Student Highlight: Robert Higgins
MIAGE student, Robert Higgins, recently presented public policy research and findings on Ukraine's economic, social and foreign policies to newly appointed World Bank Director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.
The presentation addressed issues Ukraine faces in effective governmental reform with an end goal of democratic governance and rule of law as developed by the International Centre for Policy Studies (ICPS), with whom Robert has interned since September 2011. ICPS has found that effective governmental reform has been limited by the public's incomplete understanding of the reform process, an unreformed Soviet administrative system, a continued Soviet-era educational system, corrupt privatization practices, and incomplete separation of Executive branch functions as typical in democratic executive bodies. Furthermore, ICPS found that the influence of civil society on public policy in the Ukraine is thus far illusory.
Robert has also been published in the following two journals:
- G8 Business, a publication dedicated to providing authoritative opinions on policy relevant to the G8 Agenda.
- G20-B20 Summit Magazine. The article, "Information Communications Technology and Innovation: More than Technology and Patents," can be found on pages 78-79 of the G20-B20 Summit Magazine.