HSE UNITY FEST, a large-scale, three-day celebration of national cultures, has taken place at HSE University. The event was an opportunity to make new friends and experience a true sense of unity, and visitors could immerse themselves in the cultures of different nations, explore their traditions and values, and take part in workshops and games. Students shared their impressions of the event with the HSE News Service.

In late October 2025, HSE University students achieved outstanding results in several Capture the Flag competitions on information security. Five students joined the Moscow national team, which won the Russian Sports Programming Championship, while three other HSE teams became finalists and winners of the UralCUP CTF and the Kuban CTF tournaments. 

HSE University's Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs hosted a celebration of the Indian holiday Diwali, which symbolises the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. Guests were immersed in the authentic atmosphere of India, learning about Diwali’s traditions and symbols, participating in national dances, and taking part in mehendi workshops, rangoli art with rice, and paper lanterns making. The event was organised as part of the ‘Holidays of the Peoples of the East’ project.

On November 9, 2025, the HSE CS × BRICS Ideathon—a large-scale intensive event for students aimed at developing international project skills and finding solutions to current challenges facing BRICS countries—took place at HSE University’s Pokrovsky Bulvar campus. 

In October 2025, more than 200 international students began their studies on HSE University’s International Preparatory Year. After a month of rigorous in-class learning, they gathered for a more informal event—the Russian Speaking Club—where they met classmates from other groups. The HSE University News Service spoke with students, teachers, and administrators about the programme’s progress and expansion.

The world’s first annual software engineering olympiad for secondary school students—PROD—is expanding internationally. Schoolchildren in grades 8–11 from around the world are invited to participate. For the first time, the competition will be held in both Russian and English. The organisers of the International PROD Olympiad are Central University and T-Technologies Group, the parent company of T-Bank, in partnership with the HSE Faculty of Computer Science.

In October, Mikhail Simonov reaffirmed his title as the Russian ring racing champion in the premier TCR Russia class, becoming the youngest champion in the history of this category. The racing champion is a second-year student in the Master’s Programme in International Sports Management, Marketing, and Law at HSE University. In an interview with the HSE News Service, he shared his perspective on how to succeed both in professional sports and in academics.

Denis Bodrov studies particle physics and works at one of the four electron–positron colliders in the world. In this interview with the HSE Young Scientists project, he talks about his efforts to go beyond the Standard Model, discusses tau leptons, and shares his affection for Moscow.

Schola continues to introduce the winners of the International Academic Cooperation competition. Professor Andrey Vasenko, Deputy Head of the Scientific and Educational Laboratory of Quantum Nanoelectronics at HSE MIEM, speaks about the joint project between his laboratory and the Peking University research team—‘Engineering of highly efficient and stable perovskite solar cells.’