Graduation Thesis

Students may select the topics of their theses as indicated in the Internship Programme of the given degree programme.

Before choosing or refining their topic, students must discuss it with their potential supervisor. Such discussions may be organised via e-mail or LMS.

If the topic discussion goes well, the supervisor must provide the student with a confirmation of his/her supervision. This confirmation must be submitted to the study office in writing, stating the topic in Russian and English, the student’s name and contact details (email, along with the signature of the supervisor). Furthermore, the confirmation must be registered in the special LMS module or via e-mail.

Students can propose a topic of their own by the deadlines in the Internship Programme of their degree programme. In this case, a student must submit an application to the programme's academic supervisor indicating his/her proposed thesis supervisor and the topic followed by a justification. The academic supervisor, with the potential involvement of the academic council, makes a decision regarding the suitability of the topic to the student's field of study and either confirms it, declines it providing reasons for the decision, or, with the student's consent, suggests that he/she rephrase the topic. If the topic is confirmed, and if necessary, a recommendation may be made regarding the selection of a supervisor or consultant of the thesis.

A student must submit his/her topic by the deadlines prescribed by their respective faculty’s guidelines (no later than December 1 of the current academic year).

A directive on submitting topics and assigning supervisors shall be signed by the faculty dean and issued no later than December 15 of the current academic year.

If the topic has not been chosen by the deadline, this will result in an academic failure, which can be eliminated from the beginning of the 3rd Module by February 15. This failure is removed if the student selects a topic within the extension period.

Otherwise, students may be subject to expulsion, regardless of the presence of other academic failures. At the same time, if the student not only fails to choose a topic, but also has two and more academic failures after Modules 1 and 2 of the current academic year, he/she will not be able to choose the topic within the extension period and, thus, shall be expelled from HSE University for academic failure.

A thesis topic may be changed or refined no later than one calendar month before the official deadline for final submission of the thesis following procedures established for the degree programme. Any changes to a thesis topic are enacted by the relevant dean’s directive.

Thesis supervisors shall be appointed from among the University’s staff, who hold Doctor of Sciences, the Candidates of Sciences degrees¹, or a PhD degree, as well as practitioners with at least 3 years’ work experience in the respective industry/field, or staff employed by HSE University under conditions of secondary employment. 

There are no restrictions as to choosing an academic supervisor, who works in a department of HSE University not involved in a given student’s degree programme.

Staff members of external organisations not employed by HSE University may only co-supervise theses of students, with the main supervisor appointed from among the University’s staff.

Yes, he/she can. In such cases, the student should write a personal request to the dean of the faculty with a brief justification regarding his/her request. The request is to be submitted to the degree programme's study office, and a thesis supervisor can be replaced no later than 2 (two) months before the thesis defence.

The dean has the right to reject the student’s request, giving reasons for this decision. If the change is confirmed, it is enacted by a dean’s directive.

A thesis consultant is a specialist in a field relevant to a given thesis topic, who usually possesses special or unique knowledge, experience and competence in a particular subject. Consultants can be appointed from among the HSE University’s staff or employees of any third-party organisations whose professional activities and/or scientific interests correlate with the given thesis focus. He/she holds an advisory vote on thesis development, and consults students on selecting an appropriate research or project methodology, scholarly literature and resources, as well as thesis content.

A consultant is usually assigned if the thesis topic features intersecting research fields, applies to a very narrow research field, and if it is impossible to implement a qualitative research project without additional specialist consultations. Appointment of a consultant(s) is initiated by the thesis supervisor (subject to the dean’s consent) and authorised by the Programme’s Academic Supervisor, following a written request drawn up by the student and signed by the supervisor.

All students must upload electronic copies of their theses to a special LMS module by the stipulated deadline (See upload instructions). The respective deadline is approved by the directive on conducting the FSC, but no later than 7 working days before the date of the thesis defense.

Theses are subject to mandatory checks for plagiarism — uploading them to LMS is a must before their defense. A special system is used to determine plagiarism. For more information, please see the Regulations on Checking Student Papers for Plagiarism, the Use of Generative Models, and the Publication of Bachelor's, Specialist, and Master's Theses on the HSE University Corporate Website.

The system determines the percentage of unoriginal content in a given work. At the same time, the final decision as to whether or not copied material in a student thesis was used appropriately, shall be made by the academic supervisor of each paper, respectively. Read more about checks for plagiarism in written assignments here. 

Important: The use of generative models without properly acknowledging it is a violation of academic norms. Students who use artificial intelligence in the creation of their thesis must disclose this fact, detail the purposes for which it was used, indicate the specific technology implemented, and provide an evaluate its effectiveness. In January 2024, the plagiarism detection system was enhanced with a plugin that identifies text produced by generative models. Detailed guidance on properly reporting AI use will be included in the instructions for submitting assignments to the LMS.

Theses may be based on a generalisation of several term papers written by a student. This may be mentioned in the relevant internship programme, as well as the Guidelines for Writing Theses for the degree programme. The Academic Supervisor will help the student make a final decision on using the term paper when preparing a thesis. A plagiarism checker is only a tool to assist people, so it is the supervisor's responsibility to determine what constitutes plagiarism.

In addition, in order to avoid self-plagiarism and duplication of previously published information, the student should put links to his/her works (including term papers) and list them in the references.

Peer reviews of Master’s degree theses are mandatory. The reviewer must analyse the main tenets of the thesis under review, assess if a personal standpoint/project solution is presented, how well research/project methods are applied, how well-grounded the conclusions and recommendations are, if the means selected to obtain the result are appropriate, if the final output is adequate, and how original and feasible the presented solutions are.

The reviewer may also evaluate how well the student has mastered the competencies prescribed in the HSE educational standards. The template form for reviewer feedback is provided in Annex 8 to Regulations on Practical Training of Students under Core Bachelor’s, Specialist and Master’s Programmes at HSE University.

Students who have successfully completed all courses and fulfilled all other academic tasks without academic failures and submitted the thesis by the stipulated deadline may proceed to the thesis defence.

A student shall not be admitted to the defense process if confirmed instances of plagiarism have been found in the thesis. The procedure is described in the Regulations on Checking Student Papers for Plagiarism, the Use of Generative Models, and the Publication of Bachelor's, Specialist, and Master's Theses on the HSE University Corporate Website.

Those who fail to meet the set deadline and are not admitted to the defense process, including due to violations identified during the mandatory plagiarism check, are to be dismissed owing to failure to carry out their obligations to master the respective degree programme with due diligence, as well as complete the relevant curriculum.

A bad grade or negative review of the thesis by the academic supervisor and/or reviewers cannot serve as reason for defense non-admission. The student still has an opportunity to defend his/her thesis in front of the relevant committee.

A thesis defense shall be held according to the final state examination schedule at a meeting of the examination committee for the relevant field of study/major. The defense procedure is described in the Regulations on Final State Certification of Students in Bachelor’s, Specialist and Master’s Degree Programmes at HSE University, and may also be described in the Practical Training Programme, as specified by each degree programme, or further detailed in on the programme's website in the "Final Assessment" section.

An academic supervisor’s review and a reviewer’s opinion (for Master's degree students) of a thesis are required at the defense (both available via LMS). After the discussion reaches completion, the student shall give his/her closing remarks. In the closing remarks, the student must respond to the notes made by the academic supervisor and the reviewer of the thesis. After the closing remarks, the thesis defense shall be declared complete.

The local state certification board (SCB) makes a decision on the final grade after the thesis defense process is completed. The criteria of the thesis assessment are stipulated in the Internship Programme of a given degree programme.

A thesis defense is part of the FSC process. Students who have failed their defense shall be dismissed from HSE.

If reinstated at HSE University, such a student may retake the FSC no earlier than 10 months later. For master's students, the retake must occur no later than within two years after the first FSC procedure, and for bachelor's and specialist students — no later than within four years. For more information, see The Procedures and Conditions for Reinstating Students Who Were Dismissed on the Initiative of National Research University Higher School of Economics or Other Grounds, and the Procedures for Re-admitting Students to Study after Academic Leave, Maternity Leave, Parental Leave, or Childcare Leave

Students are entitled to appeal the results of the thesis defense on the grounds of violations committed during the procedure (absence of a proper quorum, timeframe violations, etc.). Please note that issues related to the content of the committee’s commentary and questions will not be considered.

Yes, students have a unique opportunity to publish their theses (in full or abstract form) on the HSE website for public viewing. It will be accessible to potential employers and other interested parties. To do this, it is necessary to mark your thesis accordingly in the LMS system.