Education

More than 40,000 participants from 183 countries have already registered for the Open Doors Scholarship Competition. The competition, which is held by the Association of Global Universities, gives international applicants the opportunity to enroll tuition-free in a Master’s programme of a participating Russian university of their choice without having to take entrance exams. The deadline to submit your portfolio for consideration is December 18.

Charlotte Rottiers is a master’s exchange student from Ghent University (Belgium). This semester she is taking courses at HSE University on urban planning in the ‘Prototyping Future Cities’ Master’s Programme as well as courses on Russian language and culture in the Faculty of Humanities. HSE News Service spoke with Charlotte about her courses, living in Moscow, and her extensive weekend travels.

Anna Makhotkina spoke to Syeda Ulya Ehsen Kazmi, an international student.

After practicing criminal law for 30 years, Rife Kimler of Texas, USA was in need of a break and a change of scenery. Long interested in Russia, the lawyer researched Russian programmes online and opted for HSE University’s Master’s Programme in Russian Studies. In an interview with HSE News Service, Rife discussed what he likes about Moscow and why he has not regretted his decision to study Russian politics and culture at HSE.

This fall, Madhavi Karunarathne came to HSE University from Sri Lanka, where she earned her bachelor’s in finance at the University of Colombo. She is now beginning her studies in the Master’s Programme ‘Strategic Corporate Finance’. The new master’s student came through Russia’s Open Doors Scholarship Project for international prospective master’s students, which allows scholarship recipients to study at one of 21 participating Russian universities tuition-free. Madhavi spoke with HSE News Service about why she chose HSE, what it was like to participate in the Open Doors Scholarship competition, and how she is liking her studies.

HSE took 94^th place in the THE ranking in Business & Economics, outperforming all the other Russian universities in this subject. In addition, the university entered the ranking in Law for the first time (151+ cohort), becoming the only Russian university represented there.

Of the original 300 students enrolled in doctoral programmes set to graduate this year, only 126 reached the final stage of the process—the dissertation defence. While congratulating the recent class of graduates, HSE Vice Rector Vyacheslav Bashev noted that such a large attrition rate testifies to the seriousness of those who have made it to graduation. ‘Though many of you work, you continue to invest in yourselves intellectually,’ he said.

HSE University has improved its standing in the general U.S. News Best Global Universities ranking. Today, the agency published its 2019 global rankings. HSE University appeared in the Economics and Business ranking for the first time, placing 235^th. We are also the only Russian institution to make the cut.