Prior to her arrival at the Higher School of Economics, Shivleta Tagirova headed the Department for Cooperation with International Organizations at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia.
Tagirova received her degrees in Public Administration and Translation (French) from the same university. In 2009, she defended her dissertation entitled ‘Policy of Strategic Management in Higher Education: a Comparative Analysis of Western and Russian Experience (through the example of France, the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation)’.
Tagirova has worked as Coordinator of the Global Education Programme of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe and the first joint Russian Master’s programme in human rights carried out with support of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. She also briefly led the Division for International Organizations and Programs of Russia’s Ministry of Education and Science. She has published on the topic of the market for educational services and management of innovation processes in higher education.