HSE Gears up for Staff and Student Conference: A Look Back at the Faculty of Computer Science
.jpg){kind=link}
On March 20, a conference for HSE staff and students will take place at HSE. It will consider the university’s development programme and elect the new Academic Council. The previous conference took place five years ago, in 2014, and the university has changed a lot since then. HSE News Service talked with some of the university leaders about how their own work at the University has changed over this period.
Today, the HSE News Service spoke with Ivan Arzhantsev, Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science, which was opened in 2014, about how things have changed in the Faculty of Computer Science.
Ivan Arzhantsev
What’s the main difference between the Faculty of Computer Science of 2014 and now?
The faculty has grown both qualitatively and quantitatively. In 2014, there were two bachelor’s programmes, and now there are three — we launched the HSE and University of London Parallel Degree Programme in International Relations, which is taught in English.
In 2014, our faculty had 321 enrolled first-year bachelor’s students, and in 2018 we had 508. We used to have two master's programmes, and now there are six. In 2014, we had 72 enrolled first-year master’s students, and in 2018 there were 223. Applicants to both the bachelor’s and master’s programmes are becoming stronger every year. There were three joint departments, and now there are five of them — we’ve opened a Joint Department with the RAS Institute for System Programming and a Joint Department with SAS. There were two laboratories, and now there are nine. Moreover, a number of research metrics show significant qualitative growth in our research and teaching.
What has been the main achievement over this time?
We have a lot of achievements; it’s difficult to choose the one. I would say the eight grants from the Russian Science Foundation, the opening of the Samsung Laboratory, our joining the CERN collaboration, our Faculty’s noticeable improvement in the rankings, the enrolment of the first cohort in the 'Applied Mathematics and Information Science' programme, the ABET accreditation of our ‘Software Engineering’ programme, the successful start of the programme 'HSE and University of London Double Degree Programme in Data Science and Business Analytics’, the enrolment of 39 winners of the final round of the All-Russia Olympiad for School Students in our bachelor’ programmes in 2018, our new joint projects with Yandex, the development of bioinformatics, our Data Culture project, the development of continuing education programmes, the IDAO Olympiad, our joint master’s programmes with Sberbank and Skoltech, our courses and specializations on Coursera, electives, open computer science days, computer schools in Lipetsk, work with "Sirius" Centre, and many more.
What do you want to work on or improve next?
I wish more students considered careers in academia as the main career path. There has been a positive trend over the last two years. I’m worried about the lack of defense projects of doctoral students. We have problems with patents and registration of intellectual activity results. We have applied for the megagrant competition (220th Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation) several times, but we haven’t succeeded yet. However, I look forward to our success.
What would you say to yourself and your colleagues if you were to go back to 2014?
I would repeat that I’m sure of our success.
What is HSE’s main goal for the next five years?
We need to strengthen the Faculty’s position as a leader in attracting renowned researchers, innovative teachers and the strongest applicants, as well as our position as an established specialist platform at the intersection of academic science, applied research and industry.
As for the main tasks of the Faculty for the next 5 years, I would also include further work on creating the Faculty core and improving the quality of teaching; graduate school development; cooperation with the world's leading research centres and the internationalization of educational programmes; the formation of the faculty Board of Trustees; the systematization of our work with companies and participation in major technological projects; the development of the faculty as a driver of inter-faculty and transdisciplinary interaction; and active work with graduates.
The conference agenda has been approved by the Academic Council and includes the following items:
- Review of the report on the ‘HSE Development Programme for 2009–2015 and up to 2020’ and discussion of its progress since 2014;
- Discussion of the key points in the HSE University Development Programme up to 2030;
- Election of the HSE Academic Council;
- Election of a representative body representing the interests of HSE staff.
When and where will it take place?
The conference will take place on March 20, 2019, at 1pm, in the HSE building on 57 Trifonovskaya Ulitsa, Moscow (Conference Hall).
Photos: HSE
See also:
University Meets the Interests of Russia: Key Priorities of HSE Development
On March 19, the HSE Staff and Student Conference, which was attended by 727 delegates, took place at the Russia Expo. At the event, a vote for 87 candidates to the elected part of the HSE Academic Council was held, all of which received the required number of votes.
HSE and Yandex to Expand Collaboration in Training AI Specialists
Over the next ten years, the partnership between Yandex and the HSE Faculty of Computer Science (FCS) will broaden across three key areas: launching new educational programmes, advancing AI research, and exploring the application of generative neural networks in the educational process. Established by HSE University and Yandex a decade ago, the Faculty of Computer Science has since emerged as a frontrunner in training developers and experts in AI and machine learning, with a total of 3,385 graduates from the faculty over this period.
‘HSE Has What It Takes to Work Together and Achieve Great Things for Our Country’
At the HSE Staff and Student Conference, which took place at the Russia Expo on March 19, 2024, HSE Rector Nikita Anisimov presented an overview of the university's key achievements from 2019 to 2023.
Two HSE Researchers Receive Yandex ML Prize
Two researchers from the HSE Faculty of Computer Science—Aibek Alanov, Junior Research Fellowat the Centre of Deep Learning and Bayesian Methods, Research Fellow at AIRI; and Pavel Braslavski, Associate Professor, Senior Research Fellow at the Laboratory for Models and Methods of Computational Pragmatics—are among the winners of the 2023Yandex ML Prize (formerly the Ilya Segalovich Award).
Days of Computer Science Held as HSE University
Every spring, HSE University’s Faculty of Computer Science, which this year turns nine years old, traditionally opens its doors and invites everyone to a festival. This time, more than 20 events with over 2,000 registered participants were held between April 8th and 16th as part of the Days of Computer Science.
Light Breezes Improve Moods of Social Media Users
Sergey Smetanin, Research Fellow of the HSE Graduate School of Business, conducted a large-scale analysis to examine the impact of weather conditions on the sentiments expressed by users of the Odnoklassniki (OK) social network. The findings have been published in PeerJ Computer Science. This is the first study of its kind in Russia.
Three HSE Researchers Receive Ilya Segalovich Award
Three researchers of the HSE Faculty of Computer Science are among the winners of the 2022 Ilya Segalovich Award: Research Professor Dmitry Vetrov, Associate Professor Alexey Naumov and doctoral student Sergey Samsonov. The award, established by Yandex in 2019, is aimed at supporting young researchers and the scientific community in the field of IT in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
HSE University to Develop Cooperation with Organisations in Armenia
A delegation from the embassy of Armenia has visited HSE University. Vice Rector Victoria Panova and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the Russian Federation Vagharshak Harutyunyan discussed prospects for cooperation in education and science.
‘Client-Oriented Approach to Our International Applicants’
HSE Rector Nikita Anisimov joined the university in July 2021. In an exclusive interview to RBC he spoke about the important events that have happened at HSE University since then, whether it was necessary to quit the Bologna system, and how to attract international students to Russian universities. Here, HSE News Service publishes some of the highlights of this interview.
‘Computer Methods of Cognitome Analysis’ Conference to Explore New Perspectives on Memory and Consciousness
On September 1–3, the HSE International Laboratory of Algebraic Topology and Its Applications will host the international conference 'Computer Methods of Cognitome Analysis'. Konstantin Sorokin, Research Assistant at the Laboratory and organiser of the conference, spoke about the main topics of the event and his hope that it will inspire pure mathematicians, physicists and computer scientists to apply their knowledge and intuition to the problems of brain-function mechanisms.