HERB 2(16) English in Russian Universities: Mind the Gap

This issue addresses the problems of integrating faculty and students into the global educational and research environment.

Many Russian universities are now challenged to increase publications in English, launch international projects, offer EMI programs, and facilitate academic mobility of students and academics. However, one of the impeding factors that still prevent many universities from making a break-through in internationalization is insufficient skills of academic and research writing in English among academics. The challenges are mainly rooted in the peripheral role of academic writing in Russian university curricula: not all Russian universities offer it as a discipline yet. Another important issue is cultural differences in academic writing conventions in English and Russian.

The authors of this issue offer multiple-aspect opinions about current challenges and present examples of best local practices, and various strategies that help to deal with the students’ and academics’ language problems. The authors analyze the role of writing centers as an instrument of internationalization, share the results of collaborative projects, and voice an urgent need for retraining teachers of English as mediators of the process.

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Higher Education in Russia and Beyond (HERB) is a quarterly informational journal published by National Research University Higher School of Economics since 2014. HERB is intended to highlight the transformation process of higher education institutions in Russia and the counties of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The journal seeks to present multiple-aspect opinions about current challenges and trends of regional higher education and give examples of the best local practices. We envisage our audience as a wider international community of scholars and professionals in the field of higher education all over the world. The project is implemented as part of cooperation agreement between Higher School of Economics and Boston College Center of International Higher Education.