University Resources for Schools and Students in a Lockdown: A Russian Research University Responds to the Pandemic

• In Event: How Universities Partnered With K–12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chile, Mexico, Russia, Qatar, and the United States

Abstract

The study in the paper presents a case of National Research University Higher School of Economics, which implemented an array of research, and introduced practices that aimed at supporting general educational agents during the pandemic. The key objective of the paper is to present a full in-depth description of the actions which universities could take to mitigate negative consequences of the pandemic in general education.
The work is based on the theoretical conception of the universities so-called Third mission [Compagnucci, Spigarelli, 2020]. It is claimed that one of the roles for universities is to contribute to economic and social development of communities. Moreover, one of the responsibilities for university is the participation in regional development of territories [Arbo & Benneworth, 2007; Pinheiro, Jones, Benneworth, 2012].
To describe the case of HSE authors have used a variety of data sources. They included interviews with university lecturers and other pedagogical and administrative staff; results of research papers and analytical notes for the situation in general education during the pandemic; results of the surveys which were implemented by the different units of university during this period; analysis of the university resources; information from the universities’ site.
In the results section main lessons from the actions during pandemic are highlighted. Some of the most important takeaways is to: pay attention to digital transformation and creation of online learning environment with the help of the universities not only for students but also for the teachers and administrative staff of partner schools; expand the network of partner schools especially in the regions if it is possible for university; put in the first place during the pandemic universities’ potential to implement and conduct scientific research, which could provide an insight on the situation in the community and possible ways to compensate negative effects of the challenges; exchange the information with other organizations and universities, create a platform for discussion of the results of scientific research with other experts to provide fast response to the issues; increase the audience for the discussion of scientific results, creating model for mass communication and media activity.
The key significance of the paper is its contribution to the development of the understanding of the university role in community and its mission. Authors discuss not only theoretical perspectives of the third mission conception, but also show possible ways for organizations to make the implementation of this role real and effective. Another contribution was made to the theory of the knowledge management as authors illustrated, how the production of scientific knowledge could be organized during the pandemic and other situations of uncertainty or global challenges. Results also offer the vision of universities’ social responsibility and stakeholder management to achieve it.

Author

• Sergei Kosaretski, Higher School of Economics