The New University League brings together new-generation Russian universities created according to international standards. Founded by the European University at St. Petersburg, the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences, the New Economic School (NES), and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), the League is open to other Russian and international universities committed to pursue the best management practices, high educational standards, and world-class frontier research. The League aims to engage in long-term partnerships with innovative companies, public agencies, and private organizations.
The founders aspire to create a sustainable platform for educational innovations and novel educational formats to meet current global challenges at all levels of higher and professional education. The League’s immediate objectives include development of a one-year professional MSc program and participation in the nationwide PhD experiment. In addition, the League members intend to perform collaborative cross-disciplinary research at the intersection of technical, social and natural sciences and IT.
The rapidly changing technological environment and the profound uncertainty of the labor market call for educational experiments and quick management decisions. Small mobile universities are able to offer new individual and institutional development models as a complement to mass higher education, thus helping to create new interdisciplinary areas and perform experiments that would be too risky for large educational structures, —
says Vadim Volkov, Rector of the European University at St. Petersburg and Chairman of the League’s General Meeting of Members.
“The pandemic triggered global transformations which have affected education in many ways. Now the question is how universities should adapt to new challenges and realities. We build on our strengths and achievements in order to keep pace with the big changes. One of the targets on the League’s agenda is upgrading the educational standards with regard to the most gifted and motivated students by promoting individualized interdisciplinary programs. Also, we intend to enhance our multilateral network-based educational and research practices that can evolve into yet another growth point for the Russian higher education,” NES Rector Ruben Enikolopov comments.
“The objectives set by the League co-founders in economic, social and political sciences present an exciting challenge for Skoltech and break new ground in interdisciplinary collaboration. Our institute has developed top-level competencies in data analysis and AI, and we anticipate new opportunities for breakthrough research and joint educational projects and initiatives. Skoltech was tailored to international patterns and has no fear of experiments, so we are open to collaboration within the new New League in order to enhance educational standards and practices,” says Skoltech President and Full Member of RAS Alexander Kuleshov.
