'Knowing How to Analyse Data Is Not Enough—We Have to Understand Why We Need It'
One of the main goals of HSE University-St Petersburg is to create an international environment on the campus. As a part of this work, the university creates more and more programmes that provide an opportunity to study fully in English. Among them is the master's programme 'Data Analytics for Politics and Society'. Over the several years of its existence, the programme has already shown great results, and many of its graduates have become successful both in business and academia. We talked to Aleksei Sorbale, Academic Supervisor of the programme, about changing the teaching language of the programme, students' projects, and competitive selection for the programme.
— Initially, the Data Analytics for Politics and Society programme was taught in English, then in Russian and partially English. Why did you decide to change the teaching language of the programme back to English again?
— The decision to make the programme English-taught again was driven by the overall direction of our international relations. Starting this year, in particular, during trips to India, representatives of our school began establishing relations with leading Indian universities such as IIT Bombay, the University of Delhi, and Bennett University.
At all the universities, the heads of master's programmes in political sciences and sociology showed an interest in creating joint double-degree programmes. However, the only obstacle right now is the teaching language in our programme. Moreover, students also expressed a great interest: they asked me about the programme and mobility opportunities. That means that at the moment, it is the teaching language which now limits our development of international cooperation.
The second thing is the target audience. In 2023, the decision to change the programme language to Russian and partially English was based on an expectation of demand from international applicants from neighbouring countries where prospective students know Russian at a good level. But unfortunately, this didn't happen. If we look at the statistics, the applications were mostly from the same regions as before. These include some African countries, in particular, Nigeria and Ghana, as well as India, Pakistan, and some countries in Latin America.
Besides, our current students have requested an increased English component. The majority of our students come from the English-taught bachelor's programmes of our campus: Political Science and World Politics and Sociology and Social Informatics. They have an interest in continuing their education in English, as these students are oriented towards the international market. After graduation, they want to work in international companies or academia, where English prevails. Consequently, now, we are switching all the courses into English in light of the desires of our current students as well.
— Since its establishment, the programme must have gone through some changes. How is its focus changing based on changes in the educational market and general world trends?
— At first, the selection of courses was in an experimental format because we tried to identify the main trends which existed in 2021–22 in the industry and academia. Now, we have focused on two things.
The first is the analysis of various policies. In fact, the programme becomes an opportunity for so-called evidence-based policy-making. The majority is aimed at assessing the political courses implemented in various spheres at different levels of government with the help of statistical analysis methods and big data and offering alternatives for the courses if there are such.
The second is programming languages. From the very beginning, we had a large block about Python, R, and SQL. In business and industry, knowing Python and how to operate with large data sets are very important skills. Consequently, we are trying to expand this block, which is not only about programming but also about how to use the abilities of these languages for a variety of tasks. Among them are the training of various neuromodels and generative models for tasks in different sectors of economics and industry.
To achieve this, we are getting assistance from our expanding contacts network. These include, for instance, telecommunications companies—this is the second year that we have cooperated with Rostelecom. Next year, HSE University-St Petersburg is opening a representative office of T2. It will be a workshop laboratory which trains personnel for the company. This is an interesting opportunity for students of our programme, as many of them want to develop in the industry.
Now, our aim is to develop skills related to programming languages and an understanding of how logistics and analytical processes are built in such companies. At first, there was no such focus because the programme had a more academic focus.
— What is the difference between your master's programme and other programmes with a similar focus on our campus (eg 'Comparative Politics of Eurasia', 'Data Analytics for Business and Economics' and 'Modern Social Analysis')? Why do applicants choose your programme in particular?
— Our first category of applicants includes people who come from social and humanitarian sciences with knowledge of how to build research but lack hard skills. They want to keep developing directly in the social or humanitarian sciences but also to gain extra skills. Such students carry out research based on their interests but look at it from a slightly different perspective. They get a basis which allows them to conduct unusual research which exceeds their initial expectations.
The second category of applicants is people with technical qualifications. These are students who already understand how to work with data, process, analyse, and so on, but they don't realise before enrolling in our programme what all these things can be applied to. Thus, they have hard skills but lack soft skills—they don't understand how to ask questions to which they can really find answers and how to build a full-fledged logic of research.
This is why our programme is different from 'Comparative Politics of Eurasia' and 'Modern Social Analysis'. Each programme has its target audience—we do not compete. For instance, 'Comparative Politics of Eurasia' strongly focuses on regional studies. Besides, they offer a large block about consulting directly related to the Eurasian region. 'Modern Social Analysis' is a whole different story: it's also about methodology, but this methodology is majorly qualitative.
But we train students who have the skill of model thinking. They can build a full-fledged research project, starting with asking an appropriate research question, knowing how and where to look for data to answer this question, and how to set tasks and carry out the research. These are important basic skills which, as practice shows, are very valuable in lots of spheres—from academia to industry.
— You've already outlined the kind of student you would like to see in the programme. When interviewing international applicants in particular, what competencies and skills do you look for?
— If we talk about international applicants, they have completely different qualifications. I have conducted several interviews with applicants who are still studying in their country, and not necessarily in the social and humanitarian sciences. Some applicants are already working and suddenly realise that they need an extra boost to advance in their careers, whether it be IT developers or HR specialists. In that aspect, international admissions are extremely different from Russian ones, because Russian applicants are mostly bachelor's students, recent graduates who want to continue their development in a certain direction in the form of a master's degree.
In terms of the selection process, there is a simple, more-or-less clear criterion: how a prospective student sees their potential research. Do they already have an idea they want to develop further on the programme? In fact, the main opinion—mine personally and of members of the Academic Council who also participate in this process—is that applicants should have a text or an idea with a clear research question, a rough understanding of what they can do to answer this question and what they want to get as the result. If it is not something abstract, it is already a good sign.
It's important to mention that our programme requires at least minimal training in terms of research methods. If an applicant has studied methodological disciplines related to statistics and data analysis, that's very good. If they also have some relevant experience, it's amazing. Another advantage is having done some internships or worked in a related field. However, first of all, we focus on the idea a person comes with and which they are ready to spend their time on and to look at from the perspective offered in our programme.
— You have already mentioned that your partners include Rostelecom and T2. What other partners does the programme work with and where do students usually undertake internships and carry out projects?
— We have had a rather long and successful cooperation with the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation. Annually, they implement large projects called 'Open Government'. Their goal, firstly, is to make metrics and, secondly, to assess the openness of various government agencies in Russia: from ministries and federal agencies to regional ones. Obviously, there is a part focused on data collection, different work with data and data assessment. This is where a lot of our students undertake internships.
There are some industry representatives who offer internships to some of our students. In addition to Rostelecom and T2, these include Okko. We are also in contact with MTS and large retail representatives, eg Lenta. They offer a variety of tasks, from product analysis to marketing research and studies in the area of product positioning.
Our students have had quite a lot of success at these companies. For instance, Yaroslav Samatov, one of our graduates, went to T-Bank in his first year of studies. Initially, he had an internship there, but later he got a full-time position as a product analyst. This is a very cool career development. From the very beginning, Yaroslav had a desire to work in this industry field. He chose the corresponding courses, received additional skills and experience on the spot, and started working full-time.
There are also various research projects which our colleagues at HSE University implement. They are often relevant to international students. Quite a lot of our students take part in analytical projects at the Ronald F. Inglehart Laboratory for Comparative Social Research, the Laboratory for Social and Cognitive Informatics, and individual grant projects implemented by the Laboratory of Sociology in Education and Science. Our university offers specific projects which students can get involved in, depending on their interests. In the middle of the first year, students realise which course plan they have to take and which skills to get to implement projects successfully. Then, in the framework of their theses, they also develop these topics.
Another example is Samuel Quarshie and Clara Momade, two students from Nigeria who graduated last year. They took part in a Linguistic Convergence Laboratory project devoted to tracking the changes in the language discourse in Nigerian mathematics textbooks. It is not an obvious thing. What can one find in mathematics textbooks? The tasks and examples given by textbook authors actually say a lot, for instance, about specific socio-political and economic processes happening in their country. The language can help to track things which cannot be allocated from the official discourse formed by politicians. Such things at the junction of linguistics and big data analysis, for example, are extremely interesting to many students. These topics are often reflected in the papers they write in the programme.
Speaking about another big partner, I have to mention Yandex. We are actively cooperating with Yandex in internships. Two years ago, our student Elizaveta Rodionova went there for an internship, and now, she is working there full-time. This is another example of a person who already knew in the first year of studies where she would like to work. All these partnerships work like this: a company announces a call for certain projects. They have a set of tasks in which they would like to involve students. Accordingly, interested students work on these tasks. After that, if the students show good results and make a good impression, they get an opportunity to develop in this company.
As for academic stories, Seal Seraji, another one of our alumni, worked on a project at the Laboratory of Sociology in Education and Science as a research assistant. From the very beginning, he wanted to develop in academia. His thesis was based on that project, and he was actively working with Daniil Alexandrov, his thesis supervisor. After graduation, he started working in the laboratory on other projects on a full-time basis. I believe that these stories are as important as those from the industry.
— How would you sum up your master's programme?
— Model thinking and an opportunity to choose—in my opinion, these are the two most important components of our programme. An opportunity to choose is about the curriculum, and model thinking is the main skill we teach.
— Why should applicants choose your programme?
— The first reason is that studies are fully in English.
The second is modern methods—in other words, hard skills.
The third thing is the faculty team we have built. These are amazing experts in their field. It's important to mention that we have professors from different departments, so they offer a variety of perspectives.
The fourth is that our programme covers two areas of study: political science and sociology. Thus, it deals with the intersections of computer sciences and certain disciplines in political and social sciences. If a student wants to stay within the realm of social sciences but change direction a little, this is a great opportunity for it. If you have a desire to keep doing what you're doing but look at it from different angles, it is also a chance to stay within your field.
— What would you wish your future and current students?
— My main wish is 'don't be shy', because the idea of 'data analysis' makes lots of people feel primal fear, especially if they are alumni of social-humanitarian programmes. There is nothing scary about it. In fact, it offers a lot of opportunities. These can be related to a change in educational or professional trajectory, on the one hand, and perspectives, on the other. As for the labour market, there are very few specialists who can combine skills connected to data analysis by different methods with the important knowledge gained in social-humanitarian programmes. They are in great demand both in industry and academia. From lots of interviews and conversations with representatives from both spheres, I've come to a very simple conclusion: knowing how to work with some methods and analyse data is not enough; we have to understand why we need it.
In a nutshell, it can be a career and professional boost, and it is important to use it. I really hope to see many of those reading this interview among the students of our programme next year.
The international admissions campaign for the 2025–2026 academic year has already started. You can apply via your applicant's personal online account. You can also learn more about full and partial scholarships and admission requirements on the international admissions website.