For a few hours, HSE University transformed into a Japanese enclave in the heart of Moscow as the campus hosted a traditional bōnenkai end-of-year festival. The Musubi Japanese club of the School of Asian Studies invited anyone interested to find out what kadomatsu are, how to make traditional nengajo New Year’s cards, and to take part in some New Year’s traditions they might not be familiar with.

Each year, hundreds of students from all over the world decide to pursue knowledge at HSE University- St Petersburg. This journey is filled with excitement, hopes, and discoveries: from choosing a programme, submitting documents, attending interviews, and passing entrance exams to receiving that coveted acceptance letter and finally arriving in Russia.

On December 8, 2024, HSE’s Pokrovka campus hosted the first HSE CS x BRICS Ideathon, organised by the Hackathon Club of the Faculty of Computer Science and the HSE Multilateral Strategic Projects Office. The event was supported by the BRICS Expert Council–Russia, which endorsed the initiative as part of HSE's activities in the BRICS Network University.

For the second time, the HSE School of Foreign Languages has held a defence of specialised projects developed by fourth-year students of the Bachelor’s Programme in Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication. Representatives of major companies and organisations that support the school’s project activities gathered to evaluate the projects during a poster session.

With the year almost over, the HSE News Service has been asking students about their reflections on 2024 and their hopes for the future. This latest instalment focuses on Abdalla Abdelgadir, a 31-year-old student in his first year of the Master’s in International Relations. Abdalla talks about the adversity he faced in his journey to Russia from his home of Omdurman, Sudan, as well as how his passion for international cooperation extends beyond the classroom.

In December 2024, HSE University welcomed successful candidates for tenure-track positions and postdoctoral fellowships. This year, the university strengthened its teaching and research teams with 39 international faculty members, each holding a PhD from leading international institutions such as Maastricht University, the University of Pennsylvania, École Polytechnique, Xi'an Jiaotong University, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Hunan University, and many others.

In December, a delegation from HSE University, led by Rector Nikita Anisimov, visited Japan to strengthen educational and scientific cooperation. Representatives from HSE University met with the leaders of prominent institutions in Russian studies, including Tokai University, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Hosei University, and Keio University. The visit, initiated at the invitation of the Japanese Ambassador to Russia, marked the first official visit by a delegation from a Russian university to Japan since 2022.

HSE University partnered with the First Eurasian Congress of Linguists dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). The congress served as a platform for discussing relevant issues in linguistics related to all language groups of Eurasia and other regions worldwide. Approximately 200 researchers from 46 foreign countries and 300 Russian linguists from 50 regions of Russia participated in the event. 

On December 20, the Faculty of Economic Sciences hosted the Third Sino-Russian Workshop on Innovations and Innovativeness, organised in collaboration with the School of Economics at Shanghai University. Three representatives from each institution, including staff and PhD students, presented at the seminar. The participants discussed factors influencing company innovativeness, the role of leaders in R&D investments, and the impact of digital transformation.