Public Policy Beyond the Borders

From October 1^st to 9^th 2011, the autumn school, ‘Contemporary public policy and governance in Russia and the European Union’, took place at the HSE. The school was organized by the all-university Department of Public Policy and the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt, Germany.

The participants of the school were 12 students each partner university. During the 6 days of intensive studies they agreed that public policy has some general characteristics – be it in Russia or in Europe, in Ghana or Egypt.

‘The school was a real challenge for HSE students, since in addition to lectures, case discussions, visits to civil organizations and mastering a 300-page reader, no one cancelled their usual classes in the Department of Public Policy master’s programme’ Alexander Tretyakov, 1^st year master’s student said, sharing his impressions of the school. ‘In the morning we studied at the autumn school classes and in the evening we had our usual classes. But nobody complained: on the contrary, this gave us more energy and drive, since for us, HSE students, it was a unique chance to immerse ourselves in the context of open international education in our specialization. The focus of the school was the concept of Governance: it is one of the main ideas for the analysis and evaluation of public policy in different countries and under different political regimes.

‘I would like to compare this school with our Baltic Practice school’ said Nina Belyaeva, Head of the School and of the HSE Department of Public Policy. ‘Baltic Practice is a multidisciplinary school which combines educational technologies with research work. As a result, the participants get some new knowledge which comes out of their participation – it means that the students also produce a research result. This school was more traditional, educational one. It was a course on the comparison of governance problems in Russia and Europe. We discussed how the technologies of searching for general solutions to complex problems are developing in both Russia and the EU. And the educational task was to bring together professors from the two different schools to read a joint course. Here we had many experimental things, for example, discovering how close our understanding of the concept of governance is to that of our European colleagues.

According to feedback from the particpants, joint classes by teachers from the Higher School of Economics and the University of Erfurt turned out to be more than effective and allowed students to look at the concepts from a broader perspective. The geographical origin of the participants was also helpful: representatives from 14 countries came to the school. This means that not only the professors from the two department of public policy shared their ideas but also students from Oceania, Asia, Africa, America, Europe and Russia.

‘My country is very different from Russia’ said Marissa Diaz, a student from Mexico. ‘It’s very nice to go to another place in the world and see shared things. It was interesting to learn about the new system in Russia, for example, how the new generation sees it, and what they expect from it.’

Russia was not a specific sphere of interest for most of the guests, but the topic of public policy and governance turned out to be universal, and the practice of comparison through the example of Russia was not only interesting for all participants, but many of them made use of it for the development of their research topics.

I specialize in international relations and non-profit management’ said Sara Thakeb, a participant from Egypt. ‘And the human rights session really fits into what I want to do in the future, and such concepts as legitimacy, governance are part of my field. I study international relations, so this is very, very closely related, and it certainly doesn’t hurt to know more about the EU or the Russian Federation even if it’s not my field.’

In addition to classes, the programme included visits to the oldest human rights organization in Russia – the Moscow Helsinki Group, as well as the Sakharov Center, where the guests had the chance to learn more about the history of human rights in Russia.

‘I really enjoyed the lectures related to human rights and the visits to the gulag museum and the Helsinki foundation. I think the experiences that one remembers the most are those outside of the classroom, so perhaps other types of activities outside the classroom could be added to the program to make it even more enriching’ said Kathleen Leary, a school participant from the USA.

Student interaction was carefully organized at the school. For example, Russian and international students were put into pairs, and at  the end of the course made joint presentations with analysis of some real cases of governance and public policy from the point of view of global participation in them. Despite the fact that the school’s tasks were educational rather than research focused, as a result of the joint work some prospects for future cooperation emerged.

‘Judging from the students’ presentations, we went beyond mere educational boundaries and into the research sphere’ believes Nina Belyaeva. ‘Many international students after the school expressed their desire to be included in our research groups. For example, we were speaking about the Global Participation and Global Governance groups. The students from Ghana, Egypt and the U.S. mentioned in their presentations that it would be impossible to consider decision-making systems on a national level without considering global trends; and those students would be very interested in participating in the appropriate research group. I think this outcome is really promising.’

According to the school’s visiting participants, immersion in the reality of Russian life, turned out to be pretty challenging for them: for example, finding your way around the metro without knowing Russian the gloomy appearance of some Muscovites and the bad weather were not the best background for the school. Nevertheless, most of the school participants said that they would be keen to participate in some new joint projects, and they created the school’s blog on the internet to share their impressions of the classes at the HSE.

‘I am interested in learning more about the foreign policy of different countries. I think the best way to understand countries and their regimes is to know how their internal systems function and how they wish to relate to the world’ said Mark Anyorikeya, a school participant from Ghana. ‘I am interested in understanding global governance and also in learning about other countries by getting to know them personally. That’s why it would be great for me to participate in an exchange programme with the HSE.’