Eating fruit, wearing traditional outfits, and surviving the Moscow cold: Prep Year students from Vietnam, Iran, and Ghana talk about the New Year traditions in their countries and their plans for the celebration in Russia.

HSE has announced the latest ‘International Academic Cooperation of HSE University’ open competition of joint basic research projects. The competition is aimed at strengthening global scientific collaboration, expanding the university's research agenda, and involving students and postgraduates in world-class fundamental research.

Liu Minglin, 22, from China, chose to study at ICEF in Moscow for two reasons: his Russian friends’ recommendations and the contents of the programme curriculum on the website. Now in his final year of the International Bachelor’s Programme in Economics and Finance at ICEF, Liu Minglin shares his impressions of living in Russia and studying at HSE University.

HSE University is completing the transformation of the Unified Archive of Economic and Social Data into the Centre for Transfer and Management of Socio-Economic Information. As part of this process, the HSE University Repository of Socio-Economic Information has already been launched. Vera Vishnyakova, Centre Director, spoke to the HSE News Service about these changes and how they will affect the university, scientists, and students.

HSE University and the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music (RAM) have developed an educational programme for the music industry. The 2025/26 academic year will see the launch of ‘Producer in the Music Industry,’ a joint Russian-taught master's programme. The HSE Academic Council approved the programme on November 27.

On December 1, the HSE Faculty of Humanities celebrated its 10th anniversary. In honour of the occasion, HSE leaders, representatives of other universities, and members of the Russian Academy of Sciences gathered at the university’s Cultural Centre to congratulate the faculty.

The corresponding decree was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. HSE will focus on providing expert support to the council in improving the effectiveness of the science and education system, developing civil society institutions, and protecting citizens' rights.

On December 5, the award ceremony of the RUSSOFT ranking of top universities took place. The ranking assesses the quality and scale of specialist training in the field of software development among Russian educational institutions. HSE University took fourth place in the 2024 rankings and was named a ‘federal leader.’

The Academic Council of HSE University has established three new educational programmes. For the first time, in 2025, HSE University in St. Petersburg will enrol students in the Bachelor's programme in ‘Texts, Languages, and Digital Tools‘ and the Master's programme in ‘Applied Linguistics: Foreign Language Teaching and Translation in the Digital Environment,’ and at HSE University in Moscow—in the Master's programme ‘Producer in the Music Industry.’