An aggressive low-achiever can be the most popular kid even in a class that’s highly motivated simply because teenagers admire his rugged machismo, while top-of-the-class pupils tend to be popular when their classmates study hard too. Daniil Alexandrov, Head of the Research Laboratory for Sociology in Education and Science at HSE St Petersburg and his colleagues, Chief Research Fellow Valeriya Ivanyushina and Junior Research Fellow Vera Titkova found this and more in their research

Hierarchical relationships and outdated methods of internal communication prevail in many Russian companies. Less common are participatory communication, collegiality, and a commitment to negotiation and conflict prevention, suggests the study 'Internal Communication and Internal Marketing as Tools for Advancing Corporate Mission and Strategy' conducted by the HSE’s Higher School of Marketing and Business Development

Family and school are losing their influence over children’s upbringing, and the gap is being filled by mass media. Bedtime stories are being replaced by cartoon series, the best of which are facilitating the development of children’s emotions. And, fantasy novels are satisfying teenagers’ cravings for action. Researchers Katerina Polivanova, Elena Sazonova, and Marta Shakarova have examined how contemporary culture is influencing children

The government-set objectives for the health care system for the next three to five years barely conform tothe fiscal policy set for that period. In his report, ‘The Russian Health Care System: Problems and Prospects for Development’, Sergey Shishkin, Academic Supervisor of the HSE Institute for Health Economics, analysed the opportunities to meet these objectives in the context of the institutional changes taking place in that industry

The parts of Russia which migrant workers from the CIS find most attractive are changing. The ‘map’ of migration flows depends on which way the investments are going. But at the same time, the general picture is unchanged: we don’t yet have an efficient system for gathering the foreign labour force we need. In an article in the HSE journal ‘Demoscope Weekly’, Olga Chudinovskikh, Mikhail Denisenko and Nikita Mkrtchyan explained their research findings

Socializing with A-grade classmates can improve students’ academic performance. However, students tend to socialise with A-graders only to get help, while they prefer to make friends with those whose academic performance is similar to their own. C-graders are often the most popular among students themselves. This article by Diliara Valeeva, Oleg Poldin, and Maria Yudkevich was first published in the HSE's Journal of Educational Studies

Russia’s regional centres are growing and improving their demographics by attracting active young people from the provinces – which, in contrast, are ageing and experiencing depopulation. This subject is the focus of an article by Nikita Mkrtchyan and Lilia Karachurina, first published in the HSE's Demoscope Weekly

Concerned about discipline and uniformity, teachers at Russian universities tend to squeeze out students perceived as not fitting in with the academic culture, suggests a study by Ivan Gruzdev, Elena Gorbunova, and Isak Frumin

It is a myth that civil society is underdeveloped in Russia – more than a third of Russians take part in solving problems in their communities, and 3% volunteer for some or other organization. Elena Petrenko, Assistant Professor at the HSE Faculty of Sociology presented her report 'The Russian Volunteer Movement, Its Actors and Environment' at the Tenth National Conference on Voluntary work

The reform of pedagogical education in Russia should include training teachers in various subjects simultaneously, creating career opportunities, and an algorithm for ‘mobilizing’ the best recent graduates. Anatoly Kasprzhak has studied the experience of teacher training modernization in France, Germany, USA, Great Britain, Finland, Singapore, and Japan

Every day, about one million residents of Moscow’s surrounding regions commute to work in the city. Remote districts are losing prospective labour resources, and the contrast between the quality of life in Moscow’s centre and its outskirts is growing increasingly more noticeable. The HSE online journal Demoscope Weekly analysed the commuting practices of Moscow region residents

Russians are well ahead of many other countries in terms of literacy and numeracy, but lag behind in computer skills, according to the OECD Survey of Adult Skills presented at the HSE on October 8, 2013