To Study in a Small City: HSE in Perm

Main building of HSE Perm

Some students naively believe that you can get a good education in Russia only in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg.  It's nonsense!  Applicants from all over the country try to leave their cities for capitals, eager to get the best education, but they don’t notice what their hometown offers them.

«Universities in Saint-Petersburg and Moscow are the best in Russia». What if this rule has an exception? 

Myths about Small Cities

Well, here are some kinds of prejudices about small cities:

1. Universities in small cities are not able to offer you high-class education;
2. Small cities universities just try to copy the ones, which are located in big cities and don`t provide original educational programs;
3. Teaching there is much less qualitative;
4. There are not many interesting leisure-time activities fully supported and volunteering;
5. Nobody knows about these universities and famous professors don`t visit them.

I believe that I ought to dispel these myths. In this article I'd like to tell you about Perm campus of HSE and compare it with the one in Saint Petersburg.

Perm vs Saint-Petersburg: What's the Difference?

First of all, both campuses offer their students different bachelor programmes. In St.Petersburg's branch they are 12: Economics, International Business and Management Studies, Logistics and supply chain management, Public Policy and Analytics, Applied Mathematics and Information Science, Law, History, Philology, Asian and African Studies, Political Science and World Politics, Sociology and Social Informatics, Design. 

Perm campus has 6 programmes: Economics, Business Management, Law, History and two ones, which Saint-Petersburg Higher School of Economics does not (Software Engineering and Business Informatics). These programmes train students to be high-qualified specialists in spheres of IT in business management and programming.

Study Process

HSE Perm recruits less students than the North Capital. For instance, there are just 75 students of Economics, entering the university in 2017. In Saint-Petersburg there are 225 on the same programme.

Three times more!

One can think that a smaller amount of students shows a lesser popularity of that campus and, accordingly, gives lower quality education. It's delusion again!  

I assure, when there are not many students it is not a “curse”, but a privilege. When you are just 75 students, all teachers know each person, and it makes communication between teacher and learner more streamlined. It's easier to understand information on lectures, when a lecturer gives his attention to almost every listener. Besides, lesser amount of students creates such an environment, where everybody is familiar to everybody.

Just for Fun, Self-Development and Transformation of the World

HSE Perm campus gives its students an opportunity to express themselves in different ways. There is a wide range of clubs, including Chess clubs, Dance and Theatre studios, even an academic choir. What's interesting: HSE Perm has a Debate Club, the members of which ranked third in All-Russia Championship of debaters last year.

Moreover, there is a volunteer organization, which participants are engaged in collecting things and clothes for poor families. Last April they even arranged a charity marathon.

Nobody Knows It

It is absurd to think that famous professors come to teach only to large Universities in megapolis? For instance, on the 27^th of September Sheila Fitzpatrick, a professor of Chicago University, held a historical lecture at HSE Perm. Also Andrea Gullotta, a professor of Glasgow University, spoke about Russian literature.

Summary

Study in small city is not a doom.

Sometimes there is not necessary to seek luck in metropolises. HSE campuses are located in Perm and Nizhniy Novgorod.

Text by
Alexandra Firak