News by Besova, Maria

What’s the best way to learn Russian? Is it difficult to get used to the Siberian winter? Can you teach Russian language if you’re not a native speaker of it? Andres Cuéllar, a student of the Master’s programme ‘Russian as a Foreign Language in Cross-Linguistic and Cross-Cultural Perspective’, has discussed these and other issues with HSE News Service.

Every summer, HSE’s International Summer University attracts students, graduate students, post-docs, and professionals from around the world who wish to spend several weeks in Moscow to deepen their knowledge in a variety of fields. With the programme entering its second month, HSE News Service sat down with several students to talk about their impressions of it so far.

Inspired by her exchange experience in Moscow during her undergraduate studies, French student Marion Jacquart decided to do her Master’s at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris because it has a double degree agreement with HSE University. As she finishes her programme in Comparative Social Research in Moscow, where she has been based for the last year doing research for her Master’s thesis on feminism, she shared her experience and impressions with the HSE News Service.

Master’s programme in Prototyping Future Cities offered by the HSE Vysokovsky Graduate School of Urbanism was launched in 2017 and has since become quite popular among international students. Students from all over the world come to Moscow to learn how to use technologies to deal with future challenges of urban development. Two of the first-year students have talked to HSE News Service about studying on the programme and the projects they have been working on.

On December 20, the students of the International Preparatory Year programme at HSE’s Moscow campus got together to usher in the New Year in true Russian style. They all first arrived in Moscow this September with zero or very limited knowledge of Russian. So, their programme started with an intensive course of Russian as a Foreign Language. Now, three months later, they have already mastered enough Russian to make mini-presentations, perform sketches, take part in a Russian culture quiz, and solve Russian riddles.

Benito Juarez, the founder of the first Fab Lab in South America and the Latin America Fab Lab Network, has come to HSE University for the 2018 autumn semester as an invited lecturer on Master’s Programme in Prototyping Future Cities. He is delivering a course in Impact Analysis for first-year students and leading the City Project module, a practical component of the Master’s programme. Mr Juarez has talked to HSE News Service about fab lab projects, creative cities of the future, and the courses he is teaching at HSE.

Neeraj Mazumder, a native of India, is a first-year student in the Master’s programme Prototyping Future Cities offered by HSE’s Vysokovsky Graduate School of Urbanism. He received his Bachelor’s in Architecture from Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University in Hyderabad and came to Moscow to study how cities can be analyzed and smart cities designed.

Master’s programme in Governance of Science, Technology, and Innovation has been offered by HSE ISSEK since 2014. It helps students acquire knowledge about science, technology and innovation management and policy. Below, Dirk Meissner, Academic Supervisor of the programme, talks about its key features and development. Besides, first and second-year international students describe their reasons for enrolling in the programme and share their experience of studying at HSE.