Cooperation with Chinese Universities
In the end of November, several staff members of the Higher School of Economics took a trip to China. Over these two weeks they were meeting with Chinese colleagues and discussed the prospects of scientific and academic cooperation. As the head of the SELS, Daniel Alexandrov was establishing partnership relations not just for the University on the whole, but also for our Laboratory, and during his meetings he was discussing prospects for joint research projects in the field of education.
In the end of November, staff members of the Higher School of Economics and the Ural Federal University took a joint trip to China. From the St. Petersburg branch of the Higher School of Economics, the delegation was represented by S. Kadochnikov (the Head of the St. Petersburg branch of HSE), D. Aleksandrov (Deputy Director), Yu. Vasilyeva (Head of the Academic Services Department) and S. Kokovin (Senior Researcher).The UFU was represented by M. Khomyakov; he has a good experience of cooperation with Chinese universities and assist the HSE representatives to establish connections with new partners abroad. Over these two weeks they were meeting with Chinese colleagues and discussed the prospects of scientific and academic cooperation.
As the head of the SELS, Daniel Alexandrov was establishing partnership relations not just for the University on the whole, but also for our Laboratory, and during his meetings he was discussing prospects for joint research projects in the field of education with colleagues from the University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Fudan University in Shanghai.
Hong Kong
The first lively discussion of research prospects and topics took place even before the arrival of all members of our delegation. Daniel Alexandrov met with Professor Baohua Yu from the Education University of Hong Kong. She was especially interested in the studies of our Laboratory on social networks of students and educational migration. In her turn, Baohua Yu shared the results of her studies on adaptation of foreign students. As she explained, there are three groups of students in the universities of Hong Kong: the local students from Hong Kong, students from the mainland China, and foreign students from Europe, America, and Australia. According to observations during her research with colleagues, the students from the mainland China experience greater problems with adaptation, due to their obsession with career and academic success. Professor Alexandrov also discussed with Baohua Yu and Kevin Downing a possibility of conducting joint projects on studying foreign students both in Russia and China, including exchange of research data for potential comparative analysis in the future. Also at City University of Hong Kong Professor Alexandrov met with the Head of the Department of Public Policy, Professor Ray Forrest, whose sociological studies are focused on urban research. It is possible that we might be able to conduct joint comparative projects not just in the education studies but also in studies of urban communities. Professor Ray Forrester may be able to come to St. Petersburg next year.
Shanghai
In Shanghai, the HSE delegation had a meeting with members of the staff of Fudan University, which is one of the best universities in China. Professor Alexandrov met with our Chinese colleagues, Professors from the School of Social Development and Public Policy and the School of International Relations and Public Affairs. They were extremely interested in studies on Internet research and big data analysis conducted by the HSE sociologists. Two new acquaintances at the Department of Social Sciences deserve a special mention.Professor Ronngui Huang studied online communities of apartment owners in Shanghai using a Chinese social network Weibo. This research was a part of his PhD thesis completed at City University of Hong Kong, where he was also attending lectures of Ray Forrester. This was especially interesting, because one of the research projects of our Laboratory concerns online communication between residents of apartment blocks. These days Ronngui Huang still continues working on Internet research, although in a different field. Together with his colleagues, he works on classification of various types of arguments that are present in public online discussions. It’s quite possible that we shall be able to do a comparative research projects in this area.Professor Li Yu from Shanghai University conducts research in the area of social stratification and social networks. The goal of his current research is to build a model of stratification of Chinese society by studying ego networks. The Chinese social networks have been changing, in particular, under the influence of new legislative acts. One of the most recent laws specifically prohibited any informal and personal contacts, such as dinners at restaurants, between the officials of the Communist Party of China and business representatives. Professor Li Yu expects to build a true picture of connections within the Chinese society using the data of the Chinese General Survey, which were collected before this act came into force.
At meetings with the heads of these Schools, an agreement was reached on exchange of students and on organizing joint seminars. Our Chinese colleagues especially underlined the importance of such promising areas as social informatics and data science for social sciences, and they are open to co-operation in these areas.By Ksenia Antoshko