The Mirror Laboratories have been extended for three years!
The HSE Center for Youth Studies and the KFU Laboratory of Sociological Research will continue to work together on the project "Educational migration of students from small towns and villages to megacities. Social inclusion as a way to increase sustainability: barriers, strategies, successful practices".
This time the researchers will focus on students from villages and small towns (population up to 100,000), on their migration trajectories and inclusion scenarios, their strategies for overcoming the difficulties associated with studying in a megalopolis. As part of the research, it is planned to collect not only interviews with students, but also expert interviews with employees of student services in Kazan and St. Petersburg, to study student autobiographies and cases of student organizations in St. Petersburg and Kazan. Using several methods will allow to take a closer look at the resources, barriers and successful strategies for the inclusion of regional youth.
The project head from the Center for Youth Studies Elena Omelchenko spoke about the plans and expected results of the new study.
In the previous project, we studied different trajectories of inclusion of nonresident students in St. Petersburg and Kazan, trying to identify their similarities and differences. We understand that the category "nonresident" is very heterogeneous. In a new three-year project, we decided to turn our attention to students from villages and small towns entering the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg and KFU in Kazan. At the same time, we are aware that there is a certain specificity, since, if we talk about KFU, then students come mainly from Tatarstan and nearby regions of the Volga region, with a bias even more towards the rural-village style of living. St. Petersburg HSE also has nonresident students from rural areas, but still, most likely, students from urban villages, small towns, or the Leningrad region will prevail. Since our project was focused not only on research but also on a certain development of practical recommendations for improving university services in particular, we think that the next step with an emphasis on rural youth and youth from small towns will help us refine these proposals and recommendations, help reduce the risks faced by visiting students, especially in such large cities as St. Petersburg and Kazan. We hope that this study will also help to increase the attention of administrators and university staff to the diversity of applicants.