What is Happening with Political Science at HSE University

On June 13, discussions continued over the structure of the HSE School of Politics and Governance, as well as reforms to the bachelor’s programme in Political Science and its transfer to the Institute of Applied Political Science, which opened in April.

The discussion was organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences Student Council and moderated by its chair, Maxim Fetisov, a student of political science.

The discussion regarding concerns that have arisen over the reforms brought together professors and lecturers of the reformed School of Political Science, representatives from the Institute of Applied Political Science, and the university administration (represented by Anna Korovko), not to mention students of all years of studies at the bachelor’s programme in Political Science and the master’s programme in Applied Political Science, as well as a lot of concerned alumni.

The key speakers who explained  the upcoming changes were Valeria Kasamara (Director of the Institute of Applied Political Science), Ilya Lokshin (Academic Supervisor of the programme in Political Science), and Andrey Klimenko (Head of the newly created School of Politics and Governance).

The meeting began with a look at specific aspects of the curriculum of the bachelor’s programme in political science. Ilya Lokshin answered students’ questions and emphasized that the programme designers have to solve several tasks simultaneously:

• preserve the potential of the programme in political science, which is the strongest in Russia in several regards;
• reinforce and reform the ‘Political Administration’ track in order to make it more practice-oriented;
• maintain the programme’s compliance with HSE University requirements to students’ and teachers’ workload.

But soon the discussion moved to other issues that are of concern to staff and the HSE academic community in general: the career prospects of the members of the teaching and research team; the atmosphere in the School before the merger; the qualifications and political attitudes of the new teachers; as well as the problems of political censorship and pressure with regard to academic activities at the university.

Of course, not all the concerns and disagreements were resolved by the discussion. Some of the questions from master’s students, whose course content is also changing, remained unanswered, since representatives of the master’s programme were not able to attend the meeting. Some alarming testimonies (including instances of administrative pressure or the use of students’ assignments in teachers’ research papers) will be thoroughly examined by the academic community and beyond the formats suggested by the Student Council.

The problem of communication within the university was also discussed: how can the exchange of feedback between staff and students be made more efficient and honest? How can the work of collegiate bodies at HSE University be adjusted in order to take the interests of all those involved in the academic process into account as effectively as possible, and to provide for sustainable development of the research community?

Rector Yaroslav Kuzminov made an appearance near the event’s conclusion. He listened to the speakers and emphasized the fact that representatives of the university community have come together to discuss the most pressing problems.

‘We may have very different points of view, but I believe that one of the things a university should teach its students is not only hard work, but also to give the opinions of people you may not like a fair listen,’  Mr. Kuzminov said.

At the same time, Rector Kuzminov emphasized that HSE University is not going to let the ten years of work and service by Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Andrei Melville go to waste. It is Andrei Melville who is credited with creating HSE’s School of Political Science, Russia’s strongest political science research school.

June 14, 2019