HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICSSCHOOL OF SOCIOLOGY

Report from an Expert Panel convened and coordinated by the World Bank

Vladimir Briller, EdDCynthia Buckley, PhD

Timothy Heleniak, PhDKirill Vasiliev, MEdDenis Nikolaev, MEd

Moscow, Russia – 2013

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Table of Contents

Glossary/Dictionary......................................................................................................3

Introduction.................................................................................................................3Methodology................................................................................................................................................................. 3Self-Study and External Review............................................................................................................................ 4

Executive Summary......................................................................................................5

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.............................................................................................6HSE School of Sociology Mission and Strategic Position...........................................................................6

Mission............................................................................................................................................................................ 6Program Reputation................................................................................................................................................. 6Admissions and Tuition Support......................................................................................................................... 7Learning Resources................................................................................................................................................... 7Faculty Advising and Mentoring......................................................................................................................... 7

Development and Fundraising..............................................................................................................................7Alumni............................................................................................................................................................................. 7Fundraising.................................................................................................................................................................. 8

Physical Facilities and Other Resources...........................................................................................................8Space............................................................................................................................................................................... 8Technology.................................................................................................................................................................... 9General Recommendations.................................................................................................................................... 9

TEACHING AND LEARNING...........................................................................................9Faculty............................................................................................................................................................................. 9

Quality of Instruction............................................................................................................................................. 10Teaching Loads........................................................................................................................................................ 11Recruitment Success.............................................................................................................................................. 11Scholarly Activity and Cross-Faculty Interaction......................................................................................12Academic In-breeding........................................................................................................................................... 13

Undergraduate Program.......................................................................................................................................13Student Learning Outcomes (SLO).................................................................................................................. 13General Education and Core (Basic) Skills...................................................................................................14Student Learning Goals........................................................................................................................................ 15Working Students and Drop-out Rates..........................................................................................................16

Graduate Program...................................................................................................................................................16Objectives and Quality........................................................................................................................................... 17Admissions and Student Quality....................................................................................................................... 18Student Engagement............................................................................................................................................. 18SoS Service to HSE................................................................................................................................................... 19Teaching and Learning Recommendations.................................................................................................19

RESEARCH..................................................................................................................20Existing Research Strengths............................................................................................................................... 21Research Opportunities for Undergraduates..............................................................................................22Promising Areas for Prioritization.................................................................................................................. 22Mobility and Generational Change.................................................................................................................. 24Deepening the Peer Review Process................................................................................................................ 25Research Output, Impact and Evaluations...................................................................................................25Synergies between Research and Instructional Agendas.......................................................................26

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Research Recommendations............................................................................................................................... 27

Governance and Administration.................................................................................28Administration and Governance Recommendations...................................................................................29

Conclusion........................................................................................................................30

Glossary/Dictionary

School – факультетDepartment – кафедраFaculty – профессорско-преподавательский состав

Introduction

Methodology 1. Early in 2013 the World Bank Moscow Office was asked by the National Research University - Higher School of Economics (HSE) to assemble an expert panel to review the university’s School of Sociology and its programs. The expert panel consisted of experienced and internationally recognized academics, including: Vladimir Briller, principal author; Cynthia Buckley; Timothy Heleniak, Denis Nikolaev and Kirill Vasiliev, project TTL. A site visit took place on September 23-27, 2013.

2. The review had several motivations: first, the HSE has embarked on a university development program, part of which entails the introduction of an internal quality assurance system which includes academic program reviews, including self- as well as external assessments. HSE requested support from the World Bank, which produced a methodology for program reviews.1 The concept and methodology were developed by Vladimir Briller, Ed.D., Executive Director of Strategic Planning and Institutional Research, Pratt Institute, New York and Eugene Pierre Deess, PhD, Director of Institutional Research and Planning, New Jersey Institute of Technology. The methodology is based on both authors’ successful review of more than twenty non-accredited undergraduate and graduate programs in humanities, mathematics, sciences and computer sciences and on examples of best practices in program review from reputable US and European Universities. The primary purpose of academic program reviews is program improvement for non-accredited programs; they are conducted by most institutions of higher education:

1 Briller, V. and E. P. Deess (2013) Program Review Methodology. Moscow: World Bank.

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UC Berkeley: The Academic Program Review is designed to enhance the educational mission of the University of California, Berkeley, by providing opportunities for programs and departments, and the university as a whole, to assess and improve its teaching and scholarship. We consider each review a rare opportunity for the unit and the campus to take a comprehensive look at the unit, to evaluate its opportunities and challenges, and to assess its future. Such a review process allows the campus to pursue exciting new paths of inquiry and discovery, while also sustaining excellence in each scholarly area.

3. The methodology provided recommendations for the internal organization of program review within HSE and laid out steps for external reviews. Those steps included: (1) submission, two months before the site visit, of a self-study report, school and program statistics and other supporting documents, to the external review team (2) a site visit by the external review team, (3) negotiation over a final draft of the report, and (4) submission to the relevant university authorities (Vice-Rector and Academic/Scientific Council). HSE then selected five programs and two schools (one of which was the SoS) to pilot the methodology.

4. The goal of the School of Sociology at the HSE is to become the leading school in the country in sociological education and research and to become competitive with other leading schools and departments of sociology elsewhere in the world. Along with fourteen other institutions in Russia, HSE has recently been awarded a special government grant to support efforts to become one of the top 100 ranked universities in the world. In an interview, Vice-Rector Roschin stated that this goal was very challenging. He mentioned a combination of a few possible routes: increasing the number of bachelor and master’s courses taught in English; improving the research output and publication records of faculty; and attracting foreign faculty as well as foreign students.

Self-Study and External Review5. The faculty and leadership of the School of Sociology (SoS) should be commended for producing a self-study that documents careful reflection on program’s strengths and weaknesses in the context of the many changes that have taken place since the SoS's initiation in 1996. The self-study revealed that the SoS had undertaken its assessment in a meaningful, self-determining manner, using the suggested model to help it gain greater clarity for its own strategic planning while inviting university administrators to support its many student-centered and professionally-oriented initiatives. Such initiatives, crucial for student success, are labor-intensive. They require commitments beyond the SoS: Center for Internal Monitoring and IT support, adequate workplace facilities, support for professional development and appropriate release time for research faculty and School administration. Sociology students, faculty and administrators work very hard to become the leading program not only in Russia but also internationally; thus, the external review should be helpful to all stakeholders participating in the School’s review process and rethinking of the strategy.

Executive Summary

6. The School of Sociology (SoS) complies with most of the academic and professional requirements and standards:

The curricula of undergraduate and graduate programs are challenging, with clearly defined student learning outcomes;

The faculty and graduate students are motivated to conduct research and publish articles in peer-reviewed journals;

Student research and internships are well planned and organized; The employment rates of the graduates are high; and, The graduates salaries are higher than average for the graduates of other sociology

programs in Russia.7. As a result, all HSE sociology majors are very competitive (nationally), and the SoS enrolls the best-prepared students into undergraduate (UG) and graduate (GR) programs. 8. The areas of potential improvement in education at the SoS include: (1) Providing more opportunities for teaching assistantships, especially for the graduates who wish to pursue a career in academia; (2) Focusing on core competencies and transversal skills: currently the School focuses its pedagogical focus heavily on students’ professional competencies, but employers are clear they see a lack of skills in graduates with regards to writing, presentation and social skills; and (3) Continuing efforts to become a top international program: attract international students and faculty; participate in prestigious international research projects, and have joint undergraduate and graduate degrees with reputable international schools. Attracting international faculty and enrolling more students continue to be major challenges for a variety of reasons: lack of appropriate infrastructure; high cost of living; lack of international reputation.

9. There are six areas of potential improvement in research: (1) Institutionalizing increased communication and cooperation across the units within the SoS for continued high-profile research projects; (2) Enhancing interdisciplinarity and closer contacts with other HSE and professional research organizations; (3) Defining potential thematic centers for research excellence; (4) Directing funds towards the enhancement of research for publication through release time from teaching; (5) Providing additional funds for graduate and undergraduate research assistantships; (6) Prioritizing research funding for projects capable of securing additional external funding, and (6) Shifting training and research investments towards the development and maintenance of core competencies in design, data collection/archiving, comprehensive analysis and indexed, peer reviewed publications.

10. Governance should facilitate decision-making and appropriate delegation of accountability and responsibility within and outside the school. Faculty should have a much bigger role in most of academic issues including personnel and budgetary issues; the SoS should engage into discussion and implementation of shared governance model.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

HSE School of Sociology Mission and Strategic Position

Mission11. The primary mission of the School of Sociology is to provide students with sociological perspectives and sociological techniques of inquiry designed to enhance their intellectual, personal, and occupational lives. The school’s intellectual agenda includes developing educational and research capacity of students and academic staff to levels comparable to the best sociological programs in the world. Part of this mission is to provide courses that are designed to enhance individual student understanding of interactive, institutional, and macro-level aspects of the diverse world; to build sociological knowledge and skills that are applicable to a broad range of settings including the public and private sectors, and especially, in the pursuit of advanced academic and professional degrees. The SoS believes that its graduates are well equipped to be engaged citizens in an increasingly knowledge-intensive and diverse world. The School’s mission also includes the encouragement of faculty engagement in instruction, curricular development, professional activity, and governance in order to promote a strong teaching and learning environment. The reviewers agreed that there is no need for the SoS to make any significant mission changes or change the program focus.

Program Reputation 12. The SoS is one of the two most reputable sociology schools in the country, the other being Moscow Lomonosov University, a predominantly undergraduate-level focused institution. The SoS has nearly perfect employment record for its graduates within a year after graduation and the graduates are employed by most prestigious Russian and international social research companies and as faculty in other schools. The first cohort of sociology students enrolled in School of Economics in 1996, and the NRU (National Research University) HSE School of Sociology was founded in 1999. Since then, the program has taken a leadership position in Russia, particularly with regard to graduate education in sociology; the HSE School of Sociology has a large graduate program and four departments, Analysis of Social Institutions, Methods of Collection and Analysis of Sociology Information, General Sociology, Economic Sociology.

13. Moreover, SoS has a solid reputation with employers including Russian polling and research companies and with some international companies operating in Moscow and abroad, thanks to the strong math, statistics and research skills of the students and graduates. From 2005 to 2010, the most prominent employers of the school alumni had four sponsored departments or laboratories within the School of Sociology: GfK Rus (Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung – Society for Consumer Research); Public Opinion Foundation; Levada- Center; and Russian Center for Public Opinion Research. During the same time, the SoS started the Laboratory for Socio-Economic Research, which has been very active in research and publishing (the Journal «Economic Sociology» has been published five times a year since 2000; lately, electronically).

14. The SoS most likely does not need to consider seeking any major increase in enrollment, especially at the Master’s level, where it already dominates the national market. It will, therefore, be important to design strategies that focus on enhancing SoS's reputation internationally.

Admissions and Tuition Support15. The admissions procedures are quite competitive. Depending on criteria, the School usually ranked among the top three in the country in terms of quality of new undergraduates admitted. Each year, the School is allocated 75 fully funded student positions for which there is competition based on entrance exams. There is then a discounted tuition based on students’ class ranking. There is considerable student aid available. Each student has an individualized education plan which is monitored carefully and there is considerable advising of students at all phases of the program including job placement as there is a dedicated job placement office, numerous job announcements, and many links with employers.

Learning Resources 16. The SoS has an extensive electronic database of Russian and international journals and site licenses for all necessary statistical software for data analysis. One issue that was cited was the dearth and low quality of Russia-specific sociology textbooks and the need to adapt western texts for use. While many sociological concepts are universal, it is helpful for students to understand them using examples based on their own society. Given the vast expertise in the faculty and its leading role in sociological education in Russia, perhaps Russian-specific texts should be compiled by the faculty for use in some of the most popular or commonly-taught core courses. In recent years, members of the faculty have written a number of textbooks for use in some of the less-commonly taught areas.

Faculty Advising and Mentoring17. There is no formal system of academic advisement at HSE (such as that available to students in the U.S.); however, there is a system of curators for each level and tutors for each subject, some graduate student assistants and considerable faculty advising, especially at undergraduate level. At Master’s level, most of the advising is done by the department chair of the program. Current advising practices are not linked to an individual student; advisers are more comfortable talking to students about specific courses than about the whole curriculum and moving towards the degree. An office for academic advisement should be established and formalized within the SoS to help students make better educational choices and select an optimal educational trajectory relative to their individual goals.

Development and Fundraising

Alumni18. There seems to be strong and ongoing relations with alumni. A system was

established in 1999 for maintaining relations with alumni and is used to monitor the quality of the program vis-a-vis the outcomes of program graduates. There have been a number of surveys of recent graduates to determine the value of the education they received as expressed through their post-SoS employment opportunities and incomes. There is useful data on where alumni are working, types of positions, and salary levels. However, the SoS (and HSE in general) tends to treat alumni relations as a stand-alone activity divorced from fundraising and other advancement activities.

19. The SoS should focus on making alumni relations an important part of advancement activities because alumni are most loyal supporters, fundraising prospects, and they generate invaluable word-of-mouth marketing among their social and professional networks. They are great role models for current students and are often well placed to offer practical support to students as they start their careers. The other potential benefits include alumni’s ability to engage the expertise of the institution in their professional lives. In addition, they take their knowledge of your institution to their hometowns and countries and into their professional and social networks thus building school’s reputation.20. Finally, good alumni relations benefit alumni as well as the institution. If SoS supports in their professional and personal lives through activities such as the facilitation of social and professional networks and preferential access to on-campus expertise and facilities, they are likely to be their school loyal life-long supporters. Finally by helping the institution become bigger, stronger and more successful, alumni are also enhancing the value of their own degree qualification.

Fundraising21. There are several basic chairs established by marketing and PR firms which hire large numbers of School of Sociology graduates in addition to adjunct faculty from other firms which also hire graduates. However, the HSE and SoS has great potential for attracting influential and wealthy school supporters because of its high reputation in Russia, prime location in Moscow and strong links to government and businesses. There is a clear need for dedicated office for fund raising and development to secure outside funding though there are considerable funds available from internal sources and Russian government sources.

Physical Facilities and Other Resources

Space22. The lack of adequate space was cited on numerous occasions to the review team as a problem. The bulk of the School of Sociology is located at Kochnovsky proezd. However, there are other offices located in several locations central Moscow. Overall, the HSE occupies 13 different locations throughout Moscow (in addition to regional campuses in St. Petersburg, Perm, and Nizhny Novgorod). Given that the HSE and the School of Sociology are rather new, it seems as if they did not have the luxury of placing all units in one location given the size and cost of real estate in rapidly growing Moscow and had to take advantage of whatever buildings were available. Consolidating all or

most units of the HSE seems to be a distant and expensive goal. There are certainly urban campuses in the United States and Europe but these are generally old and quite compactly located. The current situation hampers students from the School of Sociology from taking electives in other school because of travel time involved and from students in other schools taking courses in Sociology as electives. It appears as if there is adequate funding to maintain the current space though no information was shared with the review team.

Technology23. Currently most of the hardware and software used by the SoS is up-to-date and sufficient for the program needs: all of the classrooms are equipped with sound and audio capabilities and the entire campus has access to free Wi-Fi. Video conferencing equipment is available where needed, which is important for international exchanges. Students have access to a large e-library of current Russian and foreign-language sociological literature. They also have access to the most current computing software. For research, the most recent computing software for data collection and analysis are available and there seem to be adequate funds for their maintenance. No pressing needs were voiced to the review team.

General Recommendations The reviewers agreed that there is no need for the School to make any significant

mission changes or changes to the program focus. The School most probably would not need any major increase in enrollment,

especially at the Master’s level where it already dominates the national market; however, it will be important to design strategies that would enhance SoS reputation internationally.

Low or zero enrollments in courses should be taken as a sign of lack of demand or interest. Thought should be given to establishing some minimum threshold for the number of students enrolled so that an offered class better utilizes teaching time and resources. Courses with traditionally low enrollment should either be dropped or only offered periodically.

The institute for academic advisement should be established and formalized to help students make better educational choices and select optimal educational trajectory.

There is a clear need in dedicated office for fund raising and development to secure outside funding though there are considerable funds available from internal sources and Russian government sources.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Faculty

24. The human capital of the faculty is one of the most important elements towards achieving the institutional goals of becoming both the best sociology program in Russia and an internationally recognized program,. The current faculty of 151 persons, 82

percent of which have terminal degrees in their field, is of high quality in terms of both research and teaching. The faculty’s research output is impressive in both quantity and quality (see research section). The effectiveness of the faculty’s teaching and training of the students at the Bachelors and Masters levels is reflected in the near universal employment of students upon graduation and the high demand for its students. The faculty is active in international exchanges and participation in international sociological conferences. There is a high-degree of English language proficiency among the faculty, which helps to facilitate these exchanges and to allow the faculty to remain current with the sociological literature and debates taking place in other countries. There are a number of international scholars on the faculty and Russian scholars with degrees from foreign institutions, which facilitate exchanges of ideas about both recent theoretical and applied developments in the field of sociology as well as interesting developments within Russian sociology. There are some areas where the team felt that improvements could be made to strengthen the current faculty towards achievements of its overall goals, which are explained below.

25. Depending on how it is calculated, the student-teacher ratio is very low (depending on calculation methodology, it might range from 5-to-1 [based on 750 students, MA and BA and 151 faculty] to 10-to-1 [as claimed by the Dean]. Regardless, these ratios are quite low by international standards though they do allow significant individual attention, which is important in an applied program like much of what is offered in the SoS.

26. Many of the academic staff have multiple functions--as teachers, researchers, administrators, department heads, and editors. Dr. Vadim Radayev, for example, combines functions of the first pro-rector (senior vice-president), department chair, director of the Institute, editor-in-chief of sociological journal and faculty. While not entirely unusual in academia, these roles can at times come into conflict with each other.

27. Twice each year, a list of faculty whose contracts will soon expire is compiled. They are evaluated on the basis of publications (at least one per year), student evaluations (lack of low teaching scores), level of teaching load, completed official site on SoS web site, and lack of disciplinary action. Based upon those recommended, a competitive selection process takes place with outside candidates and a selection is made after several levels of review. This process seems quite standard and does not have to be amended.

Quality of Instruction28. The quality of teaching is evaluated through a combination of methods, including longitudinal enrollment in courses, student teacher evaluations, and peer and administrator review of teaching materials including syllabi. These, particularly teaching evaluations, are used for faculty retention decisions, along with other factors. All evaluation sources are used to make decisions on course offerings. Though not a direct form of evaluation of professors, there is a rather rigorous evaluation of students based on certain desired learning outcomes which indirectly impact how decisions are made for planning and decision-making regarding the types of courses taught and their contacts. The current system in place seems reasonable and thorough; however, SoS leadership feels that it has room for improvement, especially in the curriculum area. This review is

expected to assist SoS in making changes - there is a planned curriculum restructuring for 2014.

29. There is a large number of courses with very few students or no students enrolled, indicating a mismatch between curricular offerings and the demands of students. Establishing a minimum threshold for the number of enrolled students in any course would allow the SoS to better utilize teaching time and resources. Courses with traditionally low enrollment should either be dropped or only offered periodically.

30. There are rather extensive surveys of graduates and ongoing contact with employers. These serve not only as a job placement tool but also help in designing and revamping the curriculum, especially for those students who choose the applied sociology track. The SoS already has several strong field-based training courses and applied programs, which promote. Based on student feedback, these are quite valuable and should be retained.

Teaching Loads 31. The teaching loads of the faculty of the School of Sociology seem to be highly regulated at the HSE level, and there seems to be little freedom internally for deviating from those regulations at the department level.2 While the levels correspond roughly to those at U.S. universities with a two-course per semester teaching load, the highest teaching burden falls on the most junior faculty. Full Professors have a teaching workload of 600 hours, Associate Professors 700 hours, and Assistant Professors 750 hours. Thought should be given to reducing the teaching load on junior faculty in order that they be given time to build up a research portfolio and apply for sufficient grant funding to support their research. Given the recent increase in the number of students in the SoS, the actual number of hours taught has exceeded the planned number in the most recent year, further straining teaching resources.

32. A majority and increasing share of courses are taught by full-time faculty. There are a number of courses offered by adjuncts with experience in research, surveys, and marketing. Given the applied nature of the program and the strong links with employers, the portion of adjunct teachers who work full time in research, marketing, or other firms should continue.

Recruitment Success33. The School of Sociology has been quite successful in recruiting and retaining the best sociologists in the country. Currently, 82 percent have terminal degrees in their field.It has been successful in recruiting females - roughly 54 percent of the faculty are female; however, the SoS has had limited success in promoting women to top positions in the administration. Currently, there is only one woman among six persons in the leadership

2 See decree НОРМЫ ВРЕМЕНИ ДЛЯ РАСЧЁТА ОБЪЁМА УЧЕБНОЙ РАБОТЫПРОФЕССОРСКО-ПРЕПОДАВАТЕЛЬСКОГО СОСТАВА ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОГО УНИВЕРСИТЕТА – ВЫСШЕЙ ШКОЛЫ ЭКОНОМИКИ, 04.06.2004г. There is some scope for reductions in teaching loads by the Rector and Chair of the Academic Council of the HSE.

administration of the School. Two of four department heads are female and none of the four heads of basic chairs are female. Unlike most Russian universities, the HSE, and School of Sociology in particular, was successful in hiring international faculty – currently it has four professors and three full-time researchers from the U.S.A., Germany, Poland and other countries; however, school administration acknowledged that selection of the foreign faculty is mostly driven by their availability rather than by scholarly achievement. Although, the HSE salaries are competitive, the living conditions in Russia do not allow yet to attract the best international faculty

Scholarly Activity and Cross-Faculty Interaction34. The School of Sociology provides a number of venues for intellectual exchanges through in-house and other publications, regular and special seminars, and periodic conferences. One deterrent to increased interaction among the different units within the School of Sociology and between it and other faculties of the HSE is the geographically disbursed nature of facilities across Moscow. Even the School of Sociology has offices located both at Kochnovsky proezd and on Myasnitskaya ulitsa near the center of Moscow, while the Department of Demography is located elsewhere. Even the units located at Kochnovsky proezd are pressed for space and must operate in shifts. This is not an issue confined to the School of Sociology, nor one that can be solved in the short run.

35. There are numerous sources of internal funding that the faculty has been able to access. They have also been able to tap into funds from the Russian Fund for Fundamental Research. However, by their own admission, the amounts of grant funding that they have been able to attract are not very significant compared to the institutions in the West that the HSE aspires to compete with. There are at least two explanations for that: (1) Insufficient number of available grants – unlike the U.S., Russia does not have many grant-giving foundations3 and (2) Institutions do not have capacity to work consistently on getting Russian or foreign grants, for example, institutional development/advancement offices are not developed yet. Given the importance of external funding as a criterion for national and international department rankings, the establishment of a dedicated office of grant administration and fund raising could be considered. This would be especially critical given the current heavy teaching and other demands on the faculty. The faculty is already well-connected internationally and has a number of foreign faculty on its staff. It could utilize these connections to tap into sources of foreign funding for theoretical, applied, and comparative sociological research. (More information is contained in the research section).

36. Most of the faculty is engaged in research and is publishing, nearly all in outlets outside of the HSE. Most of these publications are in journals, many of which are peer-reviewed. However, few of these are in internationally peer-reviewed journals published in English. If the School of Sociology wishes to be ranked among the leading departments/schools in the world, it should aim to increase submissions to some of the leading international sociology journals. With the current research being conducted in the School, amount of publications, international connections, and foreign-language skills of

3 http://www.iotrao.ru/nauchnye_granty.html?PHPSESSID=016919074fa290ce2603965205050b1a

the faculty, increased publications in leading sociology journals is certainly achievable. Many of these journals have a certain style of writing and specific means for constructing an academic argument which need to be followed. The faculty is already conducting interesting field research which could serve as the basis for journal submissions. This could be comparative research or research on some of the very interesting social processes that have taken place in Russia over the past two decades. Both could add to some of current theoretical debates within the discipline.

Academic In-breeding 37. More than twenty percent of young faculty are the graduates of the HSE SoS; most of them have worked at HSE research labs or as teacher assistants before teaching. SoS programs are currently most advanced in Russia, thus there are certain benefits in having the HSE SoS young PhDs as instructors. However, most scholars agree that academic inbreeding has more disadvantages than benefits, e.g., some studies suggest that academically inbred faculty generate on average 15% fewer peer-reviewed publications than their non-inbred counterparts,4 thus, it would be very important to maintain a healthy balance of HSE trained faculty with high quality faculty trained by other institutions as well as international faculty. If the HSE SoS prefers to hire its own PhDs, then the reviewers would recommend a practice utilized by many US research universities: sponsor talented PhD students to finish their degree at HSE, then go and work for a few years in another university, and if they demonstrate themselves capable, hire them back by the HSE.

Undergraduate Program

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)38. The HSE School of Sociology has strengthened its assessment process for both undergraduate and graduate programs by clearly defining the SLO and distinguishing the SLOs between UG and GR programs and professional and general education, and specifying timelines when those outcomes should be achieved and measured. For this review, the SoS provided achievement data for its UG and GR students for the last five years, and the results of the surveys administered to different classes of students; the students indicated that they felt the SoS provided them with competencies that were meeting their own and market expectations. The faculty were knowledgeable and used different methodologies appropriately. The fact that the School has more than tripled its size since 1996 and has simultaneously improved the quality of the admitted students (in 2012 and 2013 - second highest average score on Unified National Test) demonstrates that faculty and administration are on track for steadily improving SoS’ academic and research reputation. Additionally, alumni survey data suggest that within nine months after graduation more than 85 percent of graduates find jobs in their chosen fields in

4 Horta, Veloso, and Grediaga: Navel Gazing: Academic Inbreeding and Scientific Productivity.Management Science 56(3), pp. 414–429, ©2010 INFORMS

Russia or abroad or seek advanced degrees. Interviews with alumni and employers confirmed that the School has prepared them well for the job market.

39. Most of the policies and procedures for student examinations are mandated by the Ministry of Education; however, the School of Sociology enhanced those and moved closer to the international good practices: The SoS developed, tested and implemented sets of student learning outcomes (SLO) for all levels and all programs. The SLO are closely correlated with courses, examinations and Master’s theses that all students are expected to prepare. The grading is based on multiple inputs including class monitoring, midterm assignments and final assignments. The assignments are mostly practical and relevant to students’ future profession. Some questions can be raised regarding grading, especially components’ weights (e.g., attendance and class participation); at the same time, methods of student assessment are clear, transparent and fair.

40. While the framework for the assessment of the SLO is well developed, the reviewers were able to obtain only indirect evidence of its implementation. Both alumni and employers indicated that SoS equips its graduates with solid professional competencies; at the same time, there is room for improvement regarding general education competencies: oral and written communications, presentation, etc. The alumni of the programs are capable of designing and conducting research projects; however they experience difficulties in describing and presenting the results. Thus, SoS would benefit by focusing on teaching those competencies, preferably throughout the whole curriculum. That refers to both UG and GR levels.

General Education and Core (Basic) Skills41. The reviewers were unable to find clear guidelines for general education at SoS. According to the self-study, the SoS students acquire necessary skills in humanities (reading, economics, history, etc.) and math. The SoS tries hard to improve students’ writing, and there are some achievements in that area: there is a dissertation council which assists students in writing their theses; there is a demand among students for dedicated courses on writing, especially writing for different audiences which they will be required to do upon graduation. One problem that was cited by both students and faculty was rather heavy demands on the amount of mandatory writing which lead to plagiarism. Thus, a balance has to be maintained between teaching students how to write professionally and excessive writing demands. Given the importance of writing, it should be given some priority in the curriculum at all levels. The concept of ‘writing across the curriculum’ is one that is commonly used elsewhere which views writing as an integral part of the learning process. It recognizes that there are different writing styles in different disciplines. Sociology and the other social sciences have their own particular style. Even within Sociology, there are differences in writing style depending on audience. The general education curriculum has substantial load in mathematics, history and other liberal arts and sciences courses; however, it is the reviewers’ belief that more structured work is needed to define and address general competencies that need to be taught at the SoS.

Student Learning Goals42. Broadly stated, the learning goals of the BA program are for students to be able to participate in the preparation of and to be able to conduct basic and applied social research. The program seeks to provide students with a basic set of competencies upon graduation in a number of different areas within sociology. Tests and other forms of control are an integral part of each study module to ensure that students are absorbing the necessary material. The program is project based from the beginning which is recommended because so many of the graduates go directly into applied fields. This is reflected in the topics of students’ papers, which are applied and market and consumer oriented. There are, as would be expected, reasonable differences in learning goals across the different concentrations.

43. For the first three years, all students follow the same curriculum. At the end of the third year each student chooses one of three specialties - Applied Methods of Social Research; Economic Sociology; or Social theory and applied social knowledge for the final year of their studies.

44. There are two broad tracks, a more applied track leading to an MA or directly into work or an academic track leading to a PhD either in Russia or abroad. The School of Sociology at the HSE is some unique in its goals and program in that it seeks to be the leading program in the country and among the top programs in the world. It plays a leading role in sociology education in Russia with the Center for the Development of Sociological Education. There are some 12 to 15 similar programs in Russia, providing a broad community of scholars without over-saturating the academic marketplace.

The HSE BA program is rated the second highest in Sociology in Russia, behind the program at Moscow State University (MSU), which has a five-year BA degree in sociology as opposed to the four-year degree at HSE. The curriculum is the same for BA students at the HSE through the first three years when they choose a specialty and at MSU they choose a specialty after the second year. There are two similar tracks at both institutions, a more applied track and a theoretical track. The School of Sociology at MSU is substantially larger with 2,000 students and 310 professors and staff. Both programs are rather new with that at MSU only being established in 1989. Many of the staff at HSE previously taught at MSU.

45. The comparative advantages of the program at HSE is its strengths in data analysis, focus on English language training, and applied courses. It should work to strengthen these areas and not try to train students in all areas. It should also use its role as the catalyst for sociological education and professional sociology to diversify across other sociology programs in the country where each builds on its own comparative advantages within sub-disciplines of the field.

46. There are various systems in place for the monitoring of student learning outcomes, which are used to adjust the curriculum. Meetings with the students showed that students

seemed to want more applied study as it ensures their employment after (and frequently even before) graduation. There is a state-wide exam in sociology at the end of study which the students must pass.

Working Students and Drop-out Rates47. One issue that was cited was the large portion of students who work so much that it prohibits them from properly studying. This is a problem with students in many countries and the only solution is to increase student stipends as well as teaching and research assistantships within the SoS. It almost seems as if there is the opposite of retention in that there is planned attrition. Each cohort starts with approximately 120 students and some 80 to 90 eventually finish the program. There is an especially large dropout after the first year (which is true for most universities). The administration seems satisfied with this level of attrition and focuses their energies on those who stay in the program; however, such strategy is not cost effective and hurts program reputation,Overall, the BA Sociology program at HSE seems quite strong. It is taking many of the right steps to create a quality BA program that will eventually position it to become among the top programs in the world.

Graduate Program48. The School of Sociology at HSE offers Masters Degrees in four programs: Complex Social Analysis; Applied Methods of Social Analysis of Markets; Sociology of Public Sphere and Social Communications; and Demography and PhDs in three: Theory, Methods and History of Sociology; Economic Sociology and Demography; and Social Structure, Social Institutes and Processes. It is somewhat difficult to fully evaluate the graduate programs as some are of rather recent origin, the oldest only being eight years old (In the U.S. programs are not evaluated until they are at least five years old; in some colleges – up to ten years).

At University of Wisconsin-Madison, one of the best programs in Sociology in the US, the program review provides a time for program faculty to analyze the quality of their programs as a whole, to affirm ways that the program is working well, and to implement improvements.  Programs must be reviewed at least once every ten years under University Academic Planning Council (UAPC) policy, Board of Regent policy, and federal financial aid regulations. Program review oversight is coordinated by the director of Academic Planning and Institutional Research (APIR) on behalf of the provost.  The dean holds primary responsibly for initiating the program review and for seeing that the program review is carried out. The program faculty have responsibility for the self-study and for assuring the quality of the student experience.  The director of APIR asks the deans to provide an annual update on program review activity in their school/college.  This information is used for reports to the UAPC, to the Board of Regents, meets a requirement of institutional accreditation.  APIR and other units provide resources to aid in program review. 

49. Currently, most of the graduate programs are applied, especially those at the MA level, which is appropriate. Only a limited portion of the students choose an academic career path. Given that there is some consideration towards reforming the MA program, there are a number of possible options to be considered.

Objectives and Quality 50. The objectives of the program are to enable students to become qualified sociological practitioners, to be able to independently carry out sociological and marketing research. For some of the best graduates of the program and those with the inclination, they can go onto careers in academia with continued graduate work in Russia, Europe, or the United States. There seems to be a tension between those students in the MA program who wish to earn an applied degree and then go onto work in survey research, marketing, or government agencies doing applied sociological work and those who wish to pursue an academic career which involves teaching and research. The courses that each track pursues could be somewhat different, though there is overlap. In some cases, students in the more applied MA programs have little interest in some of the more theoretical sociological courses. In rethinking or restructuring the graduate program, the School might want to consider dividing students between more applied and academic tracks early on. There will certainly be cases where students start the program with the intention of obtaining a PhD but for a variety of reasons, opt to earn an MA instead and this is acceptable. At present, the academic job market in Russia for sociologists is rather small, though the HSE certainly could play a leading role in training qualified academic sociologists.

51. “Quality” in terms of education and output of students is measured by student learning outcomes and the placement of its graduates. The overall objectives of the program are to be among the leading sociology programs in the country by training students in various analytical and practical areas in sociology. To compete internationally, nearly all students at MA and even the BA program are conversant in English. Masters and PhD students develop and carry out research projects, which have relevance internationally, collaborate with colleagues abroad, and publish in leading international sociological journals.

52. The job placement of graduates over the past five years is nearly universal for those who sought employment upon completing their degrees. This even includes the period of the Russian and global economic recession of the late 2000s. This points to the high quality of the graduate programs as well as to the strong links between the School and the main employers of the graduate students so that the curriculum can be catered to best meet employers’ needs. The graduates are also remunerated at the levels appropriate for sociology profession in Russia.

Admissions and Student Quality53. Admissions are based on undergraduate performance and scores on entrance exams. Currently, about 55 percent of undergrad BAs in Sociology from the HSE go on to obtain

an MA. According to faculty and Assistant Dean of the SoS, they are much better prepared than students from other universities.

54. Graduate students are supported by a large number of internships, research grants provided by faculty research funds, and stipends of fellowships from various sources. Support is distributed on competitive basis. There are also other forms of state aid available based on special needs for different categories of people.

55. There are a number of other institutions in Russia and abroad with which the School of Sociology competes for graduate students, including 85 other programs in Russia. The main other competitor in Russia is the School of Sociology at Moscow State University, Peoples’ Friendship University, and the European University in St. Petersburg. However, none of these other programs are close in size of their graduate programs and research activities. The program also claims it has the methodological rigor that none of the above schools can provide. Given the newness of the discipline of sociology in Russia, the HSE SoS could play a leading role in the development of a cadre of academic teaching sociologists.

56. Success is the quality of its graduate students, all of whom get placed in good positions upon graduation. Nearly all of the students are engaged in research thus learning important practical skills.

Student Engagement57. Many of the best graduates in the SoS PhD program get faculty appointments at SoS and other schools and, according to the interviewed alumni who teach sociology, they experienced difficulties in teaching methodologies and pedagogy. At present, there seem to be limited opportunities for students to obtain instruction in teaching, for example, Teaching Assistantships (TAs). This is an area in which the SoS should seriously consider expanding if it wishes to expand the PhD programs and assist in the training of a significant cadre of academic sociologists. Done properly, Teaching Assistantships involve considerable oversight on the part of faculty members over the TAs, especially at the beginning in helping them to design syllabi, prepare and deliver lectures, construct exams, and provide evaluation of students.

58. At the graduate level, there is a lot of flexibility in terms of courses taken. This involves considerable individual mentoring. One of the major components of the program is an individual research project which is overseen by the faculty in survey design and implementation. All MA students are required to write a Master’s thesis in order to graduate. The process of selecting a topic, carrying out the research, and writing the thesis is closely overseen by one or more faculty members.

SoS Service to HSE59. The bulk of courses taught by the SoS faculty are catered to students in the program and there is a rather strict sequence of prerequisites and an order in which the courses should be taken. Basic sociology is also a mandatory course for all non-sociology majors.

60. There are various professional sociology clubs run by the SoS faculty and graduate students that the students can take part in which help to boost professional competence as well to develop an esprit de corps. There are national contests for the best dissertation within Sociology in which HSE students do quite well. It seems as if faculty involvement in both social and academic clubs is quite extensive.

Teaching and Learning Recommendations SoS has high quality faculty; however, the student/faculty ratio, although

appreciated by students, is not cost effective, and the programs would benefit from selecting only the best-qualified teachers and researchers.

Selection of the foreign faculty should be driven by their scholarly achievement rather than their mere availability.

The faculty are already well connected internationally and there are a few foreign faculty on SoS staff. It is important to utilize these connections to tap into sources of foreign funding for theoretical, applied, and comparative sociological research.

Establishing a summer program to bring reputable visiting professors from abroad to SoS for a week to ten days to teach intensive ‘Master classes’ on specific topics will be both cost-effective and efficient step for improving school’s reputation and building its own high-level cadre.

There should be a healthy balance between HSE-produced faculty, those invited from other institutions and international faculty.

Pursuing options for teaching release time and graduate research assistants during publication preparation may prove useful. It is important to consider the GRA (Graduate Research Assistantships) and URAs (Undergraduate Research Assistantships) to further link the research and teaching missions of the School. Using HSE resources to award the best and brightest students tuition waivers and a stipend to work with select faculty research enhances research resources while generating exceptional learning opportunities.

It is important to invest heavily in students: the best and brightest will learn what they need to know if adequately funded and exposed to global standards and expectations.

It is critically important to articulate a clear set of core competencies in research as well as teaching, which avoids reliance upon specific task completion (whether a set number of courses or a set number of publications). Instead, metrics devoted to process mastery and expertise could benefit both the instructional and research mission.

Given the vast expertise in the faculty and its leading role in sociological education in Russia, perhaps Russian-specific texts should be compiled by the faculty for use in some of the most popular or commonly taught core courses. In

recent years, members of the faculty have written a number of textbooks for use in some of the less-commonly taught areas.

Thought should be given to reducing the teaching load on junior faculty in order that they are given time to build up a research portfolio and apply for sufficient grant funding to support their research.

Given the applied nature of the program and the strong links with employers, the portion of adjunct teachers who work full time in research, marketing, or other firms should continue.

Student grading should be revisited, especially components’ weights (e.g., attendance and class participation); at the same time, methods of student assessment are clear, transparent and fair.

Given the newness of the discipline of sociology in Russia, the HSE SoS could play a leading role in the development of a cadre of academic teaching sociologists.

At present, there seem to be limited opportunities for students to obtain instruction in teaching, so-called Teaching Assistantships (TAs). This is an area in which the SoS should seriously consider expanding if it wishes to expand the PhD programs and assist in the training of a significant cadre of academic sociologists.

RESEARCH

61. Enhancing the research profile of the Higher School of Economics’ School of Sociology provides a viable and effective means of augmenting the international reputation and rankings of the university as a whole. Additionally, strengthening the research profile of the faculty will solidify and advance the positive valuation of HSE Sociology degrees (at the BA and MA level) within the Russian Federation. Building upon existing areas of strength in economic sociology, social policy, and methodology while integrating HSE areas of excellence in demography and data collection/archiving into their core research profile will improve the standing of the School of Sociology. Leveraging existing resources and skills, this unit could also seek beneficial expansion into emerging and cutting edge themes within Sociology; comparative and international research, mobility and generational change and urban sociology. These thematic changes should be complemented by new structural developments including a deepening of peer review participation and processes, shifting research incentives to the development and support of promising projects, placing a stronger emphasis on acquiring external research funding, and perhaps a faculty-wide focus on two or three central themes for research excellence across all sections. The extensive and highly detailed self-assessment completed by the School of Sociology documents a high level of commitment, wide-ranging expertise and a clear focus on excellence. The recommendations for research development are based upon insights from our site visit (and self-study), and a thorough review of research materials, staff CVs and HSE publications.

Existing Research Strengths62. Each of the existing core research areas within the School of Sociology (economic sociology, social theory/social policy and methodology) display promising areas of individual research strength. Presently they represent three distinct units, each pursuing their own strategies in terms of research and publication. Individual researchers have been quite prolific within each of these three units, and there is ample evidence of participation in international conferences and utilization of extended trips to European and North American universities to build research networks and develop projects. Three journals of note (Sociological Review, Sots 4-M, and Economic Sociology) are currently housed within the SoS, which also supports a variety of in-house print and on-line publications (newsletters, working papers, edited collections, etc.). Professor Nikita Pokrovsky is a member of the Executive Committee and Publications Committee of the International Association of Sociologists. Along with other staff active in international professional organizations, this type of engagement raises the research profile of Sociology at HSE.

63. We suggest institutionalizing increased communication and cooperation across the units within the School of Sociology in order to exploit valuable possibilities for continued high profile research projects, maximize the efficient utilization of human and financial resources and streamline degree structures and course schedules. Centralizing administrative functions can lessen the current administrative burden, decrease operating costs, and most importantly free faculty time for research publication. Unit administration falls on the shoulders of some of the most productive researchers, hindering research portfolio expansion. Removing these hindrances can increase research productivity.

64. The research strengths of the Faculty could be further enhanced by building stronger ties with existing HSE programs in Demography (led by Professor Vishnevsky) and the growing core of excellence in social science data collection and archiving (led by Larissa Kosova5 (Joint Economic and Social Data Archive, JESDA) and Paulina Kozyreva/Mikhail Kosolapov (Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, RLMS6)). Enhanced ties with the program in Demography could deepen core methodological course offerings, encourage research in the area of social demography, improve student recruitment at the MA level and generate valuable scholarly publication and archiving possibilities linked to the DEMOSCOPE web site.7 Generating an on-line archive of data enables NSE to join the ranks of the Inter-University Consortium for Social and Political Research, the Council of European Social Science Data Archives and other globally noted social science data repositories,8 providing an opportunity to archive the important data collection efforts by HSE staff and a useful collection of high quality surveys for secondary data analysis and longitudinal monitoring. Linking the School of Sociology can benefit the Demography program by increasing potential trainees and research 5 http://www.hse.ru/en/org/persons/506113 6 http://www.hse.ru/en/rlms/ 7 http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2013/0569/index.php This weekly journal is, at present, aimed at a “dialog between scientists and society”, rather than formal academic publication. 8 Further details on ICPSR can be found at www.icpsr.umich.edu. For CESSDA please see http://www.cessda.org/

visibility, while linking to data collection and archiving efforts can generate wider national and international recognition to these efforts. Using existing HSE resources to provide an accessible archive of social, demographic and survey data on the Russian Federation would provide a valuable research “branding” opportunity for the School of Sociology by internationalizing their identity as the leading location for sociological research (and data) in the Russian Federation.

65. Members of the School of Sociology enjoy travel and conference support which increases networking and raises the profile of HSE. There is support for in-house publishing venues, internal sources of research funds and possibilities for conference funding (aside from the annual HSE conference). With University budgets under stress elsewhere, the internal funding opportunities at HSE are impressive. The reviewers encourage the Faculty to prioritize research funding for projects capable of securing additional external funding, either from foundations, international organizations, or the RF’s Basic Science competitions. External funding is often employed as an international indicator of research strength. Using University resources to leverage external funding applications would enhance both resources and prestige. Additionally, shifting the utilization of research funding and incentives from data collection or article publication towards support during the critical time of data analysis and publication development can increase support effectiveness and enhance research quality. Pursuing options for teaching release time and graduate research assistants during publication preparation may prove useful.

Research Opportunities for Undergraduates66. There are significant research opportunities for undergrads in the SoS including an annual summer school in Kostroma where different types of ethnographic and sociological studies are carried out. There are efforts to link the research programs of the faculty with teaching and research opportunities for undergraduates. There are two laboratories, the Laboratory for Economic Sociology and the Laboratory for Comparative Sociological Research. There are also numerous internship opportunities available to students at some of the main employers of School of Sociology students.

67. There is a student conference every June where teams of three to four students present the results of a research project that they have spent the year conducting. This is a requirement for students in their fourth year of study, where they are engaged in all facets of survey design. There is continual monitoring at all stages. A research workshop is one of the most important parts of the BA program.

68. Each student is required to write a senior thesis. The topics seem to run the gamut of what sociologists investigate and go beyond just marketing and consumer behavior.

Promising Areas for Prioritization69. The breadth and depth of scholarship developed since the inception of HSE is impressive, particularly within Sociology. The present research portfolio is nothing if not ambitious, spanning the majority of recognized sub-disciplines within Sociology and

incorporating both qualitative and quantitative approaches. As the Faculty seeks to increase its international research reputation prioritizing two to four thematic areas for development and specialization provides the most efficient use of resources and the highest probability of short to mid-term payoff. While all top departments/schools have extremely strong cores in theory and method, they all tend to focus the majority of their efforts within select themes, or areas of excellence:

Princeton University (ranked #1 in the U.S.A. in 2013) – Sociology of Culture; Economic Sociology.University of California-Berkeley (ranked #1 in the U.S.A. in 2013) – Historical Sociology; Sex and Gender; Sociology of Culture.University of Wisconsin-Madison (ranked #1 in the U.S.A. in 2013) – Social Stratification; Sex and Gender; Sociology of Population; Economic Sociology.Stanford University (ranked #4 in the U.S.A. in 2013) – Social Psychology; Economic Sociology; Social Stratification.Oxford University (ranked #1 in Europe) – Comparative Sociology; Crime, Violence and Governance.

← London School of Economics (ranked #2 in Europe) - Economies, Risk and Technology; Urban Change, Space and Connection; Human Rights, Violence and Injustice; Politics, States and Movements.

← University of Toronto (ranked #1 in Canada) – Immigration and Ethnicity; Health and Mental Health, Networks and Community.McGill University (ranked #2 in Canada) – Family Transformations; Sex; Social Stratification.

70. To effectively increase future research productivity and visibility it is suggested to implement targeted investments within three broad thematic areas; international research, generational change and urban sociology. These themes provide the opportunity for research across the units within the School of Sociology and the opportunity to strengthen expertise and research productivity on cutting edge topics within Sociology. Of course, the thematic focus may well be best left to staff consensus. In addition to advocating thematic areas for priority funding and investment, it would be helpful to have a series of structural/administrative changes and alterations in staff incentives to enhance excellence and further develop of the research reputation of Sociology at HSE.

71. The current focus of the vast majority of HSE research focuses on the Russian Federation. The vast structural and attitudinal changes experienced in Russia over the past three decades make this focus both clearly logical and theoretically useful. Moving forward, bolstering the number of research projects focused on theoretically engaged comparative research will improve research visibility and opportunities for international publication. More international research can deepen insights into the Russia case through careful analytical comparison and encourage rigorous methodological approaches such as adoption of advanced statistical modeling, as mentioned by recent HSE Visiting Professor Ronald Inglehart. Moreover, given its core of theoretical and methodological expertise, the School of Sociology can utilize comparative and international research to draw upon a larger pool of prospective students, particularly at the MA and Ph.D. levels. Given the demographic realities facing higher education in many countries, including Russia, attracting international students is important. International students raise the profile of the HSE, afford the enhancement of global research and employment networks and can provide all students with an engaging, diverse and exciting learning environment.

Broadening the geographic coverage of the research portfolio can serve to widen the prospective market for students.

72. Sociology at HSE occupies an extremely promising location for innovative research in the area of urban sociology. Moscow provides HSE sociologists with unique opportunities to study integration processes, segregation, isolation and identity construction within a leading global mega city. The precipitous nature of change within Moscow provides a nature laboratory for insights into critically important areas of Sociology, hastening back to the rise to prominence of the “Chicago School” of Sociology in the last century. Several schools have previously leveraged their easy access to urban “social laboratories” into becoming highly ranked Sociology programs. The reviewers offer for the consideration of the HSE staff the Detroit Area Studies projects at the University of Michigan and the Research Masters in Urban Studies program at the University of Amsterdam as possible models9. Many projects and courses within the SoS incorporate Moscow as a data collection site or object of study. Building upon this base can enable the School to more fully exploit their uniquely advantageous and important location.

Mobility and Generational Change73. The areas of mobility and generational change are central to current theoretical and empirical debates within Sociology. These areas also provide a promising avenue for the integration of research efforts across Faculty units and between HSE programs in Demography and SEDA. Insights from the Russian Federation have much to add to current comparative approaches to mobility, whether physical and economic, and are linked to the research agendas of the unit on Economic Sociology (Professor Radaev), the program on Demography, research on entrepreneurship (Professor Cheporenko), the creation of urban technology centers and work examining socially marginalized (Professor Yarskaya-Smirnova). They continue issues raised in the 2012 conference, “Do Sociological Theories meet Economic Realities?” hosted by the HSE. Mobility (the opportunity to maximize “life chances”) is an inherently longitudinal phenomenon, inviting the incorporation of generational change and demanding longitudinal analyses on issues such as migration, employment, returns to educational investments and changing family structures. Efforts in these areas could be informed by closer dialog with existing data from the RLMS or repeated cross sectional investigations using data from JESDA. Given the integrative possibilities and the applied and theoretical utility of research in this area, it is well worth prioritizing.

74. To facilitate a stronger focus on thematic areas for excellence (those listed above, or others as selected by the Faculty staff) the reviewers suggest the consideration of structural changes including a deepening of peer review participation and processes, placing a stronger emphasis on mid to long term research outputs and impacts and stronger coordination of research measures and metrics across all sections.

9 For background on the Detroit Area Study, please see http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/51439/00000007.pdf?sequence=1 For the University of Amsterdam, please see http://gsss.uva.nl/programmes/english-masters/english-master-s-programmes/english-master-s-programmes/content/folder/sociology-urban-sociology/urban-sociology.html

Deepening the Peer Review Process75. Presently the School of Sociology boasts three journals, access to an 18 topic list of HSE working paper series, a Basic Research series, an in-house publishing house for books and edited volumes and student oriented publications such as ESFORUM. Generally, HSE has been very active in posting research papers to electronic repositories such as SSRN, but their ranking in terms of the number of papers posted is far higher than the frequency of downloads.10 In raising the research profile of the School of Sociology, HSE would benefit from a more extensive pre-publication review process particularly in their three core journals and Basic Research working paper series. Fewer, well-publicized and high quality publications would raise the international visibility and prestige of the School. Efforts to expand the indexing of the three major journals of the SoS (Sociological Review, Economic Sociology and Sots 4-M) will contribute to this process, and are deserving of full support. Journal descriptions at present do not clearly outline the process of peer review, rejection rates, expected turn-around time (to publication) or basic measures such as impact factors. While quality is difficult to measure, such indicators would invite clearer international comparisons and ideally enhance journal reputation. The Sociology Basic Research working paper series does not presently include peer review.11 While the editors of the Sociology series, Ponarin and Mayorova, are quite qualified, a more rigorous review process (including external reviewers) should be considered. As the HSE seeks to rise in international rankings an intensive, rather than extensive, approach to publishing will be most effective.

Research Output, Impact and Evaluations76. The large number of research projects undertaken and numerous forms of publication reflect impressive research activity within the School of Sociology. Moving forward, the reviewers suggest the consideration of some additional metrics of research output and quality, in keeping with the intensive development of world-class research model discussed above. A review of publications and journals points to a significant number of data collection projects resulting in only one or two publications or reports. Data collection is a significant investment of expertise, time and financial resources, and it would be important to encourage researchers to consider formally archiving research data to enable secondary analyses. Moreover, the assessment of project impact should include information on data downloads and the number of secondary users. Relatedly, more emphasis on citations to publish work and peer reviewed publications rather than the number of pieces written will assist in recognizing high impact research.

77. The HSE has engaged in an ambitious and valuable process of external review and journal rankings in social sciences in partnership with the New School of Economics.12 Research reports and papers (in Russian and a few in English) have been sent out for assessment to western scholars, who are asked to provide feedback on publication quality

10 http://www.hse.ru/en/news/63390464.html 11 http://www.hse.ru/data/2013/09/04/1277162458/Scheme%20-%20submitting%20a%20WP%20for%20publication.pdf 12 These efforts in Sociology have been coordinated by Professor Theodore Gerber of the University of Wisconsin.

and publication venues. Moreover, last fall an assessment of journal articles was completed with the goals of generating a ranking schema for Russian social science journals. It was not clear from the self-assessment whether the results of these projects were incorporated into Faculty assessment processes or staff evaluations. The reviewers mention these specific projects only to illustrate the need to coordinate across assessment projects and to maintain clear records of all forms of review and assessment, be they related to teaching, research or graduate placement to judge trajectories of improvement and to refine and improve metrics and measures.

Synergies between Research and Instructional Agendas78. The inclusion of graduate students in research and the strong emphasis on undergraduate hands on training generates an impressive level of synergy between research and teaching. The focus on data collection and applied studies within the School’s research portfolio enables students to gain valuable experience immediately suitable to the marketing job market. The reviewers recommend caution on the overemphasis on collection over analysis and writing in both research and training. Efforts to build on writing skills, such as publication seminars should be continued for junior staff and graduate students (Prof. Andrey Kozhanov) or an increased focus on data analysis and write-up within the practicum for undergraduates deserve full support. A stronger School-wide focus on shared research themes may also serve to tie course offerings more directly to broad central areas within Sociology. At present, there are many specialized topic offerings, most linked to themes of research projects. Inviting staff to link their research to broader themes can encourage the integration of their research and teaching into larger more general theories within Sociology.

79. The SoS will greatly benefit from instituting the GRA (Graduate Research Assistantships) and URAs (Undergraduate Research Assistantships) to further link the research and teaching missions of the Faculty. A large percentage of students are currently employed outside the University in placements that may or may not reinforce their academic work. Using HSE resources to award the best and brightest students tuition waivers and a stipend to work with select faculty research enhances research resources while generating exceptional learning opportunities.

80. As discussed above, it is necessary to articulate a clear set of core competencies in research as well as teaching, which avoids reliance upon specific task completion (whether a set number of courses or a set number of publications). Instead, metrics devoted to process mastery and expertise could benefit both the instructional and research mission.

81. To further continue the output of high quality researchers, the reviewers recommend shifting training and research investments towards the development and maintenance of core competencies in design, data collection/archiving, comprehensive analysis and indexed, peer reviewed publications.

82. To increase inter- and between institutional cooperation, it is recommended to develop integrative activities across units within the SoS and establish closer programmatic ties to the HSE program in Demography, Russia Longitudinal Monitoring survey (RLMS), and Joint Economy and Sociology Data Archive (JESDA). For SoS to boost its research reputation, it would be highly beneficial to exploit potential thematic centers for research excellence, such as comparative research, mobility and generational change and urban sociology, reconsider the metrics and measures used to indicate research productivity and integrate/compare across forms of assessment findings and highlight and clarify the peer review nature of academic journals housed within the School of Sociology. To further motivate faculty and students to conduct high quality research, the reviewers recommend to direct funds towards the enhancement of research for publication through release time from teaching and the use of graduate and or undergraduate research assistantships. Finally, it is highly recommended to prioritize research funding for projects capable of securing additional external funding.

Research Recommendations To effectively increase future research productivity and visibility, it is suggested

to institute targeted investments within three broad thematic areas; international research, generational change and urban sociology. These themes provide the opportunity for research across the units within the School of Sociology and the opportunity to strengthen expertise and research productivity on cutting edge topics within Sociology.

Develop integrative activities across units within the SoS and establish closer programmatic ties to the HSE program in Demography, Russia Longitudinal Monitoring survey (RLMS), and Joint Economy and Sociology Data Archive (JESDA).

Exploit potential thematic centers for research excellence, such as comparative research, mobility and generational change and urban sociology.

Reconsider the metrics and measures used to indicate research productivity and integrate/compare across forms of assessment findings.

Highlight and clarify the peer review nature of academic journals housed within the School of Sociology.

Direct funds towards the enhancement of research for publication through release time from teaching and the use of graduate and or undergraduate research assistantships.

Prioritize research funding for projects capable of securing additional external funding.

Shift training and research investments towards the development and maintenance of core competencies in design, data collection/archiving, comprehensive analysis and indexed, peer reviewed publications.

The comparative advantages of HSE SoS is its strengths in data analysis, analysis of social institutions and demography, focus on English language training, and applied courses. It should work to strengthen these areas and not try to train students in all areas. It should use its role as the catalyst for sociological education and professional sociology to diversify across other sociology programs in the

country where each builds on its own comparative advantages within sub-disciplines of the field.

Broadening the geographic coverage of the research portfolio can serve to widen the prospective market for students. Many projects and courses within the SoS incorporate Moscow as a data collection site or object of study. Building upon this base can enable the SoS to more fully exploit their uniquely advantageous and important location.

To facilitate a stronger focus on thematic areas for excellence (those listed above, or others as selected by the Faculty staff) it is suggested to deepen peer review participation and processes, placing a stronger emphasis on mid to long term research outputs and impacts and stronger coordination of research measures and metrics across all sections.

Data collection is a significant investment of expertise, time and financial resources, and researchers should consider formally archiving research data to enable secondary analyses. Moreover, the assessment of project impact should include information on data downloads and the number of secondary users. Relatedly, more emphasis on citations to published work and peer reviewed publications rather than the number of pieces written will assist in recognizing high impact research.

Governance and Administration83. The SoS consists of four departments; each of which works independently and cooperates with each other as well as with other departments of the university; in particular with the School of Mathematics and School of Economics. SoS faculty teach sociology as a required course at all other HSE schools.

84. The SoS does not have a formal board of external or internal advisors; however, thanks to the strong involvement of the top employers in the country in SoS curriculum design, research and teaching the school is currently at the leading edge of sociology education in Russia. Three employer-sponsored departments contribute to school’s quality and reputation.

85. Governance should facilitate decision-making and appropriate delegation of accountability and responsibility within and outside the school. This would ensure that the varying interests of stakeholders are appropriately balanced; that decisions are made in a rational, informed and transparent fashion; and that those decisions contribute to the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. The governance norms at SoS as well as at NRU HSE have been mostly top-down. Formally, there is a Board of Trustees, a “Scientific Council”, and Advisory Boards; at the same time most power at the SoS belongs to the Dean, who is appointed by the President with no fixed term of service. Dean Nechiporenko is an excellent manager and prolific scholar; however, he is expected to make all important school-level decisions unilaterally without any significant input from the department chairs, faculty or students. Department chairs at SoS bear responsibility for interdepartmental governance and planning, personnel hiring, faculty evaluation and promotion; however, they do not have any influence on the development

of their budget or curriculum. Faculty participation in SoS governance is quite limited, especially in personnel and budgetary issues.

86. Each SoS department works out its own modes of operation based on department chair’s vision and Dean’s mandate. There are some shared perceptions of departmental goals among. Agreement about goals and cooperation in their implementation are achieved through regular department meetings and continuing discussion among the members of the department. Departmental processes for making decisions and resolving disagreements vary, and no one procedure could possibly cover the wide range of cases that may arise. Some matters are left to the discretion of the chair, whereas others, are resolved through consultation, consensus, or majority vote.

87. From interviews with faculty, the reviewers understand that chairs seek the views of all their colleagues, in decisions regarding such curricular matters and the content of courses required for the major, especially in multi-sectional courses.

88. Consultation of this sort does not necessarily result in total agreement among a group of colleagues, but frank and full discussion, especially where there are important disagreements, surely enhances the overall sense of involvement in department policies and of responsibility for their implementation.

89. Student government at HSE and SoS exists in the form of Student Councils but their role and decision-making capability is not clear yet. Students are frequently polled and their opinion is always seriously considered; however they should be formally involved in curricular, budgetary of personnel decision-making.

Administration and Governance Recommendations Faculty should have a much bigger role in most of academic issues including

personnel and budgetary issues; the SoS should engage into discussion and implementation of shared governance model.

Just as department members are expected to assist the chair in carrying forward the activities of the department, so chairs are expected to seek the views of all their colleagues, in decisions regarding such curricular matters as the department's requirements for the major and the content of courses required for the major, especially in multi-sectional courses.

Students are frequently polled and their opinion is always seriously considered; however they should be formally involved in curricular, budgetary of personnel decision-making.

Senior administrator teaching is not practiced at most universities in the west; however, it is viewed as normal at the HSE, including the SoS. Maybe not controversial at present, it might create conflicting situations in the future, that is why the division of administration and teaching might be necessary.

Conclusion

Overall, the recommended changes and improvements are quite feasible and not hard to implement; another review would be useful in the next seven-ten years; however, continuous monitoring and mid-term reporting on the progress in the interim will be helpful.