National level development depends in part on the dissemination of advanced models of economic and social technologies. Russia's development has been hampered by the isolation of social and economic sciences and their practices from global sciences, as well as a significant shortage in up-to-day staff that would be able to work in the existing environment of a market economy.

SU-HSE was founded in 1992 by the sheer necessity of training a body of professionals that would have new competences, as well as the provision of scientific and expert support of social and economic reforms. These goals have been successfully reached through the creation of effective international partnerships, innovative forms and essence of education, as well as through the involvement of students and researchers in relevant problems of social and economic development.

The HSE of today is the largest science and education centre in Eastern Europe in social and economic sciences. It has branches in four Russian cities, namely Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod and Perm, and includes 28 faculties, 173 departments and 120 programs of post-graduate professional education (including MBA, DBA, EMBA), 23 research and development institutes, and a staff of 1500 teachers and 400 researchers. At the same time, the HSE is developing a whole spectrum of social and economic sciences (ranging from philosophy and psychology to applied mathematics and information technology in business), which provides an interdisciplinary approach to educational and scientific research.

The HSE currently implements about 300 basic and applied research projects per year, at a cost of 950 million rubles (about $320M). It has taken the lead over a number of universities in Western Europe in terms of R&D funds allocation per staff member. The share of the University faculty members that are involved in scientific research and development has increased from 21.5% to 42.5% over the past three years. During the period 2006 - 2008, HSE researchers published about 2000 monographs and text-books and over 4400 research papers. By 2009, the number of HSE scientific magazines was 22. 2008 saw over 300 major scientific public activities, including the largest academic event in Russia - an annual conference that addresses problems of economic and societal development.

The following advantages could be named as competitive attractions for HSE:

• a large share of faculty members involved in research and development programs (twice the Russian average);
• full-scale integration into the global academic society (12 programs of joint diplomas, including ones with the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Sorbonne, the Humboldt University of Berlin, Stanford University etc.);
• a significant number of lecturers with international PhD degrees obtained at leading international universities;
• the largest university electronic library in the country that provides access to all abstract periodicals in social and economic fields;
• corporate (www.hse.ru) and an educational (www.ecsocman.ru) portals of the HSE are the largest among university-based web-resources owned by higher education institutions in Russia;
• highly developed MA courses (the SU-HSE ranks first among all Russian higher education institutions in terms of MA admission on a budgetary basis)
• the complete rejection of evening and correspondence forms of education as well as paid post-graduate programs which has been aimed at ensuring the quality of education;
• new forms of educational processes and research program integration - research, educational, project laboratories;
• a system of anti-corruption technologies and tight quality control over educational results;
• a system of original research based on monitoring, which has helped to generate an exclusive database of empirical data that is the basis of a unique information base for scientific research that has no counterparts elsewhere;
• close connection between research projects and the formulation and implementation of public policy.

In terms of the level of education of its students the HSE is one of the leading institutions in Russia; the average result of the Unified State Examination (the Russian SAT) among the university entrants in 2009 is 83.4 (budgetary basis entrants) and 70 (off-budgetary basis).

The current development of the HSE is based on the fundamental determination of the Russian Federation Government - "starting in 2010, the university will be receiving state orders for the preparation of MA degree holders to a quantity of no less than the state requirement for holders of a bachelor's degree on an annual basis". This defined the HSE trend of development as a Master of Arts university, which is in tune with the global development tendency of research institutes.

As a result of this, the HSE is maintaining its leading ranking among Russian ratings for higher educational institutions specialising in economics.

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The strategic goal of the Program is to make the HSE the foremost centre for research and education, analysis, consulting and design in the field of social and economic science that would join the line of leading global research universities in terms of quality of its competence and developments, and is called to make a significant theoretical and practical contribution to the innovative development and global competitiveness of Russia.

To reach this goal the HSE will have to deal with the following challenges:

1. Generate, implement and disseminate new educational technologies to supply Russian economics with competitive personnel for research, analysis and management.
2. Create a research and innovation centre of a global standard in the field of social and economic sciences.
3. Promote the dissemination of innovative knowledge and practices in the social and economics field.
4. Form a personnel base for the research university.
5. Organize the infrastructure for educational and scientific activities equal to that of the best research and education centers in the World.

The foreground lines of development (FLD) at the HSE as a national research university are determined by the fields of research in which the HSE keeps its leading position in Russia and has the potential to improve its ground in the global research and educational environment. An important criterion for the foreground lies in the formulation whereby the commercial potential of scientific research results to be implemented in feasible social and managerial instruments and technologies goes ahead. At the same time, since the Russian Federation Government envisages the preparation of highly skilled personnel as the major task for research universities, the major lines of development for the HSE as a research university have been formulated in accordance with the fields of leadership in training specialists:

• Economics
• State and municipal administration
• Management
• Sociology

Implementation of the Program of Development is designed to go through three stages within the period of 2009 - 2018.

In the scope of the first stage (2009 - 2012) the Program will focus on the prompt updating of educational products and the drawing up of a new generation of Master of Arts programs. Other key points of the Program at this stage will be in manpower development and providing facilities that enable the foundation of research centers of a global standard in the scope of the foreground lines of development.

In the second stage (2013 - 2015) the Program's priority will be to support activity of the named centers and promote their unique lines of education (primarily at the master of arts and post-graduate levels) in relevant fields in the global environment. The second stage will also provide support for the development of new foreground lines (from University funds) aimed at improving interdisciplinary research and development. One more challenge set at the second stage will be the commercialization of knowledge and technologies by means of the foundation of infrastructure for innovative companies around the University.

The priority challenge at the third stage (2016 - 2018) will be in establishing international partnerships enjoying equal rights both in the research and development field and in the education field. The third stage will also see further subject expansion of the foreground lines of development.

The key result of the proposed project will be foundation of a new "center of excellence" in Russia - a large research university specializing in social and economic sciences that is in line with top global counterparts and has prestige among the professional and business community.