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The Government’s decree on providing for the activities of the International BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre as part of HSE University was issued last week. Previously, this department had operated at the HSE-Skolkovo Institute for Law and Development, however the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia, together with BRICS antimonopoly bodies, initiated the Centre’s restructuring as a stand-alone department. The HSE News Service learned more about the Centre’s work and its research into competition policy.

For years, Russians have failed to develop the ability to adapt to financial vulnerability — that is, to the risk of falling below the poverty line. This is associated with the fact that Russians are less satisfied with life and rate their well-being lower as well. With the prospect of falling poverty an ongoing problem, these indicators have not improved.

The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown have made life difficult for credit institutions and their clients. Citizens’ incomes have decreased, which can lead to an increase in bad debts, and a decrease in the key rate to support the economy makes deposits less and less attractive and deprives banks of an important resource. Banks are compelled to search for new ways to earn money, which carries additional risks, says HSE Banking Institute Director Vasily Solodkov.

The Poletaev Readings, dedicated to the memory of Andrey Poletaev, one of the founders of the Poletaev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities (Russian acronym — IGITI), is a major annual event of the Institute. The event was set to mark its 10^th anniversary in 2020, but due to the pandemic, the anniversary forum has been postponed to 2021. In its place, the organizers have arranged the Poletaev Readings 9¾, which were held online. HSE News Service spoke with the event organizer and some of the participants.

Students of the Master's programme 'Business and Politics in Modern Asia' now have the opportunity to study in the programme of Ca' Foscari University ‘Language and Management in China' for a year. On completion of their studies, students will get diplomas of both universities.

Dmitry Storcheus set out to become an economist, but then shifted gears abruptly and went into mathematics. With a Master’s degree from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University, he now works as a software engineer for Google and continues to conduct research with his academic supervisor and work on his PhD thesis. Here, he tells Success Builder why ICEF Mathematics graduates are head and shoulders above their U.S. competitors, why Facebook and Google are opening departments at universities, what ‘self-learning neural networks’ are and whether they threaten to unleash a real-life ‘Terminator’ against humanity.

The students of the second cohort in HSE University’s Master of Data Science have started their classes. This English-taught programme is offered entirely online on Coursera and is the first of its kind in Russia.

In terms of format, this new academic year has been an unusual one for many HSE students. In HSE University’s International Preparatory Programmes (IPP), 90% of students from various countries will start their classes online. We talked with the IPP teachers and students about the structure and content of their courses, and the difficulties students face in mastering the Russian language and immersing themselves in Russian culture.