Student Engagement Cultures in Russian Student Representation: Party-Goers, Pragmatists and Citizens
Abstract
The aim of this research is to explore the main models of student engagement in university self-government in Russia, to understand and categorize what drives the students’ participation in these institutions. The main content of the paper is based on a multi-stage coding and thematic analysis of 72 interviews conducted in the autumn of 2022 with student leaders of various Russian universities. The analysis results allow us to highlight three main student cultures of participation in representation bodies: the basic one is characterized by a predominant focus on personal socialization and individual development, the pragmatic one emphasizes the importance of financial and career incentives, while the civic one includes an orientation towards social recognition, helping others, and addressing public issues. The results provide valuable information for developing strategies to enhance the efficacy of working with different groups of students in Russian student representation, both at the institutional university level and at the regional or national level.
Downloads
References
Almond G.A., Verba S. (1963) The Civic Culture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400874569
Altbach P.G. (2007) Student Politics: Activism and Culture. International Handbook of Higher Education (eds J.J.F. Forest, P.G. Altbach), Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 329–345. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4012-2_17
Antipyev K.A. (2015) Content of Student Government at National Research University. PNRPU Sociology and Economics Bulletin, no 3, pp. 35–39 (In Russian).
Barsova D.A., Puchkov V.I. (2021) Comparative Analysis of the Involvement of Junior and Senior Students in Social Activities. Proceedings of the VIII All-Russian Forum "Professionally Oriented Volunteering: Actual Problems and Prospects of Development" (Kursk, 2021, April 9), pp. 84–92 (In Russian).
Bazeley P. (2013) Qualitative Data Analysis: Practical Strategies. London: SAGE.
Boland J.A. (2005). Student Participation in Shared Governance: A Means of Advancing Democratic Values? Tertiary Education and Management, vol. 11, no 3, pp. 199–217. https://doi.org/10.1080/13583883.2005.9967147
Brooks R., Byford K., Sela, K. (2015a) Inequalities in Students’ Union Leadership: the Role of Social Networks. Journal of Youth Studies, vol. 18, no 9, pp. 1204–1218. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2015.1039971
Brooks R., Byford K., Sela K. (2015b) The Changing Role of Students’ Unions Within Contemporary Higher Education. Journal of Education Policy, vol. 30, no 2, pp. 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2014.924562
Bryman A. (2016) Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University.
Chernikova E.G. (2014) The State of Development of Student Government in the University (on the Materials of Sociological Research). Herald SUrSHPU, no 4, pp. 165–176. (In Russian).
Chichil' N.S., Golovina D.D., Kravchenko A.V. (2018) The Analysis of Student Government within Activity of Student Council. Forum molodykh uchyonykh, vol. 28, no 12, pp. 540–547 (In Russian).
Chirikov I. (2016) Do Russian Research Universities Have a Secret Mission? A Response to Forrat. Post-Soviet Affairs, vol. 32, no 4, pp. 338–344. https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2015.1083160
Chirikov I., Gruzdev I. (2014) Back in the USSR: Path Dependence Effects in Student Representation in Russia. Studies in Higher Education, vol. 39, no 3, pp. 455–469. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2014.896181
Clark B.R., Trow M. (1960) Determinants of College Student Subculture. Berkeley, CA: Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of California (Berkeley).
Efimov D. (2024) Legacy, Bureaucracy, and Meritocracy of Leviathan: Student Representation in Post-Soviet Russia. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Student Politics and Representation in Higher Education (ed. M. Klemenčič), London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 531–549. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350376007
Efimov D.B. (2022) Student Representation in University Governance: Factors of Involvement. Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes, no 2, pp. 140–167 (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2022.2.1757
Efimov D.B. (2021) The Structure and Activities of Student Representative Bodies in Modern Russian Universities. Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, no 4, pp. 74–96 (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2021-4-74-96
Efimov D.B. (2020) Research of Student Representation Bodies in Universities: Current State, Problems and Prospects. University Management: Practice and Analysis, vol. 24, no 3, pp. 105–121 (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.15826/umpa.2020.03.029
Gorbachyova I.M., Pavlyutenkova O.A., Maruseva I.S. (2017) Involvement of Students in Trade Union Activity as a Factor in the Formation of Social Activity of Students in Higher Educational Institutions. Vestnik RIAT, no 2, pp. 34–40 (In Russian).
Kaufman L., Rousseeuw P.J. (2009) Finding Groups in Data: An Introduction to Cluster Analysis. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Klemenčič M. & Park B.Y. (2018). Student Politics: Between Representation and Activism. In B. Cantwell, H. Coates & R. King (Eds.), Handbook on the Politics of Higher Education (pp. 468–486). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786435026.00037
Klemenčič M. (2020) Student Politics. The International Encyclopedia of Higher Education Systems and Institutions (eds P. Teixeira, J. Shin), Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 2609–2614. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8905-9_618
Klemenčič M. (2014) Student Power in a Global Perspective and Contemporary Trends in Student Organising. Studies in Higher Education, vol. 39, no 3, pp. 396–411. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2014.896177
Kupriyanchik T.V. (2015) Communicative Competence of the Future Teacher in the Context of Student Government. Izvestiya Gomel'skogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta imeni F. Skoriny, vol. 92, no 5, pp. 24–30 (In Russian).
Luescher-Mamashela T.M. (2013). Student Representation in University Decision Making: Good Reasons, a New Lens? Studies in Higher Education, vol. 38, no 10, pp. 1442–1456. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.625496
Novikov V.G. (2010) Student's Self-Management by Eyes of Students-Agrarian Sphere: The Sociological Analysis. Social and Humanitarian Knowledge, no 3, pp. 143–153 (In Russian).
Polukhina E.V. (ed.) (2023) Practices for Analyzing of the Qualitative Data in the Social Sciences. Moscow: HSE (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.17323/978-5-7598-2542-5
Popov V.R. (2009) Student Self-Governance: An Attempt at a Comparative Socio-Historical Analysis. Voprosy obrazobaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, no 2, pp. 211–223 (In Russian).
Popova G.A. (2007) Student Self-Governance: System and Diagnosis. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii / Higher Education in Russia, no 9, pp. 141–144.
Raaper R. (2020) Constructing Political Subjectivity: The Perspective of Sabbatical Officers from English Students’ Unions. Higher Education, vol. 79, no 1, pp. 141–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00400-9
Rowlands J. (2017) Academic Governance in the Contemporary University. Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2688-1
Shcheglova I.A. (2019) Can Student Engagement in Extracurricular Activities Facilitate the Development of Their Soft Skills? Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes, no 6, pp. 111–121 (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2019.6.07
Shcheglova I.A., Koreshnikova Ju.N., Parshina O.A. (2019) The Role of Engagement in the Development of Critical Thinking in Undergraduates. Voprosy obrazobaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, no 1, pp. 264–289 (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2019-1-264-289
Stegnij V.N. (2016) Students’ View on the Student Self-Government. Vlast’, no 4, pp. 169–175 (In Russian).
Wilder D.H., Midkiff R.M., Dunkerly R.E., Skelton R.C. (1996) Higher Educational Impact on Student Objectives: Longitudinal Change in Clark—Trow “Educational Philosophies”. Research in Higher Education, vol. 37, pp. 179–198. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01730118
.jpg){kind=small}
