News

The fifth international Geography Test was recently held in 110 countries around the world. HSE University hosted the event for the first time. HSE News Service spoke with some of the participants who came to test their knowledge of the earth and its geography.

This September, HSE – St. Petersburg hosted the 3^rd IZA/HSE University Workshop on Skills and Preferences and Labor Market Outcomes in Post-Transition and Emerging Economies. HSE News Service spoke with Professor Lehmann, co-organizer of the workshop, about human capital, the importance of cognitive and noncognitive skills, and the challenges empirical labour economists encounter when studying these issues in post-transition and emerging economies.

Approximately 200 teams (764 participants) gathered at Hack.Moscow v3.0, an annual hackathon that was held for the third year in a row from October 25 to 27. The winners shared 1 million roubles from sponsors and had the opportunity to earn preferential admission to master's programmes at HSE, the hackathon’s partner university.

What can modern genetics do? Can a robot learn how to write poetry? How can big data be used to predict crime? The ubiquity of digital technology in our everyday lives and in sciencewas the main theme of a festival organized by HSE University at the Digital October platform.

Students from all four HSE campuses have qualified for the semifinal of the ICPC Student Programming World Championship. The quarter-final stages of the tournament were held in the second half of October in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Saratov.

Couples with three or more children often feel that others judge or refuse to understand them. Their decision to have many children seems to annoy their extended family, neighbours, colleagues, health professionals and government bureaucrats. Very often, other large families are the only one who offer them support. Based on findings from in-depth interviews, HSE researchers describe the effect that social interactions can have on fertility.

Initiated in 2013, the Russian federal initiative, Academic Excellence Project 5-100, aims to maximize the competitive position of leading Russian universities in the global research and education market. On October 26, the Project Council concluded its seventh annual meeting in Moscow. At the meeting, delegations from participating universities presented reports of their progress in improving their international competitive edge.

What is wrong with today’s global political market? How can a spam letter change your life? Why do Russians consider New Zealand nothing but boring pastureland, and how can you conduct business there without once setting foot in a tax office? Valeria Kuznetsova, a graduate of the School of Political Science (now the Faculty of Social Sciences) who organizes tourism to New Zealand, told our correspondent this and more.