Research & Expertise

On October 16-18, the 5th International Conference of the Russian Association of Higher Education Researchers took place at the Higher School of Economics. The theme of this year's conference was 'Managing Differentiation in Rapidly Changing Higher Education Systems: Challenges and Opportunities.'

If universities were people, then the 203-year-old University of Oslo (UiO) would be the great grandfather of the Higher School of Economics, which was founded in 1992. It is remarkable, however, that despite of the age gap, the student populations of the two universities are comparable in size. The UiO – almost the same size as the HSE but having 10 times more experience – is therefore definitely one of the best partners to learn best practices from.

The HSE has held the fourth annual workshop ‘Banking in Emerging Markets: Challenges and Opportunities’, organized by National Research University Higher School of Economics (CInSt HSE) with the support of the Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT).

From October 7-9, the second annual ‘Dynamic Middle Ages’ school of young medievalists took place in Moscow. After its conclusion, participants talked about what they find interesting in the Middle Ages and the parallels they see between those times and today.

Most Russians are confident that they only consume legally-produced spirits. The proportion of Russians who consciously purchase counterfeit or bootleg liquor remains relatively small. However, the percentage of those who are either unsure that their drink is the genuine article, or who don't care whether it's fake or genuine, is relatively high. This is what Senior Research Fellow at the HSE's Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology Zoya Kotelnikova found.

Russian society has a generally low level of trust. Colleagues and neighbours are the only exception – Russians regard them as trustworthy. A trusting attitude towards one's inner circle of acquaintances has a greater effect on life satisfaction than trust in public institutions and people in general, according to Anna Mironova, Research Intern of the HSE’s International Laboratory of Socio-Cultural Research.

HSE’s Institute of Education hosted a visit by University of Arizona Professor Emeritus David Berliner. In an interview with the Institute, Professor Berliner discussed problems of schooling in the U.S. and Russia, possible ways of evaluating the work of instructors, and also how the results of international educational research should be factored into decision-making.

Dr. Spring H. Han, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Management, has been at the Higher School of Economics since 2012. Her current research interests focus on the hotel industry. She recently spoke with the HSE news service about her teaching and research, as well as the students she advises in a new programme called ‘Experience Economy: Hospitality and Tourism Management.’

Not all consumers want to buy things at a discount. Many people prefer expensive stores to discounters since the purchase price of a good can demonstrate that the buyer belongs to a particular social group or to a particular community of buyers, Elena Berdysheva, a Senior Research Fellow in HSE’s Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology, said in the paper ‘What Do We Know about Consumers’ Price Perception? Research Findings of Studies in Sociology and Marketing Science’.

Young Russians took the Sochi Olympics as a family holiday rather than a state one. Their parents’ nostalgic memories about the 1980 Olympic Games played their role, which were a personal and at the same time a national event for many Russians. Sochi 2014’s promotion as a national holiday worked worse, though. For young people, the excitement in official media was drowned by criticism of the Olympics on the internet, Anna Sanina, Associate Professor at the HSE St. Petersburg Department of State and Municipal Administration, and research assistants Anastasia Kozlova and Olesya Trigolos, found out.