Transformation of Education: The Perspective of the "University Development" Laboratory
The Third Tomsk International Forum once again brought together key practitioners and researchers in education from Russia and invited international colleagues. The central theme of the forum was the renewal of the model of professionalization and career strategies for youth in university education practices.
A recurring motif of the event was the launch of a pilot project aimed at changing the role of universities in addressing national development challenges. Therefore, the forum included various thematic platforms for discussing this direction.
The Project Educational Laboratory "University Development" organized a seminar titled “Education, Migration, and Big Data: Using Digital Educational and Migration Traces of Youth to Facilitate the Accelerated Professionalization of Students” as part of the project “Mirror Laboratories: Big Data in Analyzing Educational Migration of Youth Based on Digital Traces.”
The head of the laboratory, Niyaz Gabdrakhmanov, served as the moderator of the seminar and presented a report that opened the discussion on the models, practices, and objectives of data collection by educational organizations.
Amina Guseynova and Pavel Serebrennikov presented a research project examining the relationship between migration, self-selection, and the level of engagement in local communities through the analysis of social media data and data from the Regional Migration and Employment Zone (РМЭЗ).
Ksenia Romanenko shared the findings of her research on students' educational choices and how these are influenced by the institutional conditions in which they are made.
Vladimir Krestinin discussed his experience in collecting data on university management teams by integrating generative artificial intelligence into the process, which significantly accelerated and scaled this phase of the research.
The forum also featured a project seminar from the Mirror Laboratory of Tomsk State University and the National Research University Higher School of Economics titled “Psychological Well-Being of Students in Russian Universities.” The team from the Institute of Education at HSE was represented by staff from the "University Development" Laboratory and the Center for Sociology of Higher Education.
Research interns from the laboratory also participated in the Symposium “Research Data for Solving Problems of Accelerated Professionalization.”
Ekaterina Maslova delivered a presentation on the institutional differentiation of career expectations among students from selective and non-selective universities in Russia;
Ilya Zakharov presented findings on the relationship between school Olympiads and dropout rates in selective universities;
Evgeny Zhiltsov showcased his work on individual and environmental factors affecting the performance of graduate students.
The presentations by our colleagues resonated well with the audience. Discussions and proposals for collaboration continued even after the event concluded.
The team of the Project Educational Laboratory "University Development" expresses gratitude to the organizers of the III Tomsk International Forum "Transformation of Education" for the high-quality organization of the event. We greatly appreciate the opportunity for fruitful collaboration with colleagues and interaction with the educational and cultural hubs of Tomsk!
