The editorial staff of HSE University-St Petersburg are looking forward to the new academic year as much as students and professors are. We are sure that it will be very eventful: there are exciting research projects, new educational partnerships and interesting scientific conferences waiting for HSE students. To mark the holiday, we have talked to deans, academic supervisors of educational programmes and research units about their expectations for the next year. 

The International Competition of Short Videos about Cities 'WOWMOSCOW' organised by the Moscow City Tourism Committee and HSE Art and Design School, announced the results. On August 24 in the framework of the festival and forum 'Territory of the Future. Moscow 2030', the small amphitheatre of the park 'Zaryadye'  featured the premiere of the film 'Soul of Moscow' by Takha Audyarahma from Indonesia. The idea of this film was named the best in the final of the competition.

One life is too short to get to know HSE University-St Petersburg thoroughly. But to get acquainted with it well, one HSE SPB Day will be enough. On September 13, we invite the first-years and everyone interested to 'Sevkabel Port' for a kaleidoscope of pleasant emotions and impressions. We will show you how eventful and interesting university years will be and introduce you to the professors, business partners and other active students. Find out what other surprises we have prepared in the article.

Marina Beliaeva, a fourth-year student of the Bachelor's programme 'Asian and African Studies', spent a whole year at Fudan University. Over this time, she completed language courses, gathered the material for future researches and became a host at student events. Find out in the interview with Marina how to get into a university from the top 40 of the university ranking QS, what it is like to study Chinese economics in Chinese and what to do to look at the city from the tallest skyscraper in Asia.

Before the start of the academic year, we keep introducing you to the professors of HSE University-St Petersburg. Ekaterina Kalemeneva supervises the Department of History and teaches Bachelor's and Master's students. In her research, she focuses on historical urban studies, Soviet urban development and the Thaw era. We talked to the Candidate of Historical Sciences about the projects of modernist cities in the Arctic and the changes entailed by the construction of the Khrushchev-Era houses.

Danil Hazigaliev completed the first year of studies in the programme 'International Bachelor’s in Business and Economics'. Thanks to extracurricular events, he mastered the profession of photographer, made new friends, and got an award for the best supporting role. This year, the student will become a curator for the freshmen. We talked to him about the most vivid moments of his extracurricular life.