University Rankings Should Serve as a Compass for Prospective Students
University rankings are clearly evolving from serving as a means of evaluating institutions of higher education to being a tool that impacts university management. Larisa Taradina spoke about university rankings at the 4th International Conference ‘University Traditions: A Resource or a Burden’.
The Railway Will Help Solve Traffic Congestion
The only way to expand road networks in Russian cities is to make use of railroad corridors, declared Konstantin Trofimenko, Director of the HSE Centre for Urban Transportation Studies, addressing the first in the Infrastructure of the Future series of seminars.
Religion Affects the Way People Seek Employment
Religious beliefs affect the way people seek and choose jobs. Adepts of certain religions tend to rely on their skills, others on their good looks, while still others count on knowing the right people, suggests a study by Ekaterina Alexandrova and Elena Kalabina.
Modernisation Kills Social Norms
Russia is a country with one of the highest levels of anomie – breakdown in social norms. It arises from the rapid economic growth combined with a weak system of social controls that Russia has experienced in recent years, according to research by Christopher Swader and Leonid Kosals.
Elites Change but the Regime will Live on
Authoritarianism has a future in Russia. In the next two decades, the 1980s generation will start to join the higher echelons of Russian society. But the situation is such that the change of generation of the elites will have little effect on the transformation of the political regime. Or so the authors of research on 'The Russian elite in 2020' have concluded.
The Gap between Blacks and Whites Is Growing in the US
The 50-year anniversary of the march on Washington was celebrated recently in the US, but the famous ‘dream’ of its inspirer, Martin Luther King, is still a dream: over recent decades, the level of economic and social inequality between whites and African Americans has grown.
Limited Interest Rates on Loans failed to Help South Africa
The Russian Government is discussing a proposal on the administrative limitation of maximum interest rates on consumer loans. One of Russia’s partners in BRICS – South Africa – already has experience of such a solution. The HSE Center of Development published an analysis of this case in its ‘Banks: Statistics and Economics’ newsletter.
Anti-School Attitudes Depend on the Immediate Environment
A child’s attitude towards school is formed by his parents and classmates. And, according to a new study published in Voprosy Obrazovaniya (Education Issues) magazine, the type of school doesn’t have a significant influence on his or her view.
Sociology is becoming a civic movement
The annual conference of the American Sociological Association was in New York this year. Among the 6,000 specialists discussing the current state of social sciences and society were 18 academics from the HSE.
Attempts to Control Retail Are Futile
For a long time, retail in Russia developed without interference from government regulators, but the situation has changed dramatically in recent years. The state is now actively trying to control this sphere, but the effectiveness of such attempts is questionable, asserts Vadim Radaev in his recent paper.