On Campus

Marina Merkucheva came to HSE University-St Petersburg as an exchange student. Her educational path is different from the majority of international students. Several years ago, Marina enrolled in the National Autonomous University of Mexico and moved from a small village next to Kirov to Mexico City. But in 2023, she decided to come back to Russia to study under the student exchange programme and became a student of the School of Art and Design at HSE University-St Petersburg. In the interview, she talks about the choice of university, explains how education in Russia and Mexico is different and shares her impressions of studying at HSE University campus in St Petersburg.

HSE University-St Petersburg and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) have opened a mirror laboratory in the sphere of social entrepreneurship. The opening ceremony of the Russian part of this laboratory took place in the framework of the International Partners' Days which gathered delegations from 23 foreign universities.

HSE SPB Day has been held at Sevkabel Port in the open air. HSE students were congratulated on the beginning of the academic year by the trustees, faculty deans, and the rousing HSE Dance Club. The first-years had an initiation ceremony, participated in activities from student clubs, and danced to popular songs on the Gulf of Finland. They received well wishes from the professors, representatives of large companies and, of course, student organisations. Find out how the first-years spent the day and what they remember most about the event.

HSE University continues to develop its international relations with the best Asian universities. At the request of Thammasat University (Thailand), a special short-term educational programme in ‘Russian Language and Culture’ has been created at the HSE St Petersburg International Office.

The university experience isn’t just about studying and getting a degree. University years are full of opportunities and wonderful impressions, all of which you can experience at HSE University-St Petersburg firsthand. Sometimes it can be hard for international students to find information about certain events or groups due to the language barrier or a lack of experience with Russian social media apps and websites. To help you navigate all the extracurricular activities available on our campus, we decided to highlight some interesting clubs which are happy to welcome international students.

This year, HSE University-St Petersburg's traditional HSE SPB Day event returned in an offline format. It was held on September 11 in the Sevkabel Port creative space. Students, lecturers, the administration and partners of the campus met by the Gulf of Finland to celebrate the brightest holiday of the autumn, which symbolised the beginning of the academic year and an initiation ceremony for first-year students.

On August 29, in the building on Kantemirovskaya street, there was the meeting with international students of Bachelor's and Master's programmes. The event welcomed 60 English- and Russian-speaking students. During the meeting, they got to know each other, explored all the corners of the building, and learnt about the peculiarities of studying at HSE University. We will tell you about how the pre-holiday event went.

After a long break, HSE-St Petersburg has hosted Cultures Day—an event that unites cultures from all over the world under the same roof. Visitors could forget about deadlines for a day and instead focus on films, friendly conversations, dancing and tasty treats.

A delegation headed by Anna Tyshetskaya, Director of HSE University-St Petersburg, has visited the leading universities of the Republic of Uzbekistan. During the working visit, agreements were reached on broad educational and scientific international cooperation in a number of areas. The first step towards formalising the partnership was cooperation within a consortium and the Centre for Russian Education, which was launched on April 28 at Samarkand State University. The next face-to-face meeting between the parties will take place in June during HSE Partner Week in Moscow.

In the first weeks of October, HSE international students embarked on two exciting adventures. We gathered together on a boat tour along the picturesque St Petersburg’s canals and made a day trip to explore the medieval architecture of Veliky Novgorod. Here’s a quick recap of the outings.