Higher Education Conference Set to Feature Wide Variety of Topics

On October 20-22, 2016, the Russian Association of Higher Education Researchers will hold its 7^th International Conference in Moscow. This annual event brings together researchers and educators who are interested in higher education development in a forum to discuss challenges and goals facing universities and their stakeholders (students, faculty, administrators, graduates etc.).

While the theme of this year’s conference is ‘University between Global Challenges and Local Commitments’, the conference programme will cover a wide range of topics. For example, Steve Kerr, Professor of Education in the College of Education at the University of Washington, will deliver a presentation on learning analytics and related approaches for supporting online students, especially ‘non-traditional’ students, such as older adults with families, work responsibilities, etc.

Steve Kerr‬‬, Professor of Education in the College of Education at the University of Washington

‘I am very eager to hear what other researchers are working on, and how this field of study is evolving in Russia today’, said Professor Kerr in an interview with the HSE News Service. ‘Higher education is typically less well studied than general education (elementary and high school grades), but today it is especially important to study it carefully. Today's economic and social issues require that citizens have a deep and complex understanding of underlying issues, and that sort of preparation should be a primary aim of higher education. I look forward to many interesting presentations and discussions with researchers working on related issues’.

Giovanni Abramo, who serves as Technological Research Director for the Institute for System Analysis and Computer Science (IASI-CNR) at the National Research Council of Italy, will focus on research infrastructure in his presentation at the conference.

Giovanni Abramo, Technological Research Director for the Institute for System Analysis and Computer Science

‘For a growing number of nations, one of the central elements of the policy agenda is the promotion of continuous improvement in the research infrastructure’, he said. ‘Periodic research assessment exercises are essential to this purpose. The aim of my presentation is to stress and promote the critical role of scientometric assessment in research environments. I will compare different methods and indicators to assess research performance at the individual and organizational levels’.  

While the conference promises to make for a busy several days, participants will have an opportunity to spend time enjoying Moscow during their visit.

‘I always try to visit the New Tretiakov in Krymskiy Val’, said Professor Kerr. ‘I am fascinated by the period in history and art that is represented there — the early 20th Century, with its Constructivist and Suprematist movements, and all the social trends and political conflicts that the period encompassed.  So I hope to go there, and also to see other exhibits in various museums. And, perhaps most important of all, to see and visit with friends and colleagues with whom I have worked in the past!’

Developing new relationships and nourishing existing ones is an important element of any such conference. For his part, Professor Kerr hopes to expand his collaboration with HSE partners.

‘I have worked with HSE on a number of projects over the past few years -- helping to screen applicants for positions there, examining the quality of Master’s theses, and advising on some other matters’, he said. ‘I have been consistently impressed by the quality of work being done in HSE in many fields of study’.

Anna Chernyakhovskaya, specially for HSE News service