HSE Welcomes Economics Students and Scholars From the United Kingdom

Students and scholars of the University of Edinburgh School of Economics visited the Higher School of Economics and learned about the teaching and research in economics at the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences

The U.K. delegation, which consists of 15 students and six teaching staff, is on a 13-day long tour in Russia. The University of Edinburgh is one of HSE’s partner universities.

At the meet-and-greet event on July 1, Fuad T. Aleskerov, Department of Mathematics Head, Professor and Head of the International Laboratory of Decision Choice and Analysis of the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences, shared some of the Lab research projects, like, mathematical modeling of the preferences of countries involved in the Arctic disputes over resources. Alexey Zakharov, Associate Professor at the Department of Theoretical Economics, also introduced his research work in behavioural and experimental economics and suggested explanation of how a person’s social status would affect his or her decision-making process.

Arseniy Stolyarov, Research Assistant at the Laboratory of Sports Studies, shed light on many intriguing projects at the laboratory that focus on e.g. the behaviour of players and referees under specific circumstances. His team seeks to answer questions like, when do players score more goals? What is the most efficient pass for goal scoring? Would a team receive less yellow cards after having a player sent off? HSE researchers also analyze the effect of difficult fixtures on club performance and are even responsible for creating the schedule for the Russian Premier League, the country’s top football division, for the 2019/2020 season.

These research projects caused great interest among the delegates, with some students taking the initiative to exchange ideas with the Russian scholars during the break. Vicky Grant, a second-year undergraduate student on the delegation, was impressed by the presentations and could relate to Stolyarov’s research work. “I recently read an article about using sports as a macroeconomic indicator, about how we can use the performance of sports teams to show the middle income trap theory,” she said. “So it was interesting how we could use it on micro scales as well, in the discussion of different experiments.”

Ekaterina Kazakova, Assistant Professor at the Department of Applied Economics, shared her teaching experience at HSE. Started with the explanation of the international job market recruitment process for economists and finance professors at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, she praised that the offer from HSE was very competitive and that at HSE there is a good balance between teaching and conducting research. With study and teaching experience in Germany under her belt, Kazakova said that the academic atmosphere at HSE is similar to that in Europe – a “nice environment” that is “well-connected with the outside world,” and “the student training is very good.”

Among the internationally hired teaching and research staff at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, two-thirds got their Ph.D.s from Europe and the rest - from the top U.S. universities. In fact, some of the lectures and seminars at the faculty are conducted in English. Ina Taneva, Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, acknowledged HSE’s international focus, which she said “is a useful thing for us to tell our students.”

In the second half of the event, five undergraduate students at the HSE’s Faculty of Economic Sciences joined in to talk about the attractive features of student life in Moscow and introduced Russian traditions and jokes. They also prepared a Russian knowledge quiz to help the audience better understand local customs and superstitions.

The delegates had already visited many tourist sites in Moscow, including the Red Square, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Sparrow Hills and the VDNH. Taneva was surprised at how neat Russia’s capital is. “Moscow is portrayed in movies as snowy and dark, and it’s so nice to see the bright spaces with huge buildings. It’s very impressive. It’s very clean,” she said.