From July 26th - 30th the VIII International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICCEES) Congress took place in Stockholm. The event takes place once every five years and brings together researchers from Russia and East Europe. This time 14 teachers and researchers from the HSE took part in the Congress, the largest delegation from one institution at the forum. Some participants of the Congress told us about the event.

On August 2nd an opening ceremony of the 10th international summer school Baltic Practice took place in Oslo. Nina Belyaeva, Academic Supervisor of the School, told us about the specifics of this year's event.

From July 10th – 25th the joint Russian-Swiss Summer School took place in Moscow and Lucerne. 13 students from the HSE and 22 students from the University of Lucerne participated in it.

This year a new master’s programme is being launched at the HSE Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs – International Relations in Euroatlantic and Eurasian Communities. Sergey Karaganov, Dean of the Faculty, and Maxim Bratersky, Programme Coordinator and Professor at the Department of World Politics, told us about the new course.

Recently at the decision of the HSE Academic Council Andrey Melville was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Applied Political Sciences, and Professor Mark Urnov became Academic Supervisor of the Faculty. The new dean Andrey Melville told us about the prospects for the Faculty's development, about research activities and undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

New amendments have been made to the Russian migration law allowing highly qualified experts with citizenship of other countries to work in Russian universities. Boris Zhelezov, HSE Deputy Vice Rector for international relations, told us how the situation was repaired after its breakdown last autumn.

A delegation from the Strategic Consultation Committee of the Shanghai Government visited the Higher School of Economics and met with HSE experts on urban development on July 19th.

On July 15th students from the HSE and the University of Lucerne met with Stefan Estermann, Deputy Ambassador of Switzerland in Russia. The meeting took place at the HSE as part of the Russian-Swiss Summer School.

In early June, educational standards of the HSE were approved at a session of the University’s Academic Council. Sergey Roshchin, HSE Vice Rector, told us about the core of the innovation.