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What 2023 Was Like for HSE University
© HSE University
In the past year, many big and important changes have taken place at HSE University: the opening of an online campus, the development of international relations, the largest grant from the Priority 2030 programme, and more. Below, the heads of the university talk about achievements in various areas.
HSE University Vice Rector
Education at universities lives not by calendar years but by academic years, which do not end on December 31. However, looking back at the end of 2023, among the many things that have been and are being done in education at HSE University, I would like to highlight two events or achievements.
The first is the opening of the HSE University online campus. This is an important project that outlined the scale and new quality of education in the online format at our university. The opening of the online campus confirmed HSE University’s leadership in this format of education, which was recognised at the end of the year at the Innovation Time and Effective Education awards and made it possible to begin moving into the HSE University educational metaverse.
The second is the leadership of HSE University in the ranking of universities by the quality of training in the field of artificial intelligence. This is an acknowledgement that HSE University education is at the forefront of modern information technology.
Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science
The year 2023 has been rich in events and achievements for the Faculty of Computer Science.
In November, the Alliance for Artificial Intelligence published a ranking of Russian universities that train the best artificial intelligence specialists. HSE University entered the A+ leadership group. The Faculty of Computer Science continues to actively develop training programmes for researchers and developers in the field of AI and participate in the implementation of the Data Culture project, which covers all undergraduate programmes on the Moscow campus. In December, HSE University confirmed its leading position in the first group of the Research Leadership area of the Priority 2030 programme and received the largest grant for training students in digital competencies.
In the past year, three new laboratories have been opened at the faculty: the Laboratory for Matrix and Tensor Methods in Machine Learning, the Laboratory for Cloud and Mobile Technologies, and the Laboratory for AI in Mathematical Finance. In the summer, the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Sciences was formed on the basis of the faculty’s four leading laboratories.
In 2023, we have actively worked with industrial and academic partners. The first enrolment in the Master’s programme in Data Analysis in Development jointly with the Samolet Group of Companies has been successfully completed. A joint department of MTS and a joint department of the Steklov Mathematical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences have been opened. We have announced a new project with Tinkoff and Central University—a Bachelor’s programme in ‘Information Product Design and Development’, the first enrolment of which will take place in 2024.
In 2024, we are getting ready to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the faculty. We are sure that things will only get better.
Director of HSE University in St Petersburg
In 2023, HSE University in St Petersburg confirmed its stable leadership in admission quality. It is very important to us that people trust us, and more and more olympiad winners and high-scoring students come to us.
HSE University in St Petersburg is becoming a centre of international education. We have opened the first foreign representative office of HSE University in Indonesia, launched a mirror laboratory in Malaysia, and organised a large-scale academic mission in Latin America. We invite students and teachers from all HSE University campuses to participate in these and future projects.
In the past year, we have launched new educational programmes, implemented extracurricular projects, opened new educational spaces, and created new scientific directions. I am sure that the projects launched by the St Petersburg campus will contribute to the development of the university and the strengthening of its position in Russia and globally.
Senior Director for Full Degree Programmes
In 2023, the Degree Programmes Office continued to develop new services for students and teachers. The Student Service Centre celebrated its first year in April, and by the end of December it had processed more than 45,000 applications. Almost 23,000 people have personally visited the Student Service Centre.
A total of 2,387 HSE University students have switched their educational programmes. I hope that now they have finally found themselves. What’s more, 1,689 students have come to us from other Russian universities, and 171 students have been transferred to us from foreign ones.
The Trajectory Service Centre has helped heads of minors open 93 minors for students to choose from in 2023.
Over three selection campaigns, students have submitted more than 157,000 applications for courses through the SmartWay electronic service. Overall, 4,339 HSE University students and 487 external students have enrolled in open optional courses this year.
In the spring, the Degree Programmes Office and the Digital Office launched a new SmartPro service to support students’ practical training. By the end of the year, 951 projects, including 620 team projects, have been initiated and found participants using this tool. During the year, HSE University has signed 1,804 agreements on practical training with other organisations.
HSE University Vice Rector
In the past year, we changed the system of support for extracurricular life and created five tracks so that each student could choose how to develop outside of their studies. HSE Kindness combines charity, volunteering, service-learning projects and Rediscovering Russia expeditions (965 students have taken part in 70 expeditions over the course of the year). Entrepreneurship includes the HSE Business Club and the HSE Business Incubator, while we have also created 30 entrepreneurial workshops as part of the minor, in which 172 teams participate.
The Core Platform has expanded to include student organisations focused on historic preservation, first aid, and technology. The Science Republic continued to work on popularising and supporting student science; over the course of the year, more than 400 students have gone through the programme.
Senior Director for Legal Affairs
How will the Directorate of Legal Affairs remember 2023? I would probably highlight four points.
Firstly, the general trend towards digitalisation has also been reflected in the university’s legal work: we have been organising the process of issuing machine-readable powers of attorney, developing and implementing forms of agreements on electronic interaction, and have launched several new services in the MyHSE Services Account. At one of the meetings with HSE University’s Committee on Educational Disputes, we already considered a case about the use of artificial intelligence technology by students when carrying out academic work.
Secondly, despite the development of digitalisation, the material basis of our lives—real estate and property—still requires serious legal support. The university is constructing a sports and recreation complex, and we had a whole series of legal disputes with the previous contractor, who poorly performed the work on the site. In these disputes, the Directorate of Legal Affairs was able to prove that the university had rightfully terminated the contract with the contractor and rejected its financial claims.
The next important area is the university’s focus on foreign markets. For lawyers, this means the need to immerse themselves in the legislation of foreign countries, which is what we have been doing in the last year.
And one last thing. Although this is not news from 2023, this year has once again confirmed the importance of legal knowledge. Therefore, in 2023, the Directorate for Legal Affairs developed and launched the educational course ‘Legal Foundations of Public Communications for HSE University Employees: Case Analysis and Legal Requirements’ at the Centre for Staff Continuing Professional Development. Based on the results of the past year, it has become one of the most popular courses for HSE University employees; and we invite you to join the course participants next year.