Universities and the Academic Profession

Today universities exist in a rapidly changing environment, which puts more and more demands on them. It is explained by the changes on educational and other markets along with the changes on the country level. Universities have to struggle for the restricted financial and human resources. Changes in various indicators, such as quality of hired faculty, publication activity of faculty, university’s positions in different rankings, prospective graduates’ earnings, quality of matriculated students show how well universities do succeed in this struggle. 

Academic staff compose the core of any university. Thus, we pay particular attention to the changes in different aspects of professional activity of university faculty and to the changes in different scientific disciplines. Requirements on publication activity, introducing of effective contracts and changes in hiring policies of universities, changes in scientific journals’ policies and, finally, changing standards of scientific disciplines – all these changes are aimed at university faculty and make them adapt their professional strategies. 

We are interested in a wide range of questions: what administrative decisions may improve the functioning of universities; what measures can universities use in the struggle for higher positions in university rankings; should the faculty be engaged in university management and how do various management decisions may influence the productivity of separate faculty and whole universities? We are interested in the changing patterns of publication activity of faculty and in the changes of scientific disciplines. 

Current projects:

• Efficiency of government intervention, including evaluation of the “5-100” Project efficiency (Russian academic excellence initiative), of the productivity of the selected universities, as well as the evaluation of external effects of “5-100” Project on entire higher education system;

• Effects of inbreeding on the publication productivity of university faculty;

• Publication patterns in higher education research.

 
Selected Publications:

Horta H., Panova A. , Santos J., Yundevich M. The adaptation of academics to the Covid-19 crisis in terms of work time allocation // Plos One. 2022. Vol. 17. No. 8. Article e0273246.

Lovakov A., Chankseliani M., Panova A. Universities vs. Research Institutes? Overcoming the Soviet Legacy of Higher Education and Research // Scientometrics. 2022. Vol. 127. No. 11. P. 6293-6313.

 Lovakov A., Panova A. A., Sterligov I., Yudkevich M. M. Does government support of a few leading universities have a broader impact on the higher education system? Evaluation of the Russian University Excellence Initiative // Research Evaluation. 2021. Vol. 30. No. 3. P. 240-255.

Matveeva N., Sterligov I., Yudkevich M. M. The effect of Russian University Excellence Initiative on publications and collaboration patterns // Journal of Informetrics. 2021. Vol. 15. No. 1. Article 101110.

Schneijderberg, C., Götze, N., Jones, G. A., Bilyalov, D., Panova, A., Stephenson, G. K., Yudkevich, M. (2021). Does vertical University Stratification foster or hinder Academics’ Societal Engagement? Findings from Canada, Germany, Kazakhstan, and Russia. // Higher Education Policy. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-020-00219-5

Matveeva N., Sterligov I, Yudkevich M. (2021) The effect of Russian University Excellence Initiative on publications and collaboration patterns. // Journal of Informetrics, 15(1), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2020.101110

Lovakov A., Panova A., Sterligov I., Yudkevich M. (2021) Does government support of a few leading universities have a broader impact on the higher education system? Evaluation of the Russian University Excellence Initiative // Research Evaluation

Avdeev S.  International Collaboration in Higher Education Research: a Gravity Model Approach / NRU Higher School of Economics. Series EDU "Education". 2019. No. 54/EDU/2019. doi

Panova A.,  Yudkevich M., Litvinova L., Alipova O. Academic profession in knowledge society. Main results of the survey of faculty in 2017-2018 / NRU Higher School of Economics. Series WP10. 2019.

Lovakov A., Yudkevich M., Alipova O. Inbreds and non‐inbreds among Russian academics: Short‐term similarity and long‐term differences in productivity // Higher Education Quarterly. 2019. Vol. 73. No. 4. P. 445-455.

Yudkevich M., Balbachevsky E., Finkelstein M. J., Jayaram N., Jones G. A., Kehm B. M., Mao D., Musselin C., Scott P., Yan F., Yonezawa A. Professorial Pathways: Academic Careers in a Global Perspective. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019.

Yudkevich M.  Russia: Higher Education, between Survival and Innovation, in: Professorial Pathways: Academic Careers in a Global Perspective. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019.

 Matveeva N.,  Sterligov I. , Yudkevich M. M. The Russian University Excellence Initiative: Is It Really Excellence That Is Promoted? / NRU Higher School of Economics. Series EDU "Education". 2019. No. WP BRP 49/EDU/2019

Alipova O., Lovakov A. Academic inbreeding and publication activities of Russian faculty // Tertiary Education and Management. 2018. Vol. 24. No. 1. P. 66-82.

Yudkevich M. M., Kuskova V. V. International Academic Recruitment in a Turbulent Environment: The Case of the Higher School of Economics in Russia, in: International Faculty in Higher Education. Comparative Perspectives on Recruitment, Integration, and Impact / Ed. by M. M. Yudkevich, L. E. Rumbley, P. G. Altbach. Routledge, 2017. P. 196-220.

Yudkevich M. M.,  Altbach P. G.  International Faculty in 21st Century Universities: Themes and Variations, in: International Faculty in Higher Education. Comparative Perspectives on Recruitment, Integration, and Impact / Ed. by M. M. Yudkevich, L. E. Rumbley, P. G. Altbach. Routledge, 2017. P. 1-15.

Finkelstein M., Iglesias K., Panova A. A.,  Yudkevich M. M.  Future Prospects for Young Faculty Across the Academic World: A Global Comparison and Assessment, in: Young faculty in the 21st century: International Perspectives / Ed. by M. M. Yudkevich, P. G. Altbach, L. E. Rumbley. NY, Albany : State University of New York Press, 2015. Ch. 12. P. 321-350.

We use composite data from various sources: bibliometric data; university faculty survey data (Changing academic profession, Academic profession in the knowledge-based society, Monitoring of education markets and organizations, Monitoring of the Labor Market for Highly Qualified R&D Personnel) as well as official statistics and Monitoring of the Performance of Higher Education Institutions.

We are participating in several international projects studying academic profession (Academic profession in the Knowledge-based society https://lia.hse.ru/en/apiks, https://apiks.hse.ru/, Comparative study of academic salaries in 28 countries, https://lia.hse.ru/x_archive_projects_salaries, Tendencies and problems of doctoral programs in the world https://lia.hse.ru/en/docedu).