HSE University Life

HSE and East-China Normal University (ECNU) have signed a new student exchange agreement expanding the range of opportunities for student mobility in all areas of studies, including social studies, humanities, and philosophy, as well as computer science, mathematics, and physics. The agreement was signed as part of the ECNU delegation’s visit headed by Tong Shijun, chairman of the ECNU University Council, to HSE.

On October 21, the HSE Poletayev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities hosted a lecture entitled ‘Classics in the Modern Age: Online Opera Fans Battle for the Enigmatic Russian Soul’. Delivered by Emily Erken, Lecturer of Musicology at The Ohio State University’s School of Music, her lecture covered the peculiarities of Runet contributors in their reactions to contemporary productions of classic operas. Among other topics, her lecture addressed how Russians today are seeking to rethink the moral identity of the country in which they live and how representatives from a number of cultural groups present their current views as a natural development of the national heritage.

A team from the HSE Faculty of Law, including 3rd and 4th–year law students Alexander Zhdanovich, Ksenia Solovieva, Gayane Gulian and Yulia Dragunova, took second place at the regional finals of the Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration Moot Court Competition, recently held in Poland, Warsaw. Gayane Gulian was also awarded a prize as the second runner-up in the ‘best speaker’ category.

The Vice Rector position will be taken up by Igor Chirikov (who is also Director of the Centre for Sociology in Higher Education at the Institute of Education). Igor Chirikov spoke with the HSE news service about his main tasks in this new role.

As with every year, The HSE Look continues its tradition of welcoming newly recruited international faculty. Several of them have kindly provided a short summary about themselves. Everyone can be found on the HSE website should you need to learn more about your colleagues and are interested in discussing potential collaboration.

HSE students and staff are invited to try their hand at yachting under the supervision of experienced instructors. The HSE Yacht Club will be holding theoretical and practical classes during the winter.

In its 29th issue The HSE Look presents the Faculty of Law through an interview with its Dean, Prof. Evgeny Salygin, as well as introduces new tenure-track international faculty. As usual, the issue provides short announcements about Visiting Scholars, and an interview with one of them – a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar in Sustainable Development, Prof. David Wirth.

Staff members from the HSE Faculty of Social Sciences have made over 50 trips to international conferences in the past year. Alexander Kalgin, Lecturer at the School of Public Administration, shared his impressions about the International Symposium on Development and Governance in BRICS countries in Shanghai, and a visit to Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in Guangzhou to discuss a joint research project and to meet with representatives of the university administration responsible for international education cooperation.

Last year a new system of teaching quality assessment was introduced at HSE. It allows bachelor’s, master’s and specialist students to express their opinion on the teaching process*. This year the first wave of TQA will last till October 23.

On October 4, a lecture and business game were organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and held at HSE Saint Petersburg.

Thousands of learners now have the opportunity to obtain free certificates for taking HSE courses on Coursera.

Till October 23, 2016 HSE students will have an opportunity to assess the quality of their teachers’ work.