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Impressive Growth, Dynamic Momentum, Tangible Success
© HSE University
Heads of HSE University’s departments and campuses discuss their accomplishments and the implementation of global initiatives with HSE University Life.
HSE Rector
— Dear members of the HSE community!
I wish you a happy New Year 2026! The New Year holidays are approaching—a time of joy, long-awaited reunions, warmth, and hope for the best.
HSE University has achieved many victories and successes over the past year. Ultimately, each of us—every member of our team—can take credit for these accomplishments. Of course, it is important not to stop here but to continue moving forward, embrace new challenges, and further strengthen our standing as a first-class university. But today, I thank each of you with all my heart and would like to express special gratitude to your loved ones—your families and friends. After all, they are our source of strength and inspiration, and their support is invaluable. I extend my separate congratulations and warmest wishes to them as well.
Dear friends! May the coming year 2026 bring many wonderful events into our lives and be filled with memorable moments. Wishing you good health and happiness!
Happy New Year!
HSE Vice Rector
— The year 2025 marked a period of new scale, significant discoveries, and outstanding achievements for the pre-university training projects. The admissions campaign served as a key indicator of success: both the number of applicants and the number of first-year students increased. It should also be noted that the admissions process took place under fundamentally new conditions, due to changes at both the federal and university levels. Admission to fee-paying places was particularly competitive this year, yet we successfully selected the strongest students for our bachelor’s, specialist, and master’s programmes. We increased the number of participants in the Special Military Operation and their family members who will study locally free of charge at the university’s expense. I would also like to highlight the record results in the admission of winners and prizewinners of the final stage of the All-Russian Olympiad of School Students: 530 students were enrolled in their first year without entrance exams.
This year, our Open Day became more technologically advanced and human-centred in many respects—from an AI-powered chatbot to a new navigation format. In line with current government priorities, we expanded the programme to include a dedicated section on the opportunities of admission to target places. In addition, for the first time, we held a webinar for applicants from other regions, highlighting the advantages of targeted education and introducing potential partner companies.
The HSE Lyceum once again topped the ranking of Russian schools by the number of graduates admitted to leading Russian universities and also entered the top 20 schools in Moscow. This year, we launched the Online Lyceum, which enables students in grades 10–11 from across Russia to pursue their studies remotely, visit Moscow only twice a year, and earn a Lyceum certificate upon completion.
In 2025, for the first time, the Faculty of Pre-University Training launched a free preparatory department for 11th-grade school students and school graduates of previous years who are eligible for benefits. The programme is offered along two tracks—socio-humanitarian and technological—and is accessible to students from any region through its online format.
HSE University continues to be an active participant in the International Movement for Financial Security; in 2025, we hosted the final founding conference of the movement. In addition, we organised several events to promote financial literacy, including the All-Russian Professional Skills Competition for Teachers, 'Financial Change,' a conference on fostering financial culture in the context of digitalisation, and the All-Russian Online Financial Literacy Test.
The year ended with an upgrade in our information outreach to school students: we launched a dedicated landing page where students and their parents can explore the full range of available activities, as well as a Telegram channel, allowing them to stay informed about current events and news.
Like HSE University itself, our pre-university training projects are rich in diversity, but our true strength lies in the due attention we give to each component and in the unity of our team. Colleagues, I warmly congratulate you on the upcoming New Year and wish you many successful joint projects at our university! May everyone feel the support of their colleagues and find inspiration for new achievements!
HSE Vice Rector
— We bid farewell to 2025 as a year of dynamic, inspiring, and significant events and decisions. HSE University has always been a trendsetter in the field of university human resources development. We began the year 2025 by establishing a Corporate Academy, whose mission is to foster the growth of both individual employees and teams, while also addressing the university’s strategic goals. Much has been accomplished over the year: we have been actively developing a comprehensive system for professional and personal growth, expanding the range of continuing professional development programmes, retraining opportunities, master classes, trainings, and business simulations. We launched our own CPD programmes to address the needs of various university subdivisions. We place a strong emphasis on cross-functional collaboration within HSE University, engaging the best instructors. The Corporate Academy serves as a platform for providing expert support and for involving staff in the university’s projects and social initiatives. We focus in particular on the interests of our employees, and consequently on the corporate communities. To support their development, in 2025 we opened the HSE Sports Community Support Centre, which actively promotes sports during the workweek and helps improve the physical fitness and health of both employees and students. We also launched the Intellectual Games Centre, which organises tournaments, championships, and master classes in various games.
Social support and protection of our employees remain a priority and an important objective. In 2025, the Office of Staff and Student Benefits began reviewing all social services provided, taking a significant first step by expanding insurance coverage and optimising voluntary medical insurance (VMI) plans. Notably, as a result of these changes, the number of insured employees has increased by nearly 60%, while the out-of-pocket contribution from employees has been reduced by more than half.
The number of employees receiving financial assistance expanded significantly in 2025, with an increase of 300 compared to 2024.
Employee care also includes regular recognition of their achievements. In 2025, more than 70 employees received awards and honorary titles at the state and departmental levels. In addition, the internal rewards system was updated, reflected in the new Regulations on the Rewards and Incentives System.
In 2025, the HR Office focused on providing comfortable, straightforward, and reliable services for both current and new employees. The team worked to simplify the processes for requesting annual paid leave and onboarding new staff. Candidates no longer need to visit the university multiple times—they now interact with the HR Office only once, during the final signing of the employment agreement. Errors in data entry are minimised, and the overall processing time for new employees has been significantly reduced. Next year, we will continue training administrators through the CPD programme 'Administrative Support for Activities of HSE Subdivisions,' designed to foster new competencies for effective administrative support of the university’s academic subdivisions.
The year 2025 was truly significant for HSE University’s human resources policy. Throughout the year, we focused on supporting everyone who, day by day, strengthens HSE’s position as one of the leading universities in our country.
In the New Year, I wish you renewed strength and inspiration. May this year give you more opportunities to spend time with your loved ones, and we will continue to support you. I wish you and your families good health, happiness, and joyful moments together!
HSE Vice Rector
— In 2025, we continued to advance our development efforts, focusing on reengineering and optimising business processes, expanding digital services and tools, fostering a service-oriented approach, and implementing business analytics.
Our key priorities remain unchanged: enhancing the university’s operational efficiency, investing in human resources and technology, and developing new business models and projects.
1. Using data to manage business processes
Process Mining has become a key tool for advancing financial management and operational analytics. This approach provides a clear view of the university’s actual processes and helps improve the efficiency of back-office operations.
2. Artificial intelligence and operational management
The financial cluster is actively engaged in discussions on the future of operational management and the application of artificial intelligence. Our collaboration with partners focuses on implementing intelligent analysis, accounting, and management tools to enable more accurate, data-driven management decisions.
3. Transformation of the Finance Front Office
A natural next step was the transformation of the Finance Front Office into an Operations Service Centre. Today, the centre integrates over 30 services, caters for approximately 7,000 users, and operates according to principles of human-centricity, transparency, and a service-oriented approach.
4. Advancement of digital services
We make sure that process reengineering is driven not by abrupt changes but by data analysis and careful evaluation of business processes, followed by improvements to user experience. In particular, digital services for business trips have been enhanced, including online verification of expense reports, the SmartWay online business trip service, and the deployment of robots to automate routine tasks.
5. Property accounting system
In 2025, the Inventory and Property Management system (1C: IUI) was launched for financially accountable personnel. This enabled us to digitise paper-based processes, reduce document processing time by 10–15 times, simplify document signing, and provide online access to data on the movement of material assets. Plans are underway to expand the system’s functionality, including automation of inventory and barcoding.
6. Support for R&D commercialisation
We continue to develop a value-creation model that benefits the government, business, and the university itself. The financial cluster supports projects at every stage—from assessing commercial potential and developing financial models to financing intellectual property. Priority is given to projects with a clear focus on the real market and specific end users. To date, HSE University has developed a portfolio of products offered under a licensed model.
7. New HSE University-St Petersburg building
One of the most significant developments in 2025 was the opening of HSE University's new building in St Petersburg, housed in the historic Rope Shop of the Red Nailer factory. Following extensive restoration and reconstruction, the space has been revitalised and can now accommodate over 4,000 students. This project is among HSE University's key achievements of the year.
Result
All of the past year’s achievements were made possible by the daily dedication of our large team of finance professionals.
Each project is the result of our collective efforts. In 2026, we will continue to work with the same high efficiency, focused on achieving new and even more ambitious goals.
Vice-Rector, Director of the HSE Tikhonov Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics
— Over the year 2025, MIEM continued to move forward—developing new research areas, forming new partnerships, introducing changes to the educational process, and, as a result, setting ambitious new goals, such as becoming one of the hubs of technological leadership.
First, I would like to highlight the outstanding awards, achievements, and victories of MIEM’s scientists, faculty, and students. Thus, Professor Vladimir Pudalov was elected a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Professor Konstantin Petrosyants was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; and Professor Maxim Kagan was awarded the title of Professor of the Year in Physics by the Russian Professorial Society. Significant recognition also came from the industry: Professor Roman Solovyov was named a winner of Sber's Science Award.
In another major achievement, HSE students won gold at two of Russia's largest CTF competitions—the Russian Sports Programming Championship and the CTF Russian Cup—and also secured several medals of various levels at major national and international tournaments. This success is directly linked to the fact that in 2025, MIEM enrolled a significant number (22!) of winners and prizewinners of the All-Russian Olympiad of School Students in information security. They chose to continue their education in our programmes, a tangible result of the dedicated efforts of our specialists and teachers over the past several years. I would like to take this opportunity to once again sincerely congratulate my colleagues—scientists, faculty, and students—on these remarkable achievements.
Significant changes have unfolded in education. Five MIEM's degree programmes are directly focused on training specialists in data protection. For this reason, we have decided to establish the School of Cybersecurity Studies, which will unite the efforts of dozens of MIEM faculty members, researchers, and departments working in this field.
MIEM has launched two new master’s programmes—AI Technologies in Telecommunications and Digital Engineering for Computer Games. With regard to the former, I would like to highlight an important educational priority: today, we are significantly updating the content of all our programmes by actively integrating the teaching of AI technologies.
In terms of admissions figures, this academic year our Bachelor’s Programme in Computer Science and Engineering ranked first among all HSE University’s programmes by number of applications.
MIEM is well known for its strong research tradition, which today is reflected in a wide range of studies. Among the notable developments of 2025 are several new projects launched with support from the Russian Science Foundation, as well as two additional large-scale research projects under the National Technology Initiative aimed at attaining Russia’s technological leadership. Overall, in 2025 we increased the volume of applied research and development by 2.5 times—an important and highly significant positive result.
In addition, MIEM is involved in four projects under the HSE AI Centre. A major achievement for the institute this year was the launch of three international projects—with universities in China and Brazil, as well as a mirror laboratory with the University of Delhi. These projects focus on strategic research areas, including space exploration and the use of superconducting materials. A significant portion of this research is conducted by the Centre for Software Development and Digital Services, a joint initiative of MIEM and the HSE Financial Office.
Intensive collaboration with the IT industry remains a strategic priority for us. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our key partners—VK, MTS, T2, YADRO, InfoWatch, EkoNiva Group, and representatives of other partner companies—for their constructive cooperation. Over the year 2025, we significantly expanded the list of partners involved in our educational and project activities. The most notable event of the year was directly related to project work and industry collaboration: the major MIEM Tech Day festival, where we brought together our strongest MIEM project teams, friends from the IT industry, leading experts, and numerous guests at HSE University’s main campus on Pokrovsky Bulvar.
Everyone visiting MIEM for the first time and observing its coworking spaces and laboratories, notices the unique spirit of engineering camaraderie and collaboration shared by students, faculty, and staff. Maintaining this constant creative energy and launching new initiatives, projects, and research for the benefit of MIEM, HSE University, and society, is the noble goal that all of us at MIEM will pursue in the coming year.
HSE Senior Director
— 2025 was a highly productive year for HSE University’s CPD programmes. We set an ambitious revenue growth target of nearly 20%—and exceeded it. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all colleagues who demonstrated particularly rapid growth and significantly improved on last year’s performance, including the HSE Campus in Nizhny Novgorod, the Faculty of Computer Science, the Faculty of Social Sciences, and the Higher School of Law and Administration.
We conducted several significant marketing studies, launched the Laboratory of Educational and Project Solutions for CPD Programmes, and laid the groundwork for a qualitative transformation of our CPD portfolio in the coming year.
Nearly 3,000 people attended our CPD Forum that has now received national recognition and become a valued tradition—a central platform for discussing industry issues, bringing together professionals from across the country, from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka.
In the New Year 2026, we have many ambitions—not only to achieve even higher revenue targets and, for the first time in HSE University’s history, surpass the 3-billion-ruble mark, but also to develop a fundamentally new business model for university CPD, aimed at increasing our market share and finding a niche where we could compete with EdTech companies. Of course, the cornerstone of this new model must be a revision of the approach to creating educational products. As a project-oriented university with a strong partner network and a deep understanding of the labour market, we must align CPD with a human-centric approach, becoming a university where top professionals can address their career needs through the principles of lifelong learning.
Director, HSE Campus in St Petersburg
— The year 2025 was both significant and successful for HSE University–St Petersburg in many ways. On Student’s Day, we opened a new building in the renovated Rope Workshop on Vasilyevsky Island. These are not just new classrooms; it is a multifunctional space that supports a distinctive approach to research, education, and collaboration with partners. Our integration into the life of St Petersburg reflects the university’s vision as an open platform for collaboration and a centre of expertise.
HSE University–St Petersburg continued to expand into new fields. In 2025, we launched five educational programmes, including Architecture, Computer Game Programming, and Business Consulting. Master’s programmes in Psychology and Social Entrepreneurship are scheduled to begin in 2026.
Researchers at HSE University–St Petersburg have demonstrated high competitiveness and practical significance of their work. This is reflected not only in a record number of grants from the Russian Science Foundation but also in the increasing funding for research commissioned by businesses and government agencies.
HSE University–St Petersburg has strengthened its international profile. The International Partner Week, which we hosted at the Rope Workshop, attracted an unprecedented number of participants. More than 100 representatives from 50 leading universities across 23 countries came to St Petersburg to discuss the challenges and opportunities of global partnerships. One of the key outcomes has been the growth of joint international research projects involving our scientists and colleagues from around the world.
But the greatest achievement of 2025 is that HSE University–St Petersburg has built a strong team of like-minded people. After all, it is our daily work, dedication, and genuine love for the university that drive all our accomplishments. Together, we set the pace for progress--attracting new partners, implementing ambitious and innovative projects, and becoming a magnet for talent.
In the New Year 2026, I wish you success and remarkable achievements. May you always feel the support of your team, take pride in your colleagues, and in the work we do together. We are united by an important goal—to grow, develop, and create a unique environment where everyone can work, study, and conduct research comfortably. The year 2025 has shown that we are capable of achieving anything! Happy holidays, dear members of the HSE community!
Director, HSE Campus in Nizhny Novgorod
— Looking back on the incredibly eventful year of 2025, it is gratifying to recognise that HSE University–Nizhny Novgorod has made significant progress across multiple areas, expanding its presence and influence within the academic and educational landscape of the region.
We continue to be the choice of the brightest and most talented students from across the country. We are among the leading Russian universities in training AI specialists and ranked 4th among the top 30 universities for admissions in 2025, according to student preferences.
In 2025, the HSE Campus in Nizhny Novgorod entered the top three in the National Graduate Employability Ranking on the Rabota Rossii (Employment in Russia) portal, further confirming our reputation as a proactive and highly sought-after partner for employers.
In 2025, the advancement of our campus’ educational activities went hand in hand with an expansion of partnerships. We saw particularly strong interest from major companies seeking a wide range of collaboration formats. By way of example, we signed partnership agreements with Avito, School 21 by Sber, the MIR Educational Complex in Dobrograd, and the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushkin House), among others. We also updated the format of our Joint Department with Sber and joined a network-based project between HSE University and Alfa Bank to launch a master’s programme in FinTech.
Another important infrastructural milestone was the opening of modern and comfortable co-living spaces with our long-standing partner, NEIMARK University, where our students are now accommodated. All of this, of course, enhances the campus’ educational and extracurricular environment.
Our educational partnership with the NEIMARK IT Campus continues to grow. In addition to the network-based Bachelor’s Programme in Artificial and Augmented Intelligence Technologies, the joint Master’s Programme in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision has been available since 2025.
The year 2025 demonstrated strong demand for high-quality online education. This is confirmed by the successful launch and growing popularity of new online programmes, particularly the Master’s in Digital Marketing.
We are also very pleased with the success of our CPD programmes, which collectively rank first among HSE campuses in terms of both revenue and number of graduates. The figures speak for themselves: since 2022, the number of programmes has tripled, revenue has increased more than sevenfold, and the number of graduates has grown nearly fivefold.
The foundation of these achievements is the campus’ strong research core, which has also delivered a number of significant results. Our mathematicians, Oleg Galkin and Ivan Remizov, solved Paul Chernoff's problem posed 57 years ago—an accomplishment of global scientific significance. We are extremely proud of our colleagues. In 2025, Professor Alexey Slunyaev was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the field of physics. Maria Khudyakova, Director of the Centre for Language and Brain, which studies the linguistic and neural mechanisms of language impairment in patients following neurosurgery, received the TOP50: The Most Famous People of Nizhny Novgorod award in the Science and Technology category from NN.Sobaka.ru.
HSE University’s strength lies in its students, and in 2025, we repeatedly witnessed them excel not only academically. They achieved outstanding results at hackathons and olympiads, celebrated victories in sports, and, of course, demonstrated remarkable creative talent—for example, winning nine awards at the 33rd Russian Student Spring Festival in Kazan. And of course, the news that became a New Year’s gift for all of us was that our student team reached the finals of the ICPC International Collegiate Programming Contest. We believe in them and will be cheering them on in the finals.
To me, this truly reflects the spirit of HSE University: through hard work and overcoming challenges, we create results that are both vivid and comprehensive. It can be compared to a kaleidoscope, where a breathtaking pattern of achievements emerges from diverse—and sometimes complex—pieces that are not always perfectly shaped. Together, they form a whole that combines strong education, in-demand research, close partnerships with industry, and a vibrant student life.
In the New Year 2026, I wish for all of us, inspired by the beauty of this pattern, celebrating our victories, and supporting one another, to continue advancing toward our most ambitious goals, while also caring for those around us along the way.
Dean, Faculty of Economic Sciences
— In 2025, the Faculty of Economic Sciences reinforced its leadership in Russia across a wide range of economics fields, with our researchers publishing more than 150 papers in leading A- and B-list journals. We organised and hosted four major academic conferences, showcasing the university’s leadership in areas such as applied econometrics, statistical methods for economic and social analysis, and the ESG agenda of corporations. We also hosted the first International Conference 'Russia—USSR—Russia: Development of Russian Economic Thought in the 19th to Early 21st Centuries,' attended by Russian and international scholars studying the history of Russian economic thought. The faculty is also actively expanding its expertise in emerging fields. In 2025, the Centre for Big Data in Economics and Finance was established within FES to develop new theoretical approaches and address applied challenges in the field of big data.
We strive to make FES’s research accessible and understandable to a broad audience, using a variety of formats such as news, reports, and interviews. In 2025, we launched our own video podcast, 'This is FES-Shui,' where we discuss the research interests and personal hobbies of our faculty, as well as life in academia. To attract new fellows—including researchers, postdocs, and doctoral students—and the most talented applicants, we have maintained a continuous flow of news about our scientific achievements. Over the year, we produced 20 research releases, several of which reached millions of readers through leading media outlets and popular social networks. On the FES Telegram channel, at least 70 posts discussed research papers by our faculty, not counting updates on presentations, workshops, and academic conferences.
The past year has been one of active expansion of global relations for the Faculty of Economic Sciences. We not only continued our close collaboration with existing international partners—actively developing academic mobility programmes in Italy, Hungary, Turkey, and China, and hosting traditional events such as the joint workshop with the Shanghai University School of Economics in December—but also worked productively to broaden the geographic scope of our partnerships. In particular, the foundations of cooperation were established with leading universities in China, including Tsinghua University and Wuhan University, which FES representatives visited in October 2025. A cooperation and exchange agreement with the University of Novi Sad (Serbia) is currently being finalised, and active negotiations with leading Indian universities are opening new prospects for international collaborations. Building relationships with faculty alumni pursuing careers abroad has also become an important part of FES’s global engagement. The FES Alumni Brown Bag Seminar Series, launched in May 2025, has already brought together participants from Germany, Kazakhstan, China, Luxembourg, the USA, and France.
The year 2025 was yet another year of high standards in the recruitment of applicants to FES programmes. Bachelor’s programmes recorded the highest entrance scores for state-funded places, ranging from 291 to 305 out of a possible 310 points, depending on the programme. A record number of olympiad winners and prizewinners were admitted to state-funded places—131 in total, including 68 winners and prizewinners of the All-Russian Olympiad of School Students in Economics.
For the second year in a row, enrolment in fee-paying places in bachelor’s programmes at FES has been around 500 students—489 in 2025, including 8 international students, and 521 in 2024, including 13 international students. These are the highest figures in the faculty’s history.
The faculty is steadily expanding its online bachelor’s and master’s programmes, demonstrating that online education has a strong market niche and a solid reputation. In 2025, enrolment in online programmes reached 159 students—114 in master’s programmes and 45 in bachelor’s programmes.
The faculty’s master’s programmes continue to hold strong competitive positions. FES offers nearly 200 state-funded places—190 to be exact—the highest number of state-funded places among master’s programmes at Russian universities. Meanwhile, the faculty’s practice-oriented master’s programmes in Economics and Finance have attracted almost 2.5 times as many students as those in state-funded places, enrolling 494 applicants.
The faculty is steadily expanding its engagement with partners. In close collaboration with key partners, FES organized two major career fairs in 2025: 'FES Graduates and Their Employers' in March and 'NP RTS Association Career Day' in November. These events were attended by more than 30 companies, including some of Russia’s largest employers, such as Sber, Bank of Russia, DOM.RF, Gazprombank, Avito, Soglasie Insurance, Absolut Bank, CROC, hh.ru, Sovcombank, VTB Bank, Kept, Russian Railways, Unilever Rus, TeDo, Business Solutions and Technologies, B1, SPB Exchange, T-Bank, TCB, Uralsib Bank, Derzhava Bank, Alor Broker, Cifra Broker, Ricom-Trust, INFINITUM, NRK-R.O.S.T., Solid Broker, Rosgosstrakh, Ingosstrakh, Ingosstrakh-Life, and NP RTS Association. Today, wide interest in such events is reflected in the participation of 1,500–2,000 students.
The faculty offers both in-person and online schools for applicants to bachelor’s and master’s programmes. In 2025, three main events were held as part of this tradition: the HSE School of Social and Economic Sciences for high school students, the FES Economic School for 9th–11th graders, and the Winter Economic School on Sustainable Development for master’s programme applicants (organised jointly with ICEF and the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs).
In collaboration with industry partners and with the participation of alumni, two case championships ‘Best Employers in Russia’ were held jointly with SBS Consulting for students from leading universities. These events continued the strong partnership trend of the previous season and were attended by VTB, Unilever, Russian Railways, DOM.RF, Sber, and Procter & Gamble. In addition, the faculty organised five career guidance sessions for bachelor’s applicants, led jointly by academic programme managers and industry partners, six open talks with major employers, and numerous other events. All of these initiatives bring together school and university students, as well as the academic and business communities, with a single goal: to enrich the personal and professional development of young people in Russia and make their advancement more attractive, engaging, and productive.
Dean, Faculty of Creative Industries
— The year 2025 was a natural continuation of the decade that our faculty celebrated in the previous year. It marked a transition to a qualitatively new level—shifting from dealing with short-term tactical tasks to developing a long-term strategy aimed at addressing the key challenges facing the higher education system and the entire country. This strategic development was made possible through constructive dialogue with relevant government ministries, the business community, and university leadership.
Today, as the country’s Strategy for the Development of the Creative Economy is being drafted, our mission becomes especially important and clear: we train highly qualified specialists capable of addressing strategic objectives. These professionals form a strong foundation for strengthening Russia’s informational and technological sovereignty in the context of global transformation.
The year 2025 was declared by the Russian President as the Year of the 80th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland. The Faculty of Creative Industries actively engaged with this patriotic agenda, enriching it with concrete initiatives and meaningful, living content. The faculty team implemented the projects 'Voices of the Grandchildren of War Victors' and 'Grandchildren of War Victors,' and organised a series of expeditions to sites of military glory. A special nomination dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory was introduced as part of the 15th LIME International Festival of Social Advertising and Communications. It received a strong response from participants and clearly demonstrated how modern media can engage with historical memory and socially significant themes, thereby contributing to the fulfilment of the university’s social mission.
In 2025, the faculty hosted a series of large-scale research and practice conferences that had a significant impact on shaping the industry’s regulatory and methodological framework and contributed to strengthening dialogue between the academic and professional communities. Among them were the conference 'Methodology of Communication Research: Industry, Science, Education,' hosted by the School of Communication; the Third Student Conference 'Young Media'; and the First All-Russian Conference 'Modern Media: Semantic Strategies and Personnel Training,' organised by the Institute of Media. These events brought together representatives of the academic community, government agencies, leading media holdings, and businesses. Of particular practical significance was the conference 'Strategic Development of Creative Industries,' hosted by the Institute for Creative Industries Development (ICID). Its recommendations were successfully incorporated into the drafting of the national Strategy for the Development of the Creative Economy.
To train next-generation professionals, we have designed the learning process as a continuous pathway from theory to startup creation. In 2025, two network-based master’s programmes were launched to train producers for the theatre and music industries, implemented in partnership with industry leaders. ICID successfully completed the first cohort of the Management in Creative Industries Programme, organising thesis defence in a pitching format before industry experts and thereby establishing student theses as full-fledged market-ready products. The Film Institute held its first graduate showcase on the stage of the Yermolova Theatre, where graduates presented their work to casting directors, agents, directors, and producers. The national-level competitions Reklam-Konstruktor and Reklamathon served as effective platforms for testing the creative projects of university and high school students in real-world conditions. At the same time, the faculty demonstrated a significant increase in the number of PhD thesis defences within its doctoral schools.
The faculty continued its systematic efforts to develop advanced approaches to creative education. In 2025, it published its first monograph, Creative Industries, which reinforced the faculty’s status as one of the leading centres of expertise in this field. ICID also continued regular publication of the Creative.HSE Digest, covering newsworthy developments in the creative industries. The Laboratory for Mediacommunications in Education prepared Introduction to the World of Media, a guidebook for the Media Class in Moscow Schools project designed for 10th- and 11th-grade students. It is currently the only textbook in the country that offers a comprehensive approach to media literacy education and has been used since 2025 by students in all 144 Moscow schools participating in the project.
The faculty’s achievements were highly recognised by the professional community. In 2025, the School of Communication entered the top five of the National Ranking of Advertising Agencies in the PR category for the first time, becoming the only university department included in this authoritative list. Students of the faculty won awards at major industry competitions, including PR Battle, Eventiada Awards, PROBA Awards, TEFI, FINKOR, and the Flagships of Education project as part of the platform ‘Russia—Land of Opportunities,’ among many others. The competitiveness of our educational initiatives was also confirmed by the Silver Archer Award, where the INTEGRAF project was recognised as the best educational project in the field of communications.
In 2025, the faculty continued to actively expand its presence in the country’s cultural agenda. Our flagship festival, Telling Stories Fest, served as a hub for public discussions on the present and future of the creative industries. DAFES AWARDS 2025 further solidified its status as the premier award in this field, complemented by the release of ART, a collector’s subscription edition from the HSE Art and Design School. HSE ART GALLERY, a major exhibition programme featuring more than 460 artists, attracted an audience of around 50,000 visitors. Industry collaborations further enriched this initiative. In 2025, the faculty expanded its network of partners through strategic agreements with Moskino, the National Media Group, and Gazprom Media Holding, opening new opportunities for joint projects and advancing career prospects for graduates.
The year 2025 demonstrated that the transition from tactical to strategic development requires building an integrated system of education, research, and socially significant projects that work together to advance the creative economy and strengthen the country’s informational and technological sovereignty.
Dean, Faculty of Computer Science
— For the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, 2025 was a year of significant growth, strengthened partnerships, and remarkable achievements by students, graduates, and staff across scientific, educational, and professional domains.
Science and Research
● Researchers at the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Sciences of the HSE Faculty of Computer Science presented cutting-edge AI research, characterised both by high scientific novelty and practical applicability, at the AI Journey 2025 International Conference.
● The faculty’s research teams showcased their work at prestigious international conferences, including COLT 2025 in Lyon and Fall into ML in Moscow.
● Significant interdisciplinary research has been published, including studies on predicting DNA structures (quadruplexes) using the fine-tuned DNABERT model, opening new avenues for drug development.
● The Faculty of Computer Science’s Third Research Conference at Voronovo continued, bringing together over 130 faculty scientists to discuss collaborative projects.
● Three projects to establish research and study groups won a university-wide competition. The projects focus on ML in atomic modelling, AI and data analysis in medicine, and evolutionary genomics. The groups will begin their work in January 2026.
● In September, the HSE FCS AI and Digital Science Institute organised an international foresight session on AI, covering three key foresight areas: architectures, ML algorithms, optimisation and mathematics; fundamental and generative models; governance, decision-making, and agent-based (multi-agent) models.
● The year 2025 saw a significant increase in research activity. HSE FCS ranked first among Russian universities in the number of publications at top AI conferences, including NeurIPS, and became a hub for researchers in the theoretical foundations of machine learning and computational mathematics.
● The integration of the Joint Department with the Marchuk Institute of Numerical Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences was completed, providing students—including doctoral students—with access to advanced problems in applied mathematics.
Education
In 2025, we continued to steadily develop our educational ecosystem. The number of students in our core programmes exceeded 6,100, reflecting the strong and consistent demand for high-quality IT education.
In 2025, we increased the proportion of practice-oriented courses in our master’s programmes, with over 60% of class hours now dedicated to real-world cases from industry partners. Special attention was given to strengthening our online master’s programmes: all five programmes have shown high demand, with more than 600 places expected in 2026.
Our students demonstrate strong leadership in both national and international competitions, showcasing not only their high level of knowledge and skills but also their ability to work effectively in teams and achieve results. We continue to participate in the ICPC, the world’s most prestigious programming contest, and two teams have been confirmed to be representing HSE University and Russia in the finals. Throughout the year, HSE FCS students also excelled in the Russian Competitive Programming Cup (Algorithmic Programming), the Russian RuCode Festival, and the 13th BSUIR Open Programming Championship in Minsk.
For the seventh time, the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, in partnership with Yandex Education, hosted the international AIDAO (Artificial Intelligence and Data Analysis Olympiad) competition, which attracted 248 teams from Russia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Germany, Iran, and other countries. The final was held in the atrium of HSE University’s main building on Pokrovsky Bulvar.
Four lecturers from HSE FCS were awarded the 7th Yandex ML Prize.
The faculty actively fosters international cooperation through academic mobility, research internships, and collaborative projects. In 2025, a total of 25 students—selected through faculty and university-wide competitions—participated in international academic mobility programmes across five countries.
Extracurricular Activities and Community
● We actively maintained close ties with the business community. For example, in October, together with our partners, we hosted PGConf.Academy 2025—a practice-oriented conference for IT educators.
● New educational projects were launched, including the Memory Card and ChatFCS podcasts, the Science in Art series, and HSE FCS lectures at VDNH—all contributing to popularisation of computer science.
● Traditional events were successfully held, including the Open Day, a winter school for master’s applicants, the GameJam, and the HSE Techarena Training Camp programming competitions.
● Student clubs were highly active, including the Hackathon Club, the Entrepreneurs Club, and CS Space—a technology and science club. They organised ideathons, meetups, pitch sessions, and other events.
● We held the first FCS KVN Winter Cup.
The year 2025 reaffirmed HSE University’s role as one of Russia’s leading centres for research and IT education, providing an environment that fosters talent discovery, knowledge creation, and a successful start to careers in the digital economy.
In 2026, new challenges await us: scaling up research in safe AI and robotics and strengthening our positions in global rankings. But most importantly, we remain true to our mission—to train not just specialists, but architects of the digital future.
The year 2025 demonstrated that the HSE Faculty of Computer Science is not just a faculty but a living ecosystem where science, education, and industry interact on equal terms. Our priorities are quality, depth, and sustainability.
Dean, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs
— The year 2025 was extremely eventful for the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, fully in line with our professional field. The world did not let us get bored—and neither did we let our students, colleagues, or partners be bored.
It was certainly not an easy year. We lost outstanding professionals and truly remarkable people—Andrey Karneev and Vladimir Batyuk. This is a profound loss for our team, our students, and the entire academic community, but we are committed to carrying forward the legacy of our distinguished professors. In many ways, our achievements in 2025 are a continuation of their work.
For the first time, the faculty established an international mirror laboratory in partnership with the University of Campinas, ranked second among universities in Latin America. This large-scale joint project is aimed at developing new approaches to an alternative international financial system. We also created a new institute: the Laboratory for Climate Change Economics was expanded into the Institute for Economics of Natural Resources and Climate Change. The institute has already launched a major international project in collaboration with researchers from Uzbekistan.
We added a number of flagship events, including the Tobolsk Readings held in Siberia and Moscow, the Russian Studies of Central Asia Conference, and the Shlykov Readings on Military Economics. Our regular event formats—conferences on the global economy, international regional studies, and 'Civilizations of the East'—brought together leading experts from more than 30 countries worldwide.
We were proud of our students and their victories and achievements across a wide range of venues—from international Arabic debating championships in Bahrain and Qatar to competition victories in Sakhalin, South Africa, and Brazil, as well as outstanding internships in Singapore, Italy, Mexico, Korea, Japan, and China—spanning more than 15 countries in total.
Our unique Africa track was launched, and participating students have already completed internships at the African Energy Chamber and UN missions in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Finally, we expanded into lifelong learning and continuing professional development. In the spring, we launched the School of International Cooperation, and its flagship programmes are already underway, including several that have received high praise from the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Sber. The school has implemented two unique projects for early-career researchers and senior students: the first research expedition to Central Asia and the 12th Russian–Chinese Summer School on International Relations, held with the participation of all leading universities in China.
It has been a tumultuous year, and we have no intention of slowing down—the international situation certainly does not allow it. I therefore wish all like-minded people who care deeply about the world plenty of strength, energy, and patience.
Dean, Faculty of Humanities
— The year 2025 was a period of dynamic development for the Faculty of Humanities. It confirmed that classical humanities knowledge is not only a foundation, but also a living source of meaning for addressing contemporary challenges. The faculty continued to make progress across all key areas, and the main achievements of the year are, above all, our people—researchers, students, and partners.
Research: Fundamental Discoveries and Major Developments on a New Scale
In 2025, our researchers reaffirmed the faculty's leadership in deep, groundbreaking research. We presented remarkable results, ranging from work on Novgorod birch-bark letters and the attribution of ancient Russian art to the development of an innovative commentary model for classical Chinese texts. Each of these accomplishments represents a significant contribution to both national and global humanities.
In 2025, our annual TERRA HOMINIS conference for students, including doctoral students, reached a qualitatively new level, expanding fivefold in scale. The event brought together more than 300 early-career researchers from leading Russian academic and educational centres, as well as from academic institutions in France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, firmly establishing its status as one of the key professional platforms for launching a career in the humanities.
Grant activity is also a reliable indicator of the relevance and quality of our research. More than 20 major projects supported by leading foundations reflect the collective achievements of the faculty’s researchers and provide a solid foundation for future ambitious initiatives.
Practice and Partnerships: Education Beyond the Classroom
We are convinced that true humanities education emerges at the intersection of theory and practice. That is why we provide students with unique access to leading institutions in culture, science, and business. In 2025, more than 1,600 of our students completed internships at over 70 organisations, ranging from the Hermitage Museum, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, and the Tretyakov Gallery to leading publishing houses and IT companies. We are not only expanding our network of partners but also strengthening long-term relationships, transforming one-off initiatives into systematic cooperation.
We are particularly proud of our on-site internships and expeditions. Under the guidance of faculty members, students conduct excavations in Veliky Novgorod and at the Gnezdovsky archaeological complex near Smolensk, work with monuments of the ancient Black Sea region and the medieval Caucasus, document the languages of Adygea and the Pamirs, and study the heritage of Ancient Egypt in Cairo... One of the most impressive international projects was the continuation of comprehensive research on Socotra Island (Yemen), carried out in partnership with the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and universities in the UAE. This year, archaeological reconnaissance was successfully conducted. The geography of our partnerships continues to expand: in 2025, leading universities in China and Iraq joined our partner network.
Education: Programme Renewal and Continuous Advancement
The educational process at the Faculty of Humanities also continues to evolve. In 2025, we conducted a comprehensive review and optimisation of our portfolio of educational programmes, updating their content in line with contemporary challenges. An important milestone was the launch of a joint Bachelor’s Programme in Russian Language Studies with the Mohamed Bin Zayed University for Humanities.
I would like to highlight our focus on continuing education, or, more precisely, lifelong learning. We are witnessing growing demand from experienced professionals for in-depth humanities knowledge. Programmes such as Philosophy for Entrepreneurs, Universal Art History in the Context of History and Culture, Literary History: From Classics to Postmodernity, and others are attended by executives of major companies, government administrators, deputies, and chief physicians. What matters to us is not only the financial success of these programmes but also their social mission. The Faculty of Humanities serves as a beacon—a place for university graduates from years past to return to the academic environment, engaging in serious conversations about timeless and meaningful subjects.
As we enter 2026, we do so with confidence and new plans. I sincerely wish the entire university a year of new discoveries, ambitious projects, and sustainable advancement. May the coming year be filled with inspiration, fruitful collaborations, and remarkable achievements for all departments and for each of us individually!
Dean, Faculty of Urban and Regional Development
— For our faculty, 2025 was a period of actively implementing strategic initiatives, expanding educational opportunities, strengthening international cooperation, and enhancing the professional experience of both students and faculty. We are developing FURD as a hub for interdisciplinary research and practice, dedicated to understanding and rethinking urban and regional processes in Russia and beyond.
In 2025, the faculty confidently continued its expert and research work. The team developed four socio-economic development strategies for the cities of Barnaul, Svobodny, Troitsk, and the Leninsky Urban District in the Moscow Region, and also completed a master plan for the small town of Tara in the Omsk Region. This work, which has been ongoing at the faculty for several years, plays an important role in the state’s focus on creating master plans nationwide and preserving small cities.
In the summer, we launched a Joint Department with А101 Group to bridge the gap between the real market and graduates’ skills, as well as between urban development practice and academic research. Students now participate in projects based on real briefs from A101 Group, while faculty experts collaborate with the company as a research team.
A key aspect of our international activity was participation in global forums and academic meetings. Faculty representatives attended events in Astana (Kazakhstan), Mumbai (India), and in Guangzhou, Shenyang, and Tianjin (China), discussing regional integration and urban development from a global perspective. In September, the faculty took an active part in the Cloud Cities Forum, which welcomed mayors of Chinese megacities to Moscow. One of FURD’s areas of focus is developing scenarios to support small cities in BRICS countries and sharing relevant expertise with international colleagues.
In 2025, we organised several field schools in Hangzhou, Brest, St Petersburg, Sergiev Posad, Vladivostok, and Serpukhov, providing junior colleagues with opportunities to learn not only in theory but through practice as well.
Also in the autumn, we launched the Centre for Arctic and Northern Urban Studies. Its experts study cities experiencing growth or shrinkage. We are confident that systematising scientific insights on contemporary prospects and mechanisms of urban resilience will help address critical challenges. The Centre has already secured an international grant, enabling collaboration with colleagues from Tianjin University—the faculty hosted a Chinese delegation in September. The Centre not only advances dynamic urbanism as an academic field but also builds a library of solutions for cities facing crises of growth or contraction.
In 2025, for the first time, we held the business forum and the academic conference named after A. Vysokovsky as two separate events. Providing a platform for professional dialogue among experts from across the country is highly important to us. Another milestone was the tenth anniversary of the academic journal Urban Studies and Practices: the faculty publishes four issues annually, enabling professionals working on urban projects in a volatile and unpredictable environment to exchange ideas and insights.
The year 2025 once again confirmed that the urban sector demands an interdisciplinary approach—from spatial data analysis to engagement in shaping public agendas—and our faculty continues to confidently cultivate these competencies in future professionals.
