At the beginning of the meeting Rosovsky answered several questions regarding the possibility of strategic development at the EUSP. The first was how the EUSP should position itself in comparison with other universities; in particular, how could it remain a competitive, small university near such classical giants as Moscow State University and St. Petersburg University?
According to Rosovsky, there is great institutional diversity in higher education in the United States. 21 million people are students: half of them are in master’s or post-graduate programs, and 1.5 million are in undergraduate programs. 70% of all students study at state universities. Moreover, universities differ significantly in quality: some are elite and outstanding and some are ordinary, providing good but not outstanding education such as, for example, the majority of universities in Massachusetts (with the exception of MIT).
The demand for schools and universities is itself very diverse. In the U.S., this demand is satisfied by more than 3,000 colleges and universities. In this sense, the European University offers something very unusual for Russian students, which must be spoken of clearly and thoughtfully. For international students, the primary attraction is St. Petersburg. Another important aspect is that students in EUSP get more attention than they would get at Moscow State University, simply because of the university’s size. This is especially important for students from America, where their interests and needs are taken into account.
The next question concerned a sustainable development strategy.
As Rosovsky noted, the majority of elite American universities do not make money very well. Harvard has several foundations that assist with forming the budget, but the Baccalaureate is not well suited for this role.
The economic model of elite American universities is changing. The most expensive undergraduate tuition is sixty thousand dollars; the average is about twenty three thousand a year. Unlike Russia and China, the U.S. government invests less in research and education. This is due partly to the fact that financial growth is unlikely to repeat the 2000-2008 period.
Possibilities for financing universities will be an important topic in the next three to five years. We don’t know how to attract more funds, but practice shows that the more money you are willing to offer students, the higher quality these students will be. This is the strategy of elite private universities and colleges in the United States.
Regarding the optimal size of the university, this depends on what the university wants to be and what it will do. At Harvard there are around 6,600 undergraduate students, and one professor for every seven students. As rector Oleg Kharkhordin noted, there is one professor for every four students at the EUSP and European University Institute in Florence (EUI), although a full comparison is not possible. In American universities the teaching staff for undergraduate and graduate students is one and the same.
Boris Kolonitskii, first vice-rector of the EUSP, asked how, in light of fierce competition on the international market, EUSP could position itself as a good step in the career of a promising American student.
According to Rosovsky, EUSP has a sense of collegiality and responsibility, which is very important to American students. This affects its attractiveness and greatly increases its chances in comparison to Russian state universities. These same students understand how global and international the world has become. Nevertheless, Russian studies occupy less of a place in international academia than ever before. Because of this it’s important to speak about what is most interesting in Russia, such as the contemporary transformations of Russian society.
The following question concerned how small universities could compete with larger ones in terms of research, publications, and students in order to achieve international rankings. As Rosovsky replied, one of the privileges of renowned, elite universities is to not think about ratings. Ratings by themselves are a bad measure of effectiveness. Realistically speaking, it would be extremely difficult for the European University to achieve international ranking due to its size. Because of this, it’s important to consider how best to take advantage of this small size.
Artemy Magun, dean of the Department of Political Science and Sociology, asked directly what to do so that Harvard researchers recruited EUSP graduates, regularly read EUSP publications and sent their students to study at EUSP. According to Rosovsky, the first thing is to develop the reputation of the European University graduates among American postdocs. As for publications, this depends directly on the uniqueness and interest of the articles published. Finally, Slavic studies and related disciplines can become the starting point in a dialogue concerning student exchange programs.
This is an area of fierce debate, answered Rosovsky. Harvard classes are conducted either through lectures or in small group seminars. The lecture format is definitely changing, and the teaching staff is concerned—students sometimes even buy shoes online during class. Student attention spans have become shorter, so the average lecture lasts 50 minutes. One possible solution is the introduction of the “flipped classroom.” Instead of listening to a lecture, students watch it online and then attend a seminar where they discuss course materials. This is a test for some professors who are used to reading lectures, as working with small groups requires some preparation.
From this also stems the issue of insufficient space. In many universities there are enough auditoriums designated for small group seminars.
Svetlana Lavrova, Adviser to the Rector on Financial Issues, was connected in from New York. She asked two questions that had been posed there at a conference on higher education. The first was whether the global trend in rapidly reducing administrative expenses would occur in universities. The second was whether, in the future, rich universities would become richer and more influential and the less rich ones would become poorer.
To the first question, Rosovsky answered that the golden age of higher education is far from complete. Thanks to the large number of scientific discoveries and inventions, as well as changing values and beliefs in human society, higher education is extremely important to any country’s development. In the United States, nearly every professor and scholar believes that administrative costs can be optimized and the number of administrators reduced. At the same time, however, there are currently insufficient numbers of administrators who could help with this.
Regarding the second question, Rosovsky noted that the trend is not pronounced. However, colleges and universities that are not at the top of rankings but charge the same tuition as elite universities will fight with one another.
Concluding the meeting, Rosovsky spoke briefly about Harvard’s policy regarding Asian countries. A large number of American universities currently have branches in Asia, especially in China. Harvard made a strategic decision not to expand in this direction, as a surprisingly large number of American students never leave the U.S. Nevertheless, law students must past at least one international training course.
The final chord of the meeting was whether Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) could offer small, provincial universities the chance for survival. In Rosovsky’s opinion, this issue remains unclear, as there are still no stable monetization systems in place for these courses.
Aleksey Knorre
