‘At HSE You Will Experience Many Bright Moments, Events, and Impressions’
On August 26–27, orientation sessions for international students took place at the HSE Cultural Centre. In 2025, a total of 1,260 applicants from abroad were recommended for admission: 644 to bachelor’s programmes and 616 to master’s programmes. Specially for them, the event included tours of the Pokrovka campus and Moscow landmarks.
The orientation sessions, which are held annually by the Department of Internationalisation for international first-year students and mobility participants, are focused on cultural adaptation through an introduction to the university, Russian migration legislation, and the organisation of study and extracurricular life at HSE.
Victoria Panova, HSE Vice Rector, offered words of encouragement to the new arrivals. She noted that many had gone through a difficult admission process—all to find themselves now at one of Russia’s leading universities. ‘Of course, you will need to work hard and study to the fullest, to listen, to hear and to understand. But you have already overcome very serious trials, since more than 12,000 international applicants applied, and you are the ones who made it to the finish line—or rather, the starting line, because the main things lie ahead,’ said the vice rector.
She also highlighted that there are two especially important moments in every student’s life: when you first enter university and when you graduate. ‘At HSE you will experience many bright moments, events and impressions. You will find friends and mentors here,’ she said.
Most bachelor’s students at HSE come from Kazakhstan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and China. The most popular fields among international undergraduates are Economics, Design, Management, International Relations, Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, and Media Communications. Master’s programmes attract many students from Pakistan, Nigeria, China, Ghana, India, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Most often, international applicants choose such fields as Management, International Relations, Linguistics, Psychology, and Economics.
The event also addressed the subject of migration law, since it is crucial to have the full set of necessary documents when moving to another country. Zhanna Sorokina, Director of the HSE Support and Career Centre for International Students and Alumni, gave a detailed explanation of how to register for migration purposes, what the SNILS (personal insurance account number) is for, what the medical examination involves, and why it is essential not to end up on the register of monitored persons.
‘It is important to keep deadlines. For example, you must register for migration purposes as quickly as possible; you cannot put it off. Believe me, our laws are strictly enforced—do not break them,’ warned Zhanna Sorokina.
To ensure compliance with all rules and requirements, international students are advised to use the HSE App X. This app informs them of their status and location, helps them keep track of current migration requirements in Russia, and enables them to upload their migration documents remotely to the database, receive timely reminders to renew documents, and avoid fines for violations of Ministry of Internal Affairs regulations.
Valeriia Iuzyshina, Project Team Manager at the HSE Support and Career Centre for International Students and Alumni, shared information about the student ID card, required passes, and the social card. Every participant in the orientation session received answers to their most pressing questions about arriving in Russia and beginning their studies at HSE, made new acquaintances, and took part in a tour of the Pokrovsky Bulvar campus, including the HSE Library.
First-year students from different countries shared their first impressions of the university with the HSE News Service.
For Yuri Galstyan from Armenia, the orientation session was an opportunity to learn more about studying and the finer points of dealing with paperwork. ‘I was admitted to Fundamental and Computational Linguistics. I only applied to HSE. I specifically wanted this programme—it is simply ideal for me, as it combines both the humanities and mathematics,’ he explained.
A few years ago, Anastasia Ryabova first came to Moscow from Uzbekistan. She liked the Russian capital so much that she decided to move. ‘I was admitted to International Relations and chose HSE. I am looking forward to studying—this will be my second higher education degree. I completed my first back home: first at a medical college and then at a university faculty of psychology,’ Anastasia shared.
Argyn-Sultan Bakirov from Kyrgyzstan agrees that Moscow is one of the most advanced megacities in the world, with many opportunities. ‘I was admitted to the first year of the Master’s programme in Information Security and Artificial Intelligence Technologies. Today I came to the meeting to understand how everything at HSE is organised, and who to contact with particular questions,’ he added.
Dursunjemal Yylkybaeva came from Turkmenistan. In her opinion, HSE is one of the world’s leading universities. ‘My sister also studied here, and she is an example to me,’ the student said. ‘She gave me a lot of advice and told me about the prospects and opportunities. I came here with great hopes. Orientation sessions play an important role in adaptation, because it is our first time here—we do not know anything, we feel a little lost, so they help us get acquainted with the university.’
The orientation session is part of a broader set of activities designed to ensure the successful integration of international first-years into student life. The HSE Support and Career Centre for International Students and Alumni prepares and distributes a pocket guide for new arrivals, maintains a website with detailed instructions and a chatbot for quick responses, runs a Telegram channel, organises major festivals such as Russian Culture Day, and, of course, provides individual consultations for all of HSE’s international students. If you have any questions, please contact the centre.