Alexander N. Shokhin

'The HSE develops decent people, and if they do not settle for less, but try to practice what they were taught, then society itself will be what they want it to be’

'The President is, so to say, an invented position.

It was created in order to involve me in the university life while taking into account my lack of time. I mostly work with external organizations. My key task is lobbying for the interests of higher education in general as well as issues connected with its modernization.

Now the state needs professionals. Primarily, it needs people who are able to calculate options and build strategies. We should remember that a bureaucratic state needs more state officials than a liberal one. But I don't want such a future for HSE graduates. I would like them to live in a country where a government official is responsible for his decisions and is hired under a contract where all procedures are visible. By the way, developing such procedures is also a task for HSE graduates. But I would not recommend going directly to government fresh from university. Authority is a cynical thing. And to avoid being trapped in bureaucratic systems, it is necessary to toughen up. That's why it is better to start by working in a business or academic environment, to decide, what power should be like, what the state should be like, and how relationships between business and government should be built. What is essential for work in governmental bodies is keeping your focus and avoiding ‘mutation'.

I believe that the HSE is not only an economics university. It is a classic university which, so far, lacks faculties of chemistry and physics.

The HSE develops decent people, and if they do not settle for less, but try to practice what they were taught, then society itself will be what they want it to be.'

Alexander Shokhin