HSE - Saint Petersburg: Five Steps towards the International University

Higher School of Economics - Saint Petersburg is one of the most international universities in Russia. Almost 30% of its academic programmes are held fully in English, each fifth graduate had an internship or studied abroad, and each twentieth graduate continues his or her education getting a master’s degree abroad. How is this internationality achieved?

Higher School of Economics – Saint Petersburg is indeed an international university which meets talented people from all over the world. Nowadays Saint Petersburg campus has around 5.5 thousand students including 10% of foreigners from more than 60 countries. Another 2% to 5% of students are those who came to the university in frames of the academic exchange programme. Internationalization of HSE – Saint Petersburg is taking great strides: if in 2014 the share of students from different countries was just 1.4%, today every seventh student is a foreigner.

HSE – St Petersburg employs lecturers and scientists from the leading universities of America, Europe, Southeast Asia – more than 20 countries in total, - work along with Russian professors. 8% of lecturers got their PhD abroad. This constant cross-cultural interaction develops unique communicative skills and abilities to adapt to the international environment in our students.

HSE – Saint Petersburg has the biggest share of international programmes, which are held exclusively in English – 28%, among all the Russian universities. These programmes are three bachelor’s programmes: 'International Business and Management Studies', 'Political Science and World Politics', 'Sociology and Social Informatics' – and five master’s programmes: 'Finance', 'Management and Analytics for Business', 'Applied and Interdisciplinary History', 'Business and Politics in Modern Asia', 'Comparative Politics of Eurasia'.

Six programmes – three bachelor’s programmes and three master’s programmes– are implemented in the dual diplomas format together with the leading universities of Europe. Every fifth graduate had an internship or studied abroad. Every twentieth graduate continues his or her education in a foreign master’s degree. How is this internationality achieved?

First, there are mandatory disciplines in English which start from the second year of bachelor’s even if the programme itself is held in Russian. Every year these disciplines become more and more difficult. On average, a quarter of undergraduate and almost 40% of graduate courses are taught in English. Besides, during the first two years, all the students prepare to pass the inner exam in IELTS format, after students have professional English language and academic writing.

Second, Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg has more than 80 partner Universities from 33 countries, which means that every student has an opportunity to spend one or two semesters abroad. Among these universities are University College London, Fudan University, LUISS Business School, University of Rome Tor Vergata, University Pompeu Fabra, Seoul National University, Indiana University Bloomington and others. Besides, our graduates are provided with a European supplementary to the diploma which contains all the information from Russian diploma adjusted to foreign universities, which allows enrolling master’s degree programme without additional efforts.

Third, HSE - St Petersburg actively develops a portfolio of dual degree track programmes. Since 2018 it became possible for bachelor’s programmes 'International Business and Management Studies' and 'Political Science and World Politics' to get the second diploma of University of Rome Tor Vergata, and for 'Economics' programme to get a diploma of University Pompeu Fabra – one of the leading centres for economic research in Europe.

Unique international opportunities are also available for master students. 'Applied Economics and Mathematical Methods' programme is implemented as double degree track with Liberal University International of Social Sciences named after Guido Carli (LUISS, Rome), “Finance” programme has such a track with Higher School of Management ESSCA (France), and students of 'Management and Analytics for Business' can get the second diploma of the University Pompeu Fabra.

Double degree track is a unique opportunity to expand one’s knowledge in the area of research, to get an experience of international education and communication in a new environment, to become more competitive on the international labour market and to apply to the best foreign PhD programmes.

Forth, a range of programmes of Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg has prestigious international accreditations, which means, that our education is recognized abroad. Since 2016 English-language programme 'Finance' has been being a member of IMESS consortium headed by University College London. In 2017 HSE Saint Petersburg entered the international chain of leading business school world association QTEM (Quantitative Techniques in Economics and Management). 'Economics' and 'Finance' bachelor’s programmes were certified by ACCA association, 'International Business and Management Studies' master’s programme has CIMA certificate. In 2019 'Finance' programme has been accredited by the European Fund of Management Development (EFMD) and it became the only one master’s programme in Russia which has a prestigious accreditation EPAS.

Finally, fifth, there are not only our students who are involved in academic mobility programmes but also students from different countries arrive in HSE every year: some of them come for an exchange semester, other come for short-term programmes. So, every year summer schools in different subject areas are conducted in HSE – St Petersburg. This summer, more than 180 students from 42 countries will come to Saint Petersburg. It means that HSE students will have an opportunity to make international acquaintances and practice intercultural communication.