Within the framework of the IX International Conference on Applied Research in Economics (iCare), topical issues of behavioral economics, finance, banking, labor and education economics, and environmental economics were discussed. The conference was held online and brought together researchers from Russia, India, USA, Germany and other countries. We summarize and publish the recordings of the reports.

HSE has strengthened its top position and widened its lead over Moscow State University, Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and other universities in the Forbes Best Russian Universities Ranking. The main contributors to this advancement, according to Forbes, were the improvement in the average Russian Unified State Exam (USE) score of accepted students, a better faculty-student ratio, and younger staff. This year, HSE University also leads the employer survey.

HSE University has improved on last year's result, entering the 126–150 range of the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings. Among Russian universities, HSE University shares 2–4th place with the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and St. Petersburg State University.

In 2021, a new programme "Foreign languages and intercultural communication in business" is opened at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities programme. Head of the programme, Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages Elizaveta Smirnova told us how linguistics and intercultural communication are related to business, where graduates will work, how to enter the programme, and why is it worth participating in the iTell conference.

In the recently published US News Best Global Universities rankings, HSE University now appears in six subject rankings—an increase from four in 2020. The two latest additions are in Arts and Humanities (ranked 207^th) and Psychiatry/Psychology (ranked 374^th). The university once again placed highly in Mathematics (85^th), maintaining its position among the top 100 universities worldwide in the subject and ranking second among Russian institutions.

On October 20–22, the second International Conference on Experience Economy: Museum, Event, and Tourism Management was held at HSE University in Perm. Key talks were delivered by Andrea Rurale, the director of the Master’s in Arts Management and Administration at the Bocconi University School of Management, and Guillaume Tiberghien, University of Glasgow.