Olga E. Kuzina

Alongside their core curriculum many ICEF students pursue a programme in which they deepen knowledge of their chosen field, engage in scientific debate, and prepare for careers in academia. This programme is known as ICEF Academia and in 2024 it opened its doors to a new group of students.

Earlier in October, the team of ICEF Academia met with its new students to present the teachers, the perspective lines of research, as well as the design and delivery mode of the courses and what rewards there are to celebrate the top-performing students.

ICEF Academia offers its students advanced courses, research opportunities, access to scientific debate, and more in-depth training for academic careers. Its courses are taken alongside core curriculum. Presenting ICEF Academia to the new cohort of students were its leaders, teachers, and ICEF graduate Andrey Voronin, who shared his experience of gaining admission to PhD programme at UCLA (USA).

At the end of December 2021, the Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology (LSES) at HSE University held its traditional Christmas Cinema Seminar entitled ‘Where are universities going?’ Participants discussed ‘The Chair’, a TV series created by David Benioff and Daniel Brett Weiss, authors of ‘Game of Thrones’. 2021 marked the 20^th anniversary of the Christmas seminar, which LSES has held to discuss hot-button issues after watching famous Russian and foreign films.

Despite the risks associated with COVID-19 infection, many Russians either refuse to get vaccinated or are uncertain and hesitant about the practice. The factors behind these views are the subject of research by Yana Roshchina, Leading Research Fellow of the HSE University Centre for Longitudinal Studies and Senior Research Fellow of the Laboratory for Studies in Economic Sociology (LSES); Sergey Roshchin, Head of the Laboratory for Labour Market Studies (LLMS) and HSE University Vice Rector; and Ksenia Rozhkova, Junior Research Fellow at LLMS. The results of the study were presented at an LSES seminar.

Alongside with the core curriculum,ICEF Academia offers its students more advanced courses, research and scientific debate opportunities, and better preparation for academic careers. Presenting ICEF Academia to first-year students were its leaders, teachers, and ICEF graduate Arseny Stolyarov, who is currently doing a PhD at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

It’s a fact that ICEF students are awarded two degrees when they graduate. There is, however, a third school many of them attend along with HSE and The University of London – ICEF Academia. Offering a programme of advanced courses, research opportunities, discussion venues and academic career guidance, ICEF Academia traditionally hosts welcome meetings and the year 2020 was not an exception. This year’s event was held online and here is how it went.

The Central Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation (ZEvA) determined that the HSE Bachelor’s programme in ‘Sociology’ and the HSE Master’s programme in ‘Comparative Social Research’ meet international educational quality standards. Both programmes have been accredited unconditionally for six years.

Russians know how to count their money, but often ignore the rules of responsible financial behaviour.

Only 2% of Russians consider themselves financially literate. One in 10 people signs contracts without reading them. Almost half of all depositors do not understand what state insurance of private savings means. One third of the population can manage their individual budget, but do not know their way around the financial services market.