scope to the new sectors of the labor market and groups of R&D personnel allowed complementing and enriching the analysis of human capital for innovation. Along with the monitoring key objectives a number of tasks associated with the engineering work specifics and socio-professional characteristics of the corps of engineers were resolved at the current stage of the survey. In particular they included:
- analysis of the main characteristics of the body of engineering staff in Russia, including the basic social structure of the two cohorts of research and technical staff: research-engineers engaged in innovation development and production-engineers, operating new products and processes;
- assessment of the role and potential influence of the Russian engineers in transition to innovation based economy;
- identification of factors stimulating or hampering innovation development.
The survey was conducted in the form of face-to-face interview at the respondent’s workplace in September-October 2011. A multi-stage stratified quota sample is representative by region, type of economic activity, type of organization, and age of the respondent. Sample design allowed proportional representation of manufacturing sectors, depending on the number of employees in each of them. Respondents were selected regardless to their doctorate degree.
The sample represents two large groups of scientific and technical personnel: 1) personnel of research, design, and engineering organizations engaged in R&D (n = 1599). 2) highly qualified engineering and technical staff of business enterprises (n = 1617). The total sample size is 3216 respondents.
The 2011 survey enabled to review foreign experience and current practice in surveying highly qualified R&D personnel; to collect data on the main characteristics of the corps of engineers in Russia to analyze socio-demographic and educational characteristics of the "core" and "periphery" of the engineering staff, as well as a particular category of engineers employed in specific organizations such as engineering firms, centers of technology transfer, industrial parks, and promotional organizations; to represent professional career and mobility patterns of Russian engineers; to assess the innovative potential of Russian engineers and their involvement to the innovation development in the enterprise; to measure level of available and required competencies for broad categories of engineering personnel (self-assessment); to identify the role of strategies and achievements of engineers as social patterns of reproduction corps of engineers.
Foreign partners in the research:
- The OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry
- Eurostat
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics
- Research centers and universities from 26 countries participating in the CDH project
- Research centers and universities from 12 countries participating in the KnowINNO project
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Choosing to Study in Russia
Despite Russia’s success on the global educational market, there is a lack of information about the reasons why international students choose Russian universities. Alena Nefedova from HSE University decided to bridge this gap. IQ.HSE portal published the main results of her research.
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One Quarter of Russian University Instructors Don’t Use Online Instruction Tools, HSE Data Show
The HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK) has presented data about the current conditions in which Russia’s schools and universities must now transition to online learning. According to their data, only 11.4% of university instructors with a PhD (or Doctor of Sciences degree) used online tools in their teaching in the last year.
How Equality Started in Research
Legally, the 1917 revolution solved the gender issue in the Russian academic community. The doors to the profession opened for women, but a ‘glass ceiling’ remained. Ekaterina Streltsova and Evgenia Dolgova studied who it affected and why. This study is the first to present a socio-demographic analysis of the female academic community in Moscow and Leningrad during the early Soviet era.
Knowledge of Foreign Languages by Russian Scientists
The HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge conducted a survey of more than 2 thousand Russian doctorate holders, in order to assess the situation with foreign language skills among highly qualified scientific personnel.
Digital Outlook of Russian Scientists
Experts at the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge found out to what extent modern digital technologies have taken over the activities of Russian PhD holders.
Russian Research in Global Balance of Scientific Influence
Data on researchers’ affiliations in publications indexed in international citation databases (Web of Science or Scopus) reflects their collaborations with research organisations and individuals in other countries. According to findings by the HSE Institute of Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK), the rate of Russian researchers' involvement in international cooperation has been growing from year to year.
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Russian Researchers More Likely Than Foreign Peers to Work Simultaneously in More Than One Country
One in ten Russian researchers who publish prolifically are working simultaneously in more than one country. According to HSE researchers, they are usually attracted to countries such as the U.S., Germany, France and the U.K.
22.4%
of those who are currently working toward Candidate of Science and Doctor of Science degrees in Russia are younger than 40 years old.
'You Can Only Resolve Global Problems When You Let Other Countries Boost Their Potential'
At the XVI April Conference’s section on Science and Innovation hosted by the Higher School of Economics, a seminar took place on international ways to cooperate in the fields of science, technology, and innovation. Participants included universities from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) project ‘Knowledge Triangle: Cooperation in Science, Education, and Innovation.’ The section’s participants discussed the role of education, academic research, and innovation in ensuring the ability of European countries to compete globally.