AHELO: In Order to Be Precise in Evaluations
From November 23rd – 29th 2011, a training programme for national managers on the Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO) project took place at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris. The HSE is one of the coordinating universities for this project and representatives from our university attended this event.
The training programme involved many practical issues related to the preparation of a large-scale study of undergraduate quality of education in 16 countries – participants of the AHELO project, including Russia, which will take place in spring 2012.
The training also considered some problems connected with the selection of study participants, evaluation of open-choice and fixed-choice questions for the future study and working with the online platform for the questionnaire which will provide data for the evaluation of education quality.
Together with Belgium (Flanders), Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico, Egypt and Slovakia, Russia is participating in the section of the AHELO project related to evaluating students’ competencies in economics as part of the current feasibility study. Russian participation in this part of the project is being coordinated by the Higher School of Economics. As of today, 20 Russian higher education institutions have joined the project.
It is also expected that in the near future the RF Ministry of Education and Science will officially confirm Russia’s accession to the section of the AHELO project related to evaluating students’ competencies in engineering sciences. It has been preliminarily agreed that participation of Russian universities in this part of the AHELO project will be coordinated by the Ural Federal University.
Representatives of the coordinating universities took part in the international training on the AHELO project, including Tatiana Meshkova, Rector’s Assistant at the HSE and Director of the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge Information and Coordination Center for Cooperation with OECD, Elena Sabelnikova, Intern Researcher at the HSE Institute for Educational Studies, Oleg Rebrin, Director of the Ural Federal University (UFU) Higher Engineering School and Irina Sholina, Project Head at the UFU Higher Engineering School.
At the meeting of the group of national experts (GNE) on the AHELO project which took place on November 28th and 29th at the OECD headquarters, the Russian delegation was joined by Kirill Bukin, Deputy Dean for Research and International Relations at the HSE Faculty of Economics.
Participants discussed the interim results and growth potential, including the opportunities for future implementation of the project as a periodical monitoring study (every 3 or 5 years), similar to the implementation of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), as well as the opportunity for further expansion of the list of member countries as a result of growing international interest in the project.See also:
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Social Connections Help Women Achieve Academic Success
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A University's Special Status Is Correlated with a Substantial Increase in Salaries for Graduates
A university education is a highly sought-after commodity in Russia, yet the quality of universities and their programmes varies significantly. This gives rise to risks of inequality, both in the realm of education and in the labour market, and subsequently impacts the returns on higher education, which are manifested in the salaries earned by graduates. According to a study by Ilya Prakhov, Assistant Professor of the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences, graduates from Russia’s top-tier universities enjoy a distinct advantage. The paper has been published in the International Journal of Educational Development.
HSE University and Moscow Planetarium Sign Cooperation Agreement
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Basic, General, and Home-based: Why Families Choose to Homeschool and What Challenges They Face in Doing So
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Card Index: Uberisation of Education
Education is in the process of being partly reformatted into an on-demand service, with digital platforms quickly and efficiently matching teachers to students. This can make education more personalised and accessible and open up new professional development and money-making opportunities for teachers. But is an Uber-like model really good for education? The following discussion of uberisation in education is based on a paper by philosopher Timur Khusyainov, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the HSE Campus in Nizhny Novgorod.
HSE University and Sberbank Sign Cooperation Agreement
HSE University and Sberbank have entered into a cooperation agreement. The document was signed by Herman Gref, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank, and HSE University Rector Nikita Anisimov. The agreement is aimed at the implementation of shared educational, research, career-guidance, awareness-raising, and informational projects.
Shattering the Family’s ‘Glass Ceiling’: Why Young People Go to University
Attitudes towards education are often inherited, with parents explaining to their children what university education can give them. They offer very pragmatic arguments—that higher education ensures a more successful career, interesting work and a good income. But there are also other arguments that should not be underestimated. At this time when many universities are holding open house, IQ.HSE draws on a study by HSE scholars Tatiana Chirkina and Amina Guseynova to explain the attitudes towards education that parents give their children and which considerations they might have overlooked.
Collective Conscious: Advantages and Drawbacks of Studying in Small Groups
Students can learn difficult material much more efficiently by collaborating than by studying individually. They help each other, share information, and build collective knowledge. However, things are not as simple as they may seem. Cooperation between students is effective for certain activities, but not others. As researchers from the HSE Institute of Education have shown, knowledge is absorbed more effectively through group work, but the same benefits are not found when it comes to the practical application of knowledge.