News

The first International Conference on Social Neurology in Environmentally Sound Conditions, organized by the International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology of the Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences and Aalto University will be held online on June 21-23, 2021. The HSE News Service spoke with conference organisers and some of the key speakers in the run-up to the conference about its agenda and some research highlights.

HSE University’s administration is determined to prevent the lowering of grading standards for students’ academic performance. Teachers will be receiving new grading guidelines in the next two weeks. The proposed grading criteria will become mandatory for all courses. Other measures are planned as well. The list of such measures was discussed by the Rector’s Council on June 15.

Less than a year ago, the Faculty of Humanities at HSE University launched four large-scale projects, bringing together representatives of different disciplines from different departments and campuses of the University. Their goals, content, staffing and expected results were presented at a meeting of the Rector’s Council. Other departments have been tasked with developing their own large-scale projects, which HSE University will be able to include in its application for the ‘Priority 2030’ programme.

Researchers have yet to evaluate the entire impact of COVID on mortality. However, it is now possible to discuss the first results of some initial studies. The HSE International Laboratory for Population and Health held a webinar ‘The First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Russia (April 2020—March 2021)’. Although the Russian total mortality rate increased during that period, it was Slovakia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Poland that topped the list. The lowest growth in the mortality rate was observed in South Korea. Meanwhile, researchers have failed to detect a lockdown-induced baby boom anywhere in the world.

What fields employees can hope to get high salaries in? What is the return on higher education? How is life expectancy related to retirement age? These and some other issues were discussed by experts at the First Conference ‘Labour Market: Demographic Challenges and Human Capital’ organized by the HSE Human Capital Multidisciplinary Research Centre.

International admissions are now open at HSE University. A number of international applicants have already passed all of the selection rounds and successfully enrolled in Master’s and Bachelor’s programmes. HSE News Service spoke with several students about their reasons for choosing HSE University and their experience applying to the University.

The HSE Graduate School of Business (GSB) held its first open-air student festival, Project Fest by GSB, at Shabolovka. It was the final stage of the Student Groups Project Competition for the 2020/2021 academic year. Lectures, master classes, business games from students and business representatives, and educational and entertainment activities were also organised for all Festival visitors.

In 2021, the Master of Business Analytics Programme of the Faculty of Economic Sciences will hold its first intake. The programme will be fully implemented online: students will study in English on the Coursera platform. Irina Ivashkovskaya, Tenured Professor at HSE University, Head of the School of Finance and Academic Supervisor of the new Master’s Programme, told the News Service about other features of the Programme, what competencies students will gain, what ‘stakeholder capitalism’ means, and why it is important for a future financier.