The Head of the SUSU Academic Writing Office Evgeniya Khabirova took part in an internship at the Academic Writing Centre at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow. The internship lasted for 2 weeks (February 17th through 29th, 2020) and was aimed at providing new professional skills in the development of academic literacy among university staff within the SUSU Academic Writing Office.
The internship coordinator was Svetlana Suchkova, Director of the HSE Academic Writing Centre, Candidate of Sciences (Philology), Associate Professor, coach of the British Council, and expert in the Cambridge English exams. Over the last few years, she was part of the editorial board of the international journal Asia TEFL, which is a Scopus-indexed journal; she is the author of textbooks and other publications on English for Academic Purposes (EAP), has organized master classes and participated in international linguistics and teaching conferences. Her professional interests also include public oration skills in English and improving language teaching methods.
During her internship, Evgeniya Khabirova learned about the organizational structure of the HSE Academic Writing Centre, the requirements set upon the staff, the performance indicators used at the Academic Writing Centre, and the means of achieving these indicators.
Besides her work with documents, the Head of the SUSU Academic Writing Office attended open consultations at the AWC. Certain events by the AWC were of special interest — a seminar by Yekaterina Redkina entitled “Integrating Sources into Academic Writing” and the educational diagnostics module “Finding Your Route to Research Writing”.
“I was impressed by the high quality of preparation of the presentations, the up-to-date content, practically-oriented approach, and the interactive format of their work,” noted Evgeniya Khabirova.
Using data obtained during her internship, Evgeniya Khabirova developed a road map for the development of the SUSU Academic Writing Office, a project for instructing staff on how to consult authors of scientific articles, and a project for academic English training events. An analysis of the work of the Higher School of Economics Academic Writing Centre allowed Evgeniya Khabirova to take into account the most important trends in the development of academic literacy of staff of the centre when developming the SUSU Academic Writing Office road map.
Despite the short length of the internship, it was very productive. Over this period, the Head of the SUSU Academic Writing Office spoke with several heads of HSE departments about the professional development of staff and on fostering publication activity. She also learned about the possible forms of cooperation between SUSU and HSE. During the internship, Evgeniya Khabirova attended a round table entitled “Questions of Ethics in Scientific Publications in Russian Legal Journals” and a lecture by Anna Kuleshova, “Ethics of Scientific Publications in Russia: Main Issues and Solutions”.
“I gained new, invaluable experience,” noted Evgeniya Khabirova. “I learned how the Centre manages to develop the academic competence of the staff of the Higher School of Economics. Serious work is being done: courses, trainings, seminars on academic writing. The staff takes care of every little detail. All the services are aimed at improving the academic literacy of authors: educational content, analysis of the effectiveness of services, face-to-face consultations, and resource base development. I left convinced that all this works successfully and brings excellent results! More and more new visitors come to the Centre, and those who have already once used its services come back. Articles are being published in top-tier journals! I am sincerely grateful to Svetlana Suchkova and her team for their warm welcome, willingness to share their knowledge, their friendliness, and the comfortable working environment. And above all – for the new push towards professional growth! I am returning to our Office with new ideas and plans!”
This material was published by a participant of the “Internship Program for Staff and Postgraduate Students of Russian Universities and Scientific Organizations at NRU HSE” at the Academic Writing Centre of HSE using information obtained during an internship.
Русский