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HSE University-St Petersburg Hosts 50 Students from Top Indian Universities

HSE University-St Petersburg hosted the Indian Students Week. The event gathered more than 50 students from India. The students represented 15 top universities in the country. In particular, there were representatives of IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, UPES, IIM Amritsar and others. The goal of this large-scale initiative of HSE University-St Petersburg is to introduce talented students from India to educational opportunities in Russia, in particular, HSE educational programmes in four directions: business and economics, design, social and computer sciences.

HSE University-St Petersburg Hosts 50 Students from Top Indian Universities

HSE University—Saint Petersburg

Anna Tyshetskaya

Director of HSE University-St Petersburg

More than 500 people applied for only 50 available places which proves a strong demand for studies at HSE University and the level of the project participants. This project is important not only for the campus in St Petersburg but HSE University in general. Our goal was to show motivated and talented students from India the quality of Russian education and dispel the stereotypes that in Russia, one can study only medicine. That is why we offered such unusual for Russian universities in the Indian market directions as design, economics, computer sciences and sociology. Besides, apart from the intense educational programme, we prepared an exciting cultural programme which allowed the participants to get to know Russian and St Petersburg traditions.

According to QS World University Rankings:

IIT BOMBAY—118 position in the ranking;

IIT DELHI—150 position in the ranking;

UPES—801–850 position in the ranking. 

The students attended a lecture series by professors from four HSE schools as well as workshops. A separate part of the programme was an introduction to modern creative spaces in the city: the students conducted field research in New Holland and visited galleries of modern art and art workshops.

During a week, students were actively interacting with HSE University-St Petersburg, visiting research centres and university laboratories. Over the time spent at the university, the students explored the methods of computer emotional text analysis, discussed the principles of political digitalisation, learnt how to open a business in Russia and mastered the mechanics of relief printing.

Vinayak Gupta

Tata Institute of Social Sciences

My name is Vinayak Gupta, in India, I am studying at Tata Institute of Social Sciences. For this programme, I chose the Social Sciences track. Talking about education, the programme of my concentration is truly applied. I am glad that I made the right choice and decided to take part in this course. The prospects which HSE University opens are limitless. For instance, an opportunity to participate in projects which can be implemented together with real-life companies in real-time is very valuable.

The intense educational programme for students from India was prepared by four HSE University-St Petersburg schools:

School of Economics and Management;

School of Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science;

School of Social Sciences;

School of Art and Design.

School of Economics and Management held an introductory course about economic the peculiarities of Russia for Indian students. During the classes with school professors, the students studied cultural features of the country which should be taken into account while building business relations with Russia. Besides, they listened to lectures on the Russian financial system and learned about the up-to-date ways of running a business in the country. Victor Krakovich, academic supervisor of the programme 'International Bachelor's in Business and Economics', highlighted that GDP in the country is growing and named the main drivers of this growth. The students who took an interest in opening their business in Russia received the necessary recommendations for it.

Arushi Gupta

Lovely Professional University

I'm Arushi Gupta, a 2nd-year student of the integrated Bachelor's programme 'Law and Business Administration' at Lovely Professional University, at HSE University, I took a course from the School of Economics and Management. It is extremely interesting for me to explore new places and cultures and expand my educational horizons. That is why I was really interested in an opportunity to study in Russia. Moreover, I often heard that St Petersburg was a cultural capital of Russia, and I wanted to see it with my own eyes.

Thanks to HSE University, I completed my plan. I listened to the lectures covering the diplomatic relations of India and Russia and entrepreneurship and created a CV in one of the workshops. The university prepared amazing, very useful and profound activities for us. I was enchanted by student organisations as well: now, I want to return to HSE University to join the sailing club. The city is, of course, very beautiful, magical and mesmerising. I was struck by white nights—it feels like in St Petersburg, days never end. I hope I will be able to visit this outstanding university and wonderful city again!

School of Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science also prepared interesting educational materials for students. During the lectures and workshops, the students learned how AI technologies can be implemented in various spheres of life—for instance, in pharmacology and bioinformatics. Alena Suvorova, academic supervisor of the Master's programme 'UX Analytics and Information System Design', shared a list of professions which are in demand in the AI sphere with students.

Mithlesh Babu

IIM Amritsar

I'm Mithlesh Babu, a student of IIM Amritsar, studying in the Bachelor's programme 'Human Resource Management'. At HSE University, I chose the Economics and Management track. Russian culture is very different from Indian. People are extremely open and hearty even if not everyone smiles at you back. I don't know the language but every person in this city whom I turned to with a question opened a translator and tried to help me. St Petersburg is a special place. The layout and architecture of the city are unique—it feels like we managed to visit both Russia and Europe in one trip.

During the Indian Students Week, the participants also got to know the cultural life of the city. The guides on this trip were St Petersburg School of Art and Design and School of Social Sciences. School of Art and Design showed how modern art lives and develops in St Petersburg. The students visited the gallery of modern art 'MYTH' and a workshop of a famous St Petersburg artist and professor of the School of Art and Design Yury Shtapakov with whom they mastered the technique of black and white monotype.

Sanyam Garg

IIT Delhi

My name is Sanyam Garg, IIT Delhi. I was in the Computer Sciences track at HSE University. Adopting some approaches to studies from HSE University can be useful for us. Of course, I will promote these methods among my colleagues. For instance, interactive classes and practical projects help to learn the material better. Besides, I liked the interdisciplinary approach which expands the students' horizons. Such methods can significantly improve the quality of education at our universities.

Thanks to the School of Social Sciences, the students practised the skills of conducting field research. Under the mentorship of students of the Master's programme 'Modern Social Analysis', they went to explore the creative space 'New Holland'. This experience helped them to see how in St Petersburg, the cultural urbanisation is undergoing and how the city is transforming former industrial spaces into attractive recreation and leisure facilities for citizens. The students underscored that the observations they collected would be useful in creating similar creative spaces in India.

Satya Sachin Oza

Ahmedabad University

My name is Satya Sachin Oza, a 2nd-year PhD student of humanitarian and social sciences, at Ahmedabad University. At HSE University, I took the track by the School of Social Sciences. We wouldn't have enough time for me to describe how amazingly I spent time at HSE University. The professors and students who accompanied us during the whole time were very friendly and wonderful people, I was happy to communicate with them. The lectures I attended at the School of Social Sciences turned out to be relevant to me and my future research. We visited the Laboratory for Social and Cognitive Informatics: I constantly made notes about the research directions HSE University offered. Methodologies offered by the scientists seemed interesting to me, and I plan to use them in the future. New Holland is a unique space. It is hard to imagine that a place with such a rich history can be a place for leisure and walks. In India, there are a lot of old buildings and former factories which could be turned into cultural clusters. I believe that for me as an urbanist, this knowledge is very useful.

During the event, the students also met Kumar Gaurav, Consul General of India in the Russian Federation. Mr Gaurav talked about the importance of Russian-Indian relations, especially in the sphere of research and educational programmes, and discussed with the students possible forms of cooperation between Indian educational institutions and HSE University.

Manoj Sharma, Vice-President of HSE University-St Petersburg, emphasised the importance of such programmes to strengthen Russian-Indian educational ties. 'Russia is a country with a rich history and culture. HSE University-St Petersburg is unique as it is interesting for both Russian and international students. This programme has opened another direction for further cooperation between our countries. As a representative of India, I am truly happy with how active and interested our students are in studying Russian culture and the educational system. I hope that your stories will inspire other students from India to choose Russia for studying',—Manoj Sharma highlighted.

The Indian Students Week finished with extracurricular activities prepared by student organisations of HSE University-St Petersburg. The students learnt about eventful extracurricular life of the university, got to know the work of the Student Council and took part in a quest with exciting tasks prepared by the Student Council and other student clubs.

The participants were especially impressed by the visit to Cinema Club '35 mm' where they discussed films of cult significance in various cultures. The students of Indian universities prepared an amazing presentation about the main peculiarities of Indian cinematography. It turned out that each state of the county has its own film production because of the peculiarities of the linguistic landscape in India.  

Daniil Zhitnikov

Head of the Cinema Club '35 mm'

It was great to see how interested students were to hear about our culture and Soviet cinematography. At first, we were worried that there could be cultural barriers in communication with the Indian students. But that did not happen: everyone was very open, and we were on the same page. What cultural barriers could there be if we were all students? The cinematography also connects: we showed the students a fragment from the film 'Operation Y' at which they laughed heartily. There are no cultural barriers for humour as well.  

In the future, HSE University-St Petersburg plans to expand such programmes. 'We see a big potential to develop educational and cultural exchanges and eagerly wait for an opportunity to welcome new student groups from India',—Anna Tyshetskaya says.