'Mirror Libraries' Successfully Passed the Expert Assessment

In early February, the Expert Council on assessing the results of Mirror Laboratories was held. The project, in partnership with Kazan Federal University (KFU), on the educational migration of students from small towns and villages, received high ratings and was extended for a third year. Here we share information about our future plans.

photos from researcher's archive

Year 2026 will be the final year of work on the project about the educational migration of students from small towns and villages. But the hope is — not the last fot the Mirror Laboratories themselves.

Over the past year, we have achieved impressive results:

— realised 3 project teams, involved 55 students;

— 3 students successfuly defended their theses on project themes;

— 2 our young resaerchers (Ekaterina Semenova, Ivanov Dmitrii) went to Kazan on an intership and exchanged experiences on youth studies with KFU students;

— Nadezda Nartova, Irina Lisovskaya took part in plenary session at the yearly International Congress of Sociologists of the Turkic World in Kazan;

— intern researchers Ivanov Dmitrii, Nina Skorokhodova presented reports on adaptation of non‑resident students and the role of the therapeutic university at the International Conference of Higher Education Researchers in Moscow;

— held 2 Soc UP seminars about educational migration, discussed the challenges of entering the university community for non-resident students and the model of a therapeutic university;

— Kazan collegues came to St. Petersburg; as a result of the meeting, a large‑scale exchange of experience was organized, including a guest lecture on complex fields by Albina Garifzyanova, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor at the Department of General and Ethnic Sociology at Kazan Federal University;

— Irina Lisovskaya and Albina Garifzyanova published an article in 'Monitoring of Public Opinion' journal '“You Feel Different, like an Outsider…": Non-Local Youth in a Big City in Search of Stability'.

And finally, we have completely covered the field! We collected 50 biographical interviews with students in St. Petersburg and Kazan, 23 expert interviews with specialists in the field of youth policy making, and studied 5 cases of student clubs at KFU and HSE University – St. Petersburg (a total of 26 interviews with club participants, organisers, and leaders, as well as 16 observations at meetings and events).

This year, the project has no less ambitious plans:

— We will publish two more articles. Ivanov Dmitrii submitted an article to the journal based on the results of an analysis of interviews with experts; Ekaterina Semenova is finishing an article about student associations at universities;

— We will develop a roadmap outlining how university services can help students adapt;

— We will offer recommendations on how to make the university therapeutic for non‑locals and vulnerable groups;

— And will also organise many meetings with colleagues from KFU.

 

Continue to follow our progress!