eSTARS 2020 Conference to Discuss Education in the Context of Global Digitalization

Jointly organized by HSE University and Coursera, the international eLearning Stakeholders and Researchers Summit (eSTARS 2020) will be held from December 1 – 2, 2020. It will be the third time the organizers bring together international stakeholders from governments, the academic community, busines, as well as researchers and experts to discuss the present and future of online education.

The conference will be opened by HSE Rector Yaroslav Kuzminov, Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda, and UNICA President Luciano Saso.

Over 100 industry experts and university representatives from Australia, the USA, Europe, and Asia will discuss the global digitalization of economics and education today; the future that awaits online learning; and the key points where universities and stakeholders should focus their efforts.

In 2017 and 2018, the eSTARS international conference was attended by 1,000 participants from 16 countries, including the USA, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Israel, India, Switzerland, and South Africa. The summit events attracted executives and experts from 56 universities in Russia and across the globe; representatives of businesses and the Russian Ministry of Education and Science; and renowned scholars and researchers. The summit organizers were HSE University and Coursera.

Speakers at the university session, which has been organized by HSE University and UNICA (the Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe), will talk about the price of the ‘new’ student mobility and accessibility of higher education. The discussion’s key topics are: the impact of the pandemic on teaching and learning organization at global universities; challenges faced by leading universities in Australia, Asia, Europe and Russia in 2020; and models for higher education transformation.

UNICA is a network of universities from the capitals of Europe, founded in 1990. Today, it includes 49 institutions of higher education from 37 European capitals and brings together 160,000 university employees and 1,900,000 students. HSE University and Lomonosov MSU represent Russia in UNICA.

Speakers of the university session include Sergey Roshchin, Vice-Rector, HSE University; Sorin Costreie, Vice-Rector for Public Relations and University Networks, University of Bucharest; Carmela Cales, Vice-Rector for Internationalization of Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Francisco Marmolejo, Education Advisor of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Health and Community Development; Yi Ren, Vice Rector, University of South Queensland (USQ); and Ronghuai Huang, Co-Dean of Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University and Director of National Engineering Center for Cyberlearning and Intelligent Technology.

During the ‘New Trajectories of Learning’ roundtable discussion, experts from Quacquarelli Symonds, Coursera, and HSE University will engage in a free discussion on the strategic issues of education’s digitalization. The speakers include: Nick LaRusso, Global Head of University Partnerships, Coursera; Eugenia Kulik, Director for eLearning, HSE University; Vasily M. Solodkov, Director of the HSE Banking Institute; Irina Ivashkovskaya, Tenured Professor, Head of the School of Finance, HSE University; Valentina Kuskova, Associate Professor, Head of the International Laboratory for Applied Network Analysis, HSE University; and Andrey Savchenko, Leading Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Algorithms and Technologies for Networks Analysis, HSE University.

The eSTARS Summit is going to be held online for the first time. The live broadcast will start on YouTube on December 1, at 10 am Moscow time in Russian and English.