Delegation from HSE University–St Petersburg Participates in First International Week at Leading University in Malaysia
Representatives of HSE University–St Petersburg were the only participants from Russia at the large-scale event, which gathered delegates from more than 20 countries at Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.
Universiti Malaya held its first international week—a major event aimed at establishing academic ties between students and global universities. Among 20 other countries, Russia was represented by HSE University–St Petersburg. The delegation from HSE University–St Petersburg included Svyatoslav Kvartalnov, Director of the Representative Offices Department, and Sofia Kotereva, manager at the International Student Mobility Office.
Universiti Malaya occupies 58th place in the QS World University Rankings and consistently ranks among the leading universities in the region. According to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, another authoritative ranking, the university is a recognised leader of higher education in Malaysia and South-East Asia.
Svyatoslav Kvartalnov
Director of the Representative Offices Department at HSE University–St Petersburg
Svyatoslav Kvartalnov, Director of the Representative Offices Department at HSE University–St Petersburg, highlighted that participation in such an event reflects the strategic development of the university's international activities in the region. 'For us, participation in the international week at Universiti Malaya is of special importance. Malaysia is one of the key centres of South-East Asia, a region with a high level of academic development and an active international agenda. For our university, the fact that it was HSE University-St Petersburg which represented Russia at this significant event is especially important. The participation logically continues the activities of our representative office in Indonesia, which works as a strategic hub of the university in Southeast Asia. We're striving to cover not just Indonesia but also neighbouring countries, including Malaysia, where we see a huge potential for developing academic ties and educational initiatives,' he emphasised.
According to Svyatoslav Kvartalnov, new cooperation formats create opportunities for student exchange, short-term educational programmes, and summer schools. The partners' week also allowed the representatives of HSE University–St Petersburg to discuss potential cooperation with university representatives from Indonesia, China, and Thailand, as well as consider strategies for enhancing academic and research partnership with Universiti Malaya.
At the international academic mobility fair, the delegates from HSE University–St Petersburg shared details of academic exchange programmes, as well as admission to bachelor's and master's programmes and summer schools. Over two days, the event was attended by more than 10,000 students. The participants of the international event noted the genuine interest among Malaysians in studying in Russia.
Sofia Kotereva
Manager at the International Student Mobility Office
'It was nice to see sincere interest in the students' eyes—to them, Russia seems as distant and obscure as Malaysia seems to us. These are the events where we can introduce students to our academic and national culture and spark their interest in exploring the world. In this case, a semester- or year-long academic mobility programme is a unique opportunity to gain new experience, shape observation skills, and join a large international academic community,' commented Sofia Kotereva.
HSE representatives met with students of HSE University–St Petersburg who are studying at Universiti Malaya under academic mobility programmes. The students shared their impressions of their studies and life in Malaysia, took part in student events for international week, and told Malaysian students about HSE University–St Petersburg.
'The concept of the international week was extraordinary: we found ourselves at an airport, where we received passports and had to travel to different countries to get their stamps. The UK, France, Italy, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia—all these states were presented by students. The event was impressive in its size; there were a lot of participants! We tried to captivate them all with Russia and our beloved HSE University–St Petersburg!' shared Viktoria Baturina, third-year student of the Bachelor's programme 'Political Science and World Politics.'
In November 2023, in Indonesia, HSE University opened a representative office at Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) in Surabaya. The work of the educational hub for students from the Asia-Pacific region is coordinated by the HSE campus in St Petersburg.