ESG in Action: Five Years of Experience at the HSE University – Saint Petersburg Campus

For five years, students of HSE University – Saint Petersburg have been researching and promoting ESG principles on campus as part of a project by the Laboratory for Reputation Management in Education. The annual outcome of their work is a series of three posters dedicated to the environment, the social sphere, and corporate governance, contributing to the development of a culture of sustainability and the university’s third mission.

For the past five years, the Project and Teaching Laboratory for Reputation Management in Education has engaged students from different academic programmes at HSE University – Saint Petersburg in a unique service learning initiative.

Each year, participating students explore the activities, research, courses, and projects of the campus community – including those of faculty, staff, and fellow students – to identify and highlight the most significant contributions in three key ESG dimensions: Environment, Social, and Governance. The results are presented annually in a series of three posters, each dedicated to one of the ESG axes.

The students’ work involves a hands-on investigative process: they review the university’s website, meet with fellow students who run social or environmental initiatives, interview faculty members, and study good practices implemented by the campus administration and services. They also examine the physical spaces and buildings to identify examples of sustainable infrastructure and responsible management.

The project’s objectives are twofold:

• For students – to develop a practical understanding of sustainability, ESG principles, and the university’s third mission, while discovering that their own campus is home to people and initiatives deeply committed to these values.

• For the Laboratory – to carry out a meaningful service learning project in which students serve their campus community, raising awareness among their peers about the importance of environmental responsibility, social engagement, and good governance.

Over these five years, the initiative has become a point of pride for the Laboratory, fostering a culture of responsibility and sustainability within the university and demonstrating how academic projects can contribute to positive change on campus.

This year, eight students took part in the project, working under the guidance of our student intern, Ilya Chesnokov-Posadsky (студент-стажёр), who supervised their research and coordinated the preparation of the final ESG posters.