Partnerships
Key Corporate Partners
The links with corporate world are twofold.
Firstly, major corporations participate in different programme activities. There are guest lectures and master classes from Big 4 (PwC, EY, Deloitte, and KPMG), ACCA, ICAEW, VTB Bank, Freedom Finance and other corporate partners. Corporate partners also participate in Master's dissertations defense (half of the State Graduation Committee is made up of corporate representatives). In addition, there are projects where students solve problems of corporate partners, case competitions etc. The programme alumni who now work in corporations, are members of the Programme Board and thus take part in all key discussions on the programme content and learning process.
Secondly, there is an internship on the 2nd year of education. Usually students take an internship at the positions offered by corporate partners.
Since 2019, the companies have been deeply involved in the project activities of the students. It includes solving practical cases of the corporate partners by the students guided by a mentor from the company and a teacher from the programme. On the one hand, it allows identifying and selecting the most talented students for the internship or employment. On the other hand, it is an excellent opportunity to practice their skills in real business situations. Tele2, Selectel, Geropharm, L’Oreal, start-ups from the St. Petersburg Technopark, Gazprom Aero are among the most active providers of practical cases to the students. Multiple corporate partners like the Central Bank of Russia, PwC, and Gazprom review the MiF students’ Master dissertations. It gives the programme a relevant assessment of the quality of the students’ intellectual output.
The programme is certified by ACCA, so ACCA representatives regularly deliver lectures, master classes, provide with textbooks and cases, not only for students, but also for the programme faculty. The special “ACCA Ambassadors” programme was launced in 2016, with the participation of programme students.
HSE St Petersburg School of Economics and Management also has a special agreement with Technopark Saint Petersburg (St. Petersburg Science Park), a business incubator and accelerator, whose mentors lead projects and support the entrepreneurial initiatives of students. Within HSE St. Petersburg, the Centre of Innovation Entrepreneurship also supports students’ and alumni entrepreneurial intentions by organising competitions, meetings with investors, summer schools and special events (Iron Entrepreneur, TED days etc.).
Faculty take part in corporate training and consulting for the leading Russian companies, as Lenta, Sberbank, Ilim Group, Gazpromneft.Academic Partners
In March 2017, the HSE campuses in Moscow and St. Petersburg were admitted to QTEM, an international network of the world’s leading business schools. This means that every year the 20 best management and finance MA students from both campuses will benefit from a range of network member opportunities, and after they graduate from their programme at their home university, will receive a prestigious QTEM graduate certificate.
QTEM is a relatively young network of business schools that was founded in 2012 as a response to the international business’ need for managers able not only to develop strategies, but also to use analytical tools in strategic decision-making. QTEM stands for Quantitative Techniques for Economics and Management. The network’s aim is to train top-ranking professionals in business analytics.
QTEM includes business schools that have one or more appropriate MA programmes. They primarily include programmes with courses in quantitative analysis in economics and management. Though almost all the network’s business schools are part of the Financial Times ranking, QTEM also aims at entering the ranking as a separate entry.
The network brings together universities such as the Polytechnic University of Milan and Technical University of Munich (two of Europe’s best technical universities), Free University of Brussels, University of Amsterdam, HEC Lausanne, University of Lausanne, Zhejiang University (one of China’s top 5 universities), and others. Today there are 25 academic members in countries that stretch from Russia to Canada, and from Finland to Australia, as well as 15 corporate partners—and the network is still growing.
Unlike other networks that bring together business schools around MA programmes in management, which are mainly focused on developing leadership and administration skills, QTEM unites universities that actively apply analytical techniques from finance and economics in their management teaching. This is a very promising area. In the era of Data Science and Data Driven Business Models, everyone sees the future as inherently connected with these programmes and ideas. That is why it is an honor for the university to be part of such a forward-thinking network.
Students can earn their QTEM degrees only if they also have received degrees from their home universities. They are expected to have completed two or more international experiences by the time they graduate, as well as an internship. The international experiences might be two exchanges with other schools within the network, or one exchange with another school and an internship at an international company. Every school within the network can select a maximum of 20 students to be admitted into QTEM every year. To be considered, students must have scored at least 650 on the GMAT; they must have accumulated impressive academic credentials, while taking a high number of analytical courses; and they must be approved by a panel of academic and corporate members.
Students pay their travel and lodging expenses for the international exchanges, but they have no additional tuition costs associated with the QTEM degree.
The MiF programme has now one QTEM graduate, and two more students are at different stages of QTEM track.
- Other universities
HSE St Petersburg currently has 55 bilateral agreements with the mobility destinations available for MiF students. The list includes such universities/business schools as EDHEC, Audencia School of Management, IAE University Jean-Moulin Lyon 3, Pompeu Fabra University, ESCA School of Management, Jonkoping International Business School, School of Economics Fudan University and many others.
Double degree tracks
The development of double-degree programmes is an important aspect of the programme’s strategic development due to the overall focus on internationalisation of HSE St Petersburg. There are 4 double degree tracks where 3 are available for the students.
The oldest double degree track (since 2016) is the IMESS (International Master in Economy, State and Society) programme delivered in cooperation with UCL. The programme includes 9 partners and 30-35 students annually. There are a fixed number of slots for each partner and MiF initially could admit up to 4 students annually.
In 2019-2020 the MiF programme has developed three more double degree tracks (exchange-based) with ESSCA School of Management, Catholic University of Sacred Heart and University of Vaasa (since 2021, supported by Erasmus+). The tracks offer an opportunity to the most motivated students to study 1 year at a partner university.