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The student engagement framework, originally developed for the US educational system, has become increasingly recognised internationally as a means of fostering learning gains in higher education. Despite its recognition, some researchers raise a question about the applicability of this framework in other cultural contexts. Our research extends the existing literature on student engagement by filling the gap of knowledge about the cross-cultural applicability of the student engagement framework. Utilising multi-group structural equation modelling, this paper answers the question about the national differences in associations between student engagement dimensions and the development of generic skills. Data collected from 21 universities across the U.S.A., China, Japan, and Russia, were used. Relying on student engagement literature, four student engagement dimensions were constructed: (1) class engagement, (2) extra effort to meet course objectives or own learning tasks, (3) disengagement, and (4) collaborative learning. The findings support multi-group invariance of the associations between student engagement dimensions and the perceived gains in generic skills across all participating countries. Regardless of country specifics, the extra effort and collaborative learning significantly contribute to the development of generic skills while disengagement has a negative effect.

Despite university efforts to create honour codes and a culture of integrity, student academic dishonesty remains a widespread problem around the world. Previous theoretical and methodological approaches, which informed the development of measures for the prevention of dishonest behaviour, focus only on student justifications of academic misconduct as abnormal or deviant acts. However, understanding the arguments that both criticize and justify dishonesty at universities is crucial for developing an effective integrity policy. Based on Boltanski and Thevenot's theory, we develop and validate a questionnaire measuring the prevalence of students who draw on domestic, market and industrial orders of worth justifying or criticizing academic dishonesty. A total of 3,538 students from six Russian universities participated in the study. The results supported the applicability of the proposed model, demonstrating the validity and reliability of the instrument. The instrument can be utilized by universities for monitoring what order of worth prevails among students and developing honour codes and integrity policy.

Previous studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on higher education systems and student learning globally. However, despite this, many countries experienced an increase in doctoral enrolment in 2020, which has raised concerns about the quality of admission and the motivation of doctoral candidates during the pandemic. This article aims to explore this context by delving into statistics about Russian doctoral programmes, which saw a decline in enrolment from 2010 to 2019. We use data from a web survey of 1,895 students enrolled in doctoral programmes at Russian universities in 2020. The results suggest that the increase in enrolment came in tandem with a decrease in the quality of doctoral admission. More students with non-academic motivation and a lack of academic skills and attainment were admitted. This situation is likely to prompt completion rates to lower over the course of the next three to five years.

This study explored students' orientations towards student-university relationships and how they differ with regard to student characteristics and engagement. We developed an instrument measuring student orientations and utilised it in a survey of Russian undergraduates. Using latent class analysis, we identified the following types of Russian students' orientations: instructivists, consumerists, constructivists, and students with mixed orientations. As the results showed, the majority of our respondents have consumerist or mixed orientations that mostly mismatch with the actual models of student-university relationships at Russian universities. We also found that students with these orientations are less engaged than instructivists and constructivists. These findings demonstrate the importance of seeking an optimal match between diverse undergraduate orientations and the actual educational model, which fits national and institutional contexts.

This study investigates how gender inequality in engineering is reproduced in the discourses of Russian engineering undergraduates. The empirical data come from interviews with 22 women and 22 men enrolled in undergraduate engineering programs at six Russian universities. We employ discourse analysis to connect the student narratives about gender differences with participants' situated identities and the gender stereotypes in Russian society. The analysis demonstrates that gender inequality in engineering is reproduced by both faculty and students through communicating low expectations for women. Although the interviewees noticed a problem of gender discrimination in faculty treatment and relations among classmates, none of our participants openly acknowledged that this problem requires special attention or a solution by university administrators. Young women enrolled in engineering majors may take the position of ignoring or refusing to consider discrimination as a negative phenomenon to cope with negative emotions.

This paper explores the associations between math-gender stereotypes and two dimensions of student engagement -- class engagement and disengagement -- among Russian engineering students. The data collected in three Russian universities (n = 2,074) were utilised. Structural equation modelling was employed to test hypotheses about relationships between key variables and their variations for male and female subsamples. We revealed that the students' attribution of math-gender stereotypes to faculty slightly decreased class engagement and increased disengagement for both male and female students. Therefore, we hypothesise that male students can be more overconfident about their future performance in exams on math-related subjects because of a better reputation in the eyes of instructors, which can result in less engagement and, as a consequence, lower academic outcomes. These findings demonstrate the high importance of faculty in encouraging engineering student engagement and providing a bias-free learning environment.

Patterns of students' time-use can provide important insights into student learning and development in higher education. Previous empirical studies conducted in developed countries do not allow us to generalize findings on time-use patterns for students from countries with different national systems. This paper aims to identify national differences in undergraduate patterns of time-use and their links with the individual characteristics of students. The sample (N = 166,919) was derived from highly selective universities from three countries: the USA, China, and Russia. Significant differences in undergraduate time-use patterns in three countries were observed. In addition, significant interaction effects between national variables and individual characteristics were found. The results allow us to conclude that there are national differences in the power and direction of links between time-use patterns and individual characteristics.

Student academic dishonesty is a pervasive problem for universities all over the world. The development of innovative practices and interventions for decreasing dishonest behaviour requires understanding factors influencing academic dishonesty. Previous research showed that personal, environmental, and situational factors affect dishonest behaviour at a university. The set of factors and the strength of their influence can differ across countries. There is a lack of research on factors affecting student dishonesty in Russia. A sample of 15,159 undergraduate students from eight Russian highly selective universities was surveyed to understand what factors influence their decision to engage in dishonest behaviour. Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was employed to explain dishonest behaviour among students. The explained variance in the engagement in academic dishonesty equals 48% in the model for the full sample, and reaches 69% in the model for one of the considered institutions. The major findings of this study were: (1) subjective norms appeared to dominate as the strongest predictor of academic dishonesty across the Russian universities; (2) perceived behavioural control, appeared to be positively related to the dishonest behaviour. In the majority of universities, this factor was found to be insignificant. This finding indicates a specific feature of Russian students' an ethical decision-making process discussed in the last part of the paper.

This article aims to answer three questions concerning (1) the prevalence of the mismatch between student expectations and real university life, (2) factors influencing this mismatch, and (3) the effect of the expectation-reality mismatch on academic performance during the first year of study at university. The results of this study suggest that a large share of first-year students overestimate their future academic experience. However, this mismatch cannot be predicted by personal background characteristics and motivation at the beginning of study. According to the findings, three mismatch characteristics affect students' academic outcomes: (1) a mismatch between expected and real grades, (2) a mismatch between expected and real levels of interest in studying, and (3) a mismatch between expected and real time for extracurricular activities at university.