News

The seemingly high rate of technological growth is illusory: the world is slowing down and will continue to do so long into the future. HSE scholars predict that the ‘technological singularity’ will occur in 2106 and that, contrary to what some expect, it will not mark the apotheosis of progress.  Here, Andrey Korotayev, Leading Research Fellow, Head of the HSE Laboratory for Monitoring the Risks of Socio-Political Destabilization and a co-author of this study tells IQ.HSE why global acceleration is now a thing of the past, prognosticators are unafraid of ‘black swans,’  and the coronavirus will not rewrite human history.

After a week off, HSE students returned to their online classes this week. HSE News spoke with instructors of the Vysokovsky Graduate School of Urbanism about what kinds of new strategies and approaches they are using in their online instruction.

Most Russians would like to have two children: a boy and a girl. The others fall between the two extremes of either wanting no children (at least for now) or planning to have three or more. Having a large family is often associated with affluence. The reasons for having another child are many, from wishing to strengthen the family bond and teach older children to care for younger siblings to hoping that the maternity subsidy may help the family improve their housing situation. A HSE demographer used data from a sample of 15,000 respondents to study reproductive attitudes in Russia.

Schoolchildren in many countries, including Russia, are now studying remotely. Russia’s first social impact project in education, in which over 5,000 students and 700 teachers from 27 schools of the Khangalassky District of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) are participating, is also transitioning to an online format. The transition will be overseen by the project creators—Project Office staff members of HSE’s Institute of Education.

From April 6–7, the HSE Centre of Development Institute conducted a special survey among professional forecasters on the Russian economy’s prospects for 2020-2021. The experts expect a decline this year due to the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices this year, but predict that the losses will be fully recouped in 2021.

The coronavirus pandemic is transforming modern society, reviving old social practices and formulas such as the Russian ‘flat-car-dacha’ principle, while opening new technological frontiers and creating new cultural skills. Professor Vitaly Kurennoy, Head of HSE’s School of Cultural Studies, discusses these issues in an op-ed for Izvestiia. Read the full translation of the article below.

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced universities to switch to online learning, which will probably foster the development of online higher education. HSE University researchers joined forces with their American colleagues to demonstrate that online learning at university can be as effective as traditional in-person education. Their research used the example of technology disciplines.

Elena Aisakova teaches Russian to students of International Preparatory Programmes. Her five groups have all transitioned to distance learning. HSE News Service has asked Elena and HSE's international students what it’s like to study Russian online as well as what tips they have to help others learn effectively while being on ‘opposite sides’ of the computer screen.