News

Following an established tradition, the HSE School of Foreign Languages held a pre-New Year poster session, during which fourth-year undergraduate students of the Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication programme defended their practice-oriented projects. The assessment panel included representatives of major companies and organisations. Working together with HSE students, they shared their professional experience, skills, and expertise.

In late December 2025, a unique competition was held at HSE University where participants solved challenges not by writing code, but solely by interacting with Sber’s GigaChat artificial intelligence model. The Improm(p)tu hackathon was an experiment less about programming skills than a new form of literacy: the ability to work effectively with AI by translating complex problems into a language neural networks can understand.

On the eve of the New Year, HSE is once again helping make the dearest wishes of less-fortunate children come true. For several years now, the New Year Tree of Wishes charitable initiative has brought together students, lecturers, and university staff who want to spread a little magic during the winter holidays.

Researchers at the HSE Institute of Education have identified how much time students should ideally devote to their studies, extracurricular activities, and personal life to maintain strong academic performance without compromising their mental health. An analysis of responses from 2,753 students, combined with their actual academic results, revealed several risk factors—such as excessive homework—as well as positive factors, including sufficient sleep, regular exercise, and moderate participation in projects. Based on these findings, the researchers developed practical recommendations for both students and universities. The paper has been published in the European Journal of Education.

HSE students delivered an outstanding performance in the semi-final round of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), which took place in St Petersburg on December 15–17, 2025. Two teams—FFTilted from HSE University–Moscow and Muffix Sassif from HSE University–Nizhny Novgorod—will represent the university at the ICPC World Finals, scheduled for 2026. Other HSE teams also won gold and bronze medals. These results confirm the high level of training of HSE students in competitive programming.

Ahead of the holiday season, the HSE News Service talked to some international students about their reflections on the past year, expectations of the year to come, and plans for the winter break. Below, Hasnain and Syed, both from Pakistan, talk about their experiences as international students in Moscow, share their tips for successful personal growth, and send wishes to their fellow classmates.

Historical sabre fencing is actively developing at HSE University. In 2024, a student club dedicated to this martial art was established, and recently the HSE Open Cup was held in the atrium on Pokrovsky Bulvar. The tournament brought together representatives of 21 universities from different regions of Russia—from Crimea to the Far East—as well as from the Republic of Belarus.

On December 12, HSE University welcomed a delegation from the China Academy of Art — one of the most prestigious creative universities in Asia. The visit built on the dialogue launched in September and reaffirmed the mutual interest in collaboration outlined during the visit of Natalia Logutova, Deputy Director of the HSE Institute for Creative Industries Development, to the academy’s campus in Hangzhou. The parties discussed ideas that could form the foundation for long-term partnership—from digital reconstructions of historical spaces to joint educational programmes and research initiatives.