Orientation Session for International Students at HSE Perm

On August 30, an adaptation event was held for newly arrived students who came to Perm from abroad to study. For the first time, HSE Perm's admissions campaign actively recruited students from Mongolia, Syria, Morocco, Ghana, Georgia, and Armenia. At the event, the freshmen met with the academic supervisors of their educational programmes, learned about the educational process, and received valuable tips for living in Perm and studying at HSE.

This year, 16 international students are beginning their bachelor's studies at the Perm campus of the Higher School of Economics in programmes such as “Economics”, “Business Administration”, “Software Engineering”, and “History”, and 8 international students are beginning their master's studies in “Finance”, “Project Management: Project Analysis, Investments, and Implementation technologies”, “Experience Economy: Museum, Event, and Tourism Management”, and “Information Analytics in Enterprise Management”.

The event began with a welcome speech by Dmitriy V. Kashin, Head of the HSE Perm International Office. Dmitriy congratulated the new students, and employees and members of the teaching staff told students about their areas of specialty.

Head of the Students and Alumni Center Elena S. Vilesova talked about the extracurricular activities HSE has to offer, as well as about student clubs and organizations. Several events are already planned for September, where everyone who wants to show their talents and lead an active student life in addition to studying hard is invited. The head of the Security and Regime Department Andrei A. Shcherbakov warned international students about possible dangers they may encounter off campus and told how to avoid them.

At the event, students met with their academic supervisors and representatives of educational programmes. Svetlana A. Belykh, Dmitry G. Artemyev, Yuri V. Vasilenko, Alexander O. Sukhov, Marina A. Zavertyaeva answered questions about the upcoming first year and explained where to find the office of each educational programme and who can be contacted for help. Everyone had an opportunity to meet and chat in an informal way.

The HSE Buddy Club also had representatives present at the event. HSE buddies are ready to provide any assistance to all the newcomers in educational and extracurricular activities, as well as in adapting to life in Perm.

At the end of the event, the first-year students shared their initial impressions of Perm, HSE, the Ural weather, and how they decided to enter HSE Perm and its bachelor’s and master’s programmes. After the event, everyone joined an excursion to the new building No. 2.

Umidjon Ergashev, 1st-year student of the Bachelor's Programme “Business Administration”

On August 30, we, the international students, were invited to a very cozy and informal event before start of a new academic year. I think that this was a good thing for HSE to do, because it will help us to join the HSE family quickly and feel at home. To be honest, I did not expect to meet so many international students here. In Perm, I applied only to this university and made every possible effort to enter here.

During the admissions process I received a lot of help with choosing a programme as well as information about student exchange opportunities from Elizaveta Dengina and Iuliia Babenko, who I am very grateful to. Also, I was very influenced by the words of the academic supervisor of our educational programme Dmitry G. Artemyev: 'We create chaos ourselves and we must organize it ourselves.' In general, the impressions are only positive. I think that throughout the entire educational process they will remain the same. In the future I plan to stay here to study in a Master’s programme.

Ibrahim Sandouk, 1st-year student of the Master’s Programme “Information Analytics in Enterprise Management”

Once I had a dream of building a place where people would gather from all over the world to share an amazing experience, a place where you can learn and love what you are learning, a university that values knowledge as much as good manners. An intellectual space where your language, appearance, and skin colour would not matter, but your commitment, work ethic, and values would be the most crucial factors of your success. I did not know that someone before me already created such a place and called 'the Higher School of Economics'.

I have spent almost half of my life in school, and here is the most important rule that I have learnt: prepare for the worst, wish for the best, but expect nothing. I was lucky enough to become one of the students that have been accepted in such a marvelous place.

Last Friday I had the chance to meet all the other first-years and the professors. They were more than polite and nice. My new journey as a master's student in business informatics had just begun and soon I will meet new people and put another brick into the wall of my success.

Last but not the least, I want to thank Alexander and Daria for being great teachers as well as friends, as well as those dedicated HSE employees who made this possible, especially Iuliia, Elizaveta, Dmitriy and Anna. Thank you sincerely for your support. I wish that I would make you proud soon.

Congratulations to our new students on their admission to HSE Perm!