Russian university developing system for measuring students’ ‘traditional values’

Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE) will develop a methodology for assessing and monitoring students’ attitudes toward “traditional spiritual and moral values,” Vedomosti reports. The newspaper says the university won a 10-million-ruble ($123,800) tender for the project in late July.

The client commissioning the methodology is the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth, and Tourism, which operates under Russia’s Sports Ministry.

The tender documentation notes that there is currently no systematic approach to measuring youth approval of “traditional values,” nor is there any mechanism for identifying “risks of destructive or illegal behavior based on an analysis of value orientations.” The new methodology is intended to fill this gap and contribute to “strengthening the spiritual and moral foundation of society,” according to the client.

HSE’s press service said the university is “actively studying value-related issues in general, and traditional spiritual and moral values in particular.” It added that the current plan is to develop a methodology for assessing the attitudes of students at sports universities, but it could later be “scaled up” for use across the Russian higher education system.

Under the tender, HSE is also expected to:

• Define criteria and give examples of the traditional values mentioned in Vladimir Putin’s 2022 decree on “preserving and strengthening traditional values,” so they can be explained to young people;
• Assess the effectiveness of the sports university’s “sociotechnical” methods for promoting these values;
• Test its methodology and prepare recommendations for information campaigns aimed at reinforcing traditional values among youth.

The project will be completed in two stages: the first is due by September 22, and the second will run from September 23 to November 22.