Happy 21st Academic Year: Short Story of Growth and Expansion

Last week at HSE University – St. Petersburg turned out to be really eventful. First of all, we finally met our international freshmen, or at least most of them. The orientation sessions, followed by the Common Arrival Days, offered a chance to get acquainted with people, resources and processes.  Secondly, we celebrated HSE SPb Day devoted to the anniversary of the campus – it has turned  twenty  this year! During these years we have been dreaming about many things, but who doesn’t when they are young.

© HSE University - Saint Petersburg

What’s new so far?

In 1998, we started with 100 people who studied at the campus, and we offered three educational programmes (in Economics, Management, and Law).

Now we have more than 6,000 students, over 10% of whom are international students, 30 full-degree programmes in more than 10 fields of study (over one third of the programmes are taught in English), mobility programmes with more than 70 universities worldwide, 14 research centres, and over 30 extracurricular organizations.

Every year we develop new programmes. For instance, last year we presented a brand-new Bachelor’s programme 'Design', as well as two Master’s programmes 'Management and Analytics for Business', and 'Information Systems and Human Computer Interaction'. Recently, these programmes have welcomed their first students. 

This year, the range of educational programmes will expand with four more offerings, in particular Bachelor’s programme ‘Applied Mathematics and Informatics’, Master’s programmes ‘Programming and Data Analysis’, ‘Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Physics’, and ‘Industrial Programming’. Admissions 2019/2020 will open in November.

25 new cooperation agreements have been signed this academic year, and around 10 are to be signed by the end of 2018. These agreements regulate such areas of cooperation as developing double degree and exchange programmes, joint research projects and educational programmes, etc.

One of the most significant achievements is a launch of four Double Degree programmes with European universities: Bachelor’s programmes 'International Business and Management Studies', 'Political Science and World Politics' both with the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Master’s programmes 'Finance' with ESSCA, and 'Applied Economics and Mathematical Methods' with LUISS.  

We could not avoid mentioning structural changes. Due to proliferation of fields of study within St. Petersburg School of Social Sciences and Humanities, it was broken up into two independent faculties – St. Petersburg School of Humanities and Arts and St. Petersburg School of Social Sciences and Area Studies. A completely new faculty, St. Petersburg School of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science, was established.

Therefore, HSE University – St. Petersburg now has 5 schools comprising 20 departments.

Fresh talent

Late August, we welcomed international students during Common Arrival Day who came to complete their Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes, as well as exchange programmes. In Russia, a new academic year starts September 1. HSE University – St. Petersburg is no exception.

More than 250 international students, who represent over 40 countries, enrolled in our full-degree programmes this year. The majority of them have already arrived, but we are still waiting for those students who will start their first semester later. To be precise, Master’s programme  'Applied and Interdisciplinary History 'Usable Pasts' begins September 17, and Master's programmes 'Comparative Politics of Eurasia', 'Business and Politics in Modern Asia', 'Strategic Management in Logistics', 'Information Systems and Human-Computer Interaction', 'Civil and Commercial Law' begin October 1.

All in all, HSE University – St. Petersburg took aboard more than 2,000 newcomers this year.

‘In comparison to the previous year, the number of international freshmen has increased by 60% and the number of fee-paying students has even tripled. In particular, we see a tremendous interest in the Master's programmes. I can say that year by year, we strengthen our position as a global university. The share of international students has risen beyond 10%,’  comments Maria Vrublevskaya, Director of the Centre for International Education.

The majority of students enrolled into the mobility programmes represent eminent universities, for example, Audencia Business School (France), Beijing Normal University (China), Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany), King’s College London (the UK), and Sciences Po (France). Eighteen students from University College London (the UK) came for a semester to join ‘Study Abroad Programme in Russian Language and Culture’ (Academic Director Irina Shchemeleva).

Earlier in July, five students from University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy) arrived at the university under the Double Degree track agreements. 

Talking about our talents who leave us for a while, it is important to mention that the call for application to go abroad is open. So, don’t miss a superb chance to experience a new educational, cultural, and language environment!

‘The number of outbound mobility spots has increased by 40%, and amounts to 224 spots per semester this year,’ specifies Konstantin Platonov, Director of the Centre for International Cooperation. ‘Studying in a foreign country has a lot of advantages: it helps to practice language, develop a professional network, improve resume, and make new friends, of course,’ he adds. 

We have a dream

This year is an important milestone for HSE University – St. Petersburg, as it is celebrating its anniversary. It may seem that 20 years is a short period in terms of a university’s life span, but at the same time 20 years is an age of a whole generation.

It is no coincidence that an anniversary motto ‘Dream and shape your future’ was chosen.  When you are young, you dream about exceptional things to be done in the future.

Last Saturday, we celebrated HSE SPb Day, an event devoted to the anniversary, that gathered students, their parents, lecturers and scholars.

Before the main programme started, guests were invited to travel around numerous stations organized by HSE students. The evening continued with students’ performances, and IOWA the disco-tribe (as their frontwoman Katya prefers calling it) concert.

Yaroslav Kuzminov, Rector of HSE University, came from Moscow to St. Petersburg to congratulate students and his colleagues.
 

Frankly, I have a very simple idea of what can bring success. You cannot succeed if you look back at the past to regret the failures. Success comes from focusing on the future, believing that everything will work out, and being interested in living a full life. 

  

   
    Yaroslav I. Kuzminov
    Rector 

Mikhail Oseevsky, President of Rostelecom PJSC, and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of HSE University – St. Petersburg, noted that knowledge, intelligence, abilities, and creativity are truly valuable today. That is why big companies have a strategic goal to support higher-education institutions.

‘I want someone to come to the wall of wishes and make a wish: I want to become a president of Rostelecom one day. Happy Holiday!’, he said.  

Sergey Kadochnikov, Director of St. Petersburg campus, recalled what the university dreams about, and encouraged students to set inspirational goals, and believe in themselves, because they belong to a wonderful family called HSE University – St. Petersburg.
 

We dream about our students going to the different parts of the world to take part in internships and exchange programmes; we dream about becoming a digital university; we dream about being a university for people of all ages!

Sergey M. Kadochnikov 
Director, HSE Campus in St. Petersburg