The New Academic Year Begins Offline for Everyone
Considering the epidemiological situation, the academic year begins in a face-to-face format with compliance with common safety measures in all HSE campuses.
Taking into account the epidemiological situation in Moscow, St Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Perm, and the fact that the Rospotrebnadzor (The Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing) has not issued any new regulations, the new academic year begins offline for all students regardless the possession of a vaccination certificate.
At the same time, HSE students have to follow the habitual safety measures, such as face mask requirements, social distance, no more than 50 people will be allowed to be in a room at once, and at least a quarter of classes will be held in synchronous distant format. When setting up a classes schedule, it is recommended to allocate no more than three days for offline classes. Minors, MAGOLEGO, and university electives remain in e-learning format.
In case the epidemiological situation worsens, the university will be able to make a quick response and change the study mode. This depends on new prospective Rospotrebnadzor's and the Operational Headquarters on preventing COVID-19 spread in Russian Federation. At the same time, internal HSE analytics shows the high quality of student preparation and their satisfaction with full-time e-learning. Thus, according to the survey of HSE students conducted from November 2020 till January 2021 by our Centre for Institutional Research, 60-70% of students are satisfied with their e-learning experience. We have our fingers on the pulse, get feedback from the student community, and we are ready for any scenarios.
At the same time, I would like to ask all students, who care about themselves and others, to get vaccinated. Personally, I got vaccinated on the first working day at HSE. Only vaccination can protect against severe acute disease and reduce the risk of infection not only for yourself but also for your colleagues, classmates, lecturers. The vaccination is the only mean that brings us closer to the end of the pandemic. For the sake of the convenience of those who want to get vaccinated, the University organises such an opportunity. Should you have any questions, please refer to the University information resources, for example, the Coronavirus Live page.