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Regular version of the site

The HSE Crow: Mascot Now Lives on Myasnitskaya Lamppost


A weather vane in the shape of a big-beaked bird has appeared near the HSE building on Myasnitskaya Street in Moscow. The Crow’s ceremonial unveiling coincided with the 85th birthday of HSE Academic Supervisor Evgeny Yasin, who initiated it as our university’s mascot.

The idea of installing the Crow on a lamppost received the support of Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin at a meeting with HSE students and staff during his walk around the city’s reconstructed historical streets.

To look at the long-expected Crow, a small crowd gathered near the HSE building, including Academic Supervisor Evgeny Yasin, Rector Yaroslav Kuzminov, Vice Rector Valeria Kasamara, and the Acting Head of Moscow Basmanny District Municipality Elena Ezhova, as well as HSE students, teachers and staff.

The Crow’s history dates back to 1996, when artist Anna Arenshtein, who is also the creator of the weather vane design, sketched the picture ‘Faculty Meeting,’ featuring HSE’s patriarchs as wise birds. In fact, they were not so much crows yet, but some other certain ornithological species. The picture found a home in Prof. Yasin’s office, and, according to the legend, the Academic Supervisor referred to these birds the ‘crows’.

Today, the Crow is featured on HSE’s merchandise and is an honorary guest at key university events. Moreover, winners of the annual Golden HSE award receive a special figurine of the mascot.

‘When HSE University was founded, many young architects and sculptors started creating different figures. And the Crow was one of them,’ Prof. Yasin said, adding: ‘We decided that it would be a very good mascot for HSE’.

According to Prof. Yasin, the Crow is both a wise and mischievous bird. It has good manners, lives with a flock, helps its peers, and has serious intellectual capabilities. At the same time, the Crow can be very straightforward and is quick to remind us humans how to behave in today’s society.

 I would like to congratulate my peers on the creation of this Crow. It is my wish that it will be useful for our country and help foster the qualities I mentioned: wisdom and audacity

The weather vane was funded by Sergey Pavlovsky, a 2003 alumnus of the HSE Faculty of Economics. Students of the Moscow campus also expect to see some new traditions with this weather vane: the Crow will help you get high grades if you grab its beak or rub its leg for luck!

Hari the Robot Recommends

We created Hari the robot and named him after Hari Seldon, a character who can predict the future in the works of science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. He is based on a machine-learning model that selects news based on the behavioural metrics of HSE website users.

Don’t worry — we don’t collect any personal data for this.

‘You Should Study Mathematics, Combinatorics, and Catalan Numbers instead of Playing Computer Games’

In early November, the final of the MTS True Tech Champ—which brought together more than 12,500 schoolchildren, students, and young programmers—took place. Alexander Babin, student of the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, was named the winner of the ‘Algorithmic Programming’ track.

November 19, 2024

Concert-Research on Pokrovka

The Fusion of Music and Science in the Presentation of the Album ‘RefleXions’

November 13, 2024

Maxim Reshetnikov: ‘An Effective Open Market Economy Has Been Built in Russia’

On November 11, 2024, during Economist Day in Russia, Maxim Reshetnikov, Russian Minister of Economic Development, spoke to students of the HSE Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs about Russia’s foreign economic activities, how the country managed to withstand unprecedented sanctions pressure, and the current state of its development.

November 13, 2024