HSE University Life

This year 84 applications were submitted for participation in the competition. Almost 4000 people took part in the first stage of the selection, consisting of expert reviews and public evaluation of the proposals.

The University has adopted new regulations on the formats used in signs, pointers and announcements regarding events held within University grounds. They will now need to follow one template and must display the names and contact details of those responsible for the event.  Will these regulations be used for student events, and does this mean there is one template for all announcements? We look into it.

The Microsoft Hackschool for students was held in Moscow on October 14-15. Microsoft experts and Microsoft partner students helped identify the best projects during the event that could change students’ lives.

Karelia, Mount Elbrus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Krasnaya Polyana, and Andorra - this winter the Extreme Sports Club invites students, alumni and HSE staff members to set off for winter adventures. While many of the events have already become solid HSE traditions, some of them are being held for the first time. The projects are supported by HSE Department of Physical Training.

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.

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.