Quality Assurance

The system of quality assurance at HSE University is underpinned by the combination of various evaluation mechanisms:

• External evaluation of the quality of the provision of educational programmes
• Internal procedures for evaluating educational processes and their outcomes

Procedures for external evaluations of the quality of the provision of educational programmes:

• Various types of accreditation and certification;
• Independent expert reviews of educational programmes, including those involving international experts.

Accreditation is a process for recognizing the quality of an education process in terms of how it meets respective quality assurance norms and standards of an accrediting organization. If such norms are set by the state (e.g., federal state educational standards), we shall refer to this as state accreditation. The majority of HSE University’s educational programmes were accredited by the state in 2020 for a period of six years.

You can find out if a specific educational programme has state, international, public or professional accreditation on the programme’s website

Public Accreditation

Public accreditation refers to recognition of the activities implemented by an education provider as those meeting the criteria of Russian, foreign and international organizations. The procedures for conducting public accreditation, its evaluation formats and methods, as well as the rights granted to an accredited organization, engaged in the provision of educational activities, are set by the public body that carries out public accreditation (Refer to p. 4, art. 96 of Federal Law No. 273).

Professional Accreditation

Professional accreditation of core degree programmes, core professional skills training programmes and/or continuing professional development programmes refers to recognition, whereby the quality of training and qualifications of graduates from such programmes offered by a specific education provider meet respective professional standards and requirements, as well as the criteria established on job market for specialists, workers and professionals in respective subject fields (Refer to p. 4, art. 96 of Federal Law No. 273)

International Accreditation

International accreditation is official recognition by a reputable international body that a respective academic institution, its entire selection of programmes, and individual educational programmes meet the set international standards of quality assurance.

Independent Expert Reviews

Independent expert reviews are a form of external evaluation of the quality provision of educational programmes. It is a sort of an audit conducted by boards of experts, which include professionals recognized in a given academic and/or subject field. More often than not, the selection of experts and the overall organization of expert review processes lie with operators, which are external organizations to HSE University (for HSE University, these services have been provided by New Economic School and the World Bank). In turn, the techniques for evaluation and self-evaluation of educational programmes have been developed by international experts for carrying out independent expert reviews.