HSE Poli-Sci Programme Alums Join Together

Changes to the political science programme at HSE University in Moscow garnered a strong reaction from the programme’s alumni. After a meeting between faculty members and students, which clarified many details about the merger between the School of Political Science and the School of Public Administration and changes to the ‘Political Science’ programme, programme alumnus Alexander Zhuravlev (2016) called for the creation of a programme alumni association.

Alexander noted that ‘the practice of starting alumni associations at the school/faculty level is already long-established—Alumni Boards take a pretty active role in programme management, contributing both money and expertise, in business and law schools, for example.’ The first measure on the agenda of such an independent association, based on successful foreign models, ‘could be to hold a meeting with Valeria Kasamara, where we could talk about our views on what constitutes a useful education in the School of Political Science’

At the same time, the issues the proposed poli-sci alumni association would address are specific to the programme of political science, so the creation of a community for programme graduates would not interfere with the university association, HSE Alumni.

The proposal received a positive response from HSE political scientists, as well as university leaders. In the comments to Alexander’s post, Professor Andrei Melville, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, expressed support for the idea and readiness to meet and discuss the future of political science at HSE. Later he described the possible formats a fruitful interaction with alumni could take:

Andrei Y. Melville

Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences

‘Real civic initiatives start ‘from the bottom up’ and are wary of external supervision, which we already have enough of. I’m quite eager to engage in face-to-face discussion with interested colleagues. I think that the association should, on the one hand, fulfill a ‘mentoring role’ in relation to new graduates, as well as students, and provide guidance based upon their practical experience and the fundamental knowledge that they gained at the university.

On the other hand, the association could be a kind of ‘professional resource bank’, providing assistance in finding employment and getting students involved in projects outside the university. I am absolutely in favor of this.’

June 17, 2019