HSE - St. Petersburg Students and Administrators Met to Discuss International Student Life Challenges and Solutions
On December 13th, the First Internationalization for International Students Conference brought together international students and representatives of the HSE Saint Petersburg administration in order to discuss recent developments and new challenges in HSE's internationalization campaign.
Over the last few years, HSE University - Saint Petersburg has experienced rapid growth in terms of both the university scale and international students number in particular. Meeting the demands of its international student body is a top priority for the campus. It was therefore decided to organize a conference that would provide administrators and students a platform on which to discuss current initiatives, future plans, and international student needs. The Association for International Students actively participated in the organization of the event.
HSE University representatives discussed the following topics:
1) Career Center services & internships
Highlights:
• The Career Center is working to increase opportunities for international students. For example, during the HSE Career Weeks they organized a round-table with consulates from different countries and, as a result, now students from Finland have the opportunity to complete internships at the Finnish consulate.
• The International Office offered 2 internship opportunities for students this year.
Career Services for International Students
2) International Student Support Office
Highlights:
• ISSO is a major point of contact for basically everything, especially in cases of emergency;
• ISSO will soon introduce 24/7 emergency phone service;
• ISSO will provide support in the HSE Diploma Legalization process for graduates by collecting documents that require an apostille and providing consultations regarding consular legalization.
International Student Support
Legalization of HSE Diplomas
3) ESN section
Highlights:
• Buddy programme;
• Event management.
International students spoke about the following issues:
• The necessity of opening an HSE SPb merchandise store
• Psychological health of international students
Other hot topics of the Conference:
• Extension of free Russian language course;
• Translation of all relevant documents, website content, and printed materials at HSE University Saint-Petersburg into English;
• Updating information about English-speaking student clubs and working towards developing such clubs;
• Taking students' backgrounds into consideration when allocating exchange programme funding;
• ATM & gym at the Zaporozhskaya Dormitory.
HSE University - St. Petersburg administration was happy to engage in lively dialogue with international students and will work towards the implementation of new projects that will help to solve current issues.
Please stay tuned and follow us on social media @hsestpetersburg. The International Office has sent enquiries regarding all unsettled issues to the relevant departments and will provide more information as it becomes available.