HSE University’s Contribution to Sustainable Development

Our institution aims to maximise its contribution to the sustainability and socio-economic development of Russia and the world in general. As a comprehensive university, we are contributing to the attainment of all UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), addressing the most relevant issues in regards to sustainable development.

HSE University’s contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goals

SDG1 – No Poverty

SDG2 – Zero Hunger

SDG3 – Good Health and Wellbeing

SDG4 – Quality Education

SDG5 – Gender Equality

SDG6 – Clean Water and Sanitation

SDG7 – Affordable and Clean Energy

SDG8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth

SDG9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

SDG10 – Reduced Inequality

SDG11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities

SDG12 – Responsible Consumption and Production

SDG13 – Climate Action

SDG14 – Life Below Water

SDG15 – Life on Land

SDG16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

SDG17 – Partnerships to Achieve the SDGs

No Poverty

For internal stakeholders

Broadening employment opportunities and financial support for students
Increasing the accessibility of higher education

For external stakeholders

Multidisciplinary research and full-cycle projects to address the most relevant issues of socio-economic development

Zero Hunger

For internal stakeholders

Developing and diversifying canteens, cafes and other campus infrastructure site

For external stakeholders

Academic research and expert support of business and state institutions
Volunteering activities

Good Health and Wellbeing

For internal stakeholders

Providing students and staff with medical insurance and first medical aid
Providing psychological and other types of support in difficult life situations

For external stakeholders

Academic research and master-classes on various well-being issues
Providing local communities with legal and consulting support

Quality Education

For internal stakeholders

Providing students with a high-quality education
Consistent professional development for staff

For external stakeholders

Developing e-learning and life-long learning
Promoting intellectual competitions
Contributing to the development of secondary education system

Gender Equality

For internal stakeholders

Ensuring equal opportunities for education and professional development

For external stakeholders

Conducting research and analytical projects aimed at addressing gender imbalance issues

Clean Water and Sanitation

For internal stakeholders

Developing campus and accommodation infrastructure to reduce water and energy consumption

For external stakeholders

Conducting research and educational programmes aimed at improving water and energy consumption administration in corporate, state and social sectors

Affordable and Clean Energy

For internal stakeholders

Developing campus and accommodation infrastructure to reduce water and energy consumption

For external stakeholders

Conducting research and educational programmes aimed at improving water and energy consumption administration in corporate, state and social sectors

Decent Work and Economic Growth

For internal stakeholders

Developing career services for students and alumni
Flexible career opportunities for HSE staff and students

For external stakeholders

Conducting interdisciplinary research aimed at enhancing the efficiency of Russia’s labour market

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

For internal stakeholders

Developing the University’s innovative infrastructure to support innovative entrepreneurship
Developing the University’s infrastructure and digital services for effective education, research, administration and recreation

For external stakeholders

Contributing to the technological development of corporate, scientific, state and social sectors thanks to interdisciplinary full-cycle projects

Reduced Inequality

For internal stakeholders

Developing infrastructure and digital services to ensure accessibility for everyone at HSE University

For external stakeholders

Conducting research and full-cycle strategic projects aimed at addressing economic, social and other types of inequality

Sustainable Cities and Communities

For external stakeholders

Conducting research and providing expert support for urban and regional development
Implementing on-campus volunteering and educational projects for local communities

Responsible Consumption and Production

For internal stakeholders

Developing infrastructure and initiatives to recycle waste and promote responsible consumption among students and staff
Digitalising internal processes to minimise paper consumption

For external stakeholders

Conducting educational activities and interdisciplinary full-cycle projects to enhance expertise and attitudes in regards to sustainable activism in business and society

Climate Action

For internal stakeholders

Developing infrastructure and initiatives to recycle waste and promote responsible consumption among students and staff
Digitalising internal processes to minimise paper consumption

For external stakeholders

Conducting educational activities and interdisciplinary full-cycle projects to enhance expertise and attitudes in regards to sustainable activism in business and society

Life Below Water

For internal stakeholders

Developing infrastructure and initiatives to recycle waste and promote responsible consumption among students and staff
Digitalising internal processes to minimise paper consumption

For external stakeholders

Conducting educational activities and interdisciplinary full-cycle projects to enhance expertise and attitudes in regards to sustainable activism in business and society

Life on Land

For internal stakeholders

Developing infrastructure and initiatives to recycle waste and promote responsible consumption among students and staff
Digitalising internal processes to minimise paper consumption

For external stakeholders

Conducting educational activities and interdisciplinary full-cycle projects to enhance expertise and attitudes in regards to sustainable activism in business and society

Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

For internal stakeholders

Provision of HSE University’s Ethics code

For external stakeholders

Conducting educational, research and analytical activities to develop social, political and legal institutions

Partnerships to Achieve the SDGs

For internal stakeholders

Promoting the creation of external partnerships through internal mechanisms

For external stakeholders

Developing a wide range of partnerships with academic community, business, state and NGOs

Developing a secondary education system (SDG4):

Introducing a model of blended education for educational organisations in Russia.
Developing a virtual education environment, which can host MOOCs, career guidance services and a recommendation system for school students.
Organising internships for school teams from Russia’s regions.
Implementing a programme of advanced training for teachers and administrators.
Launching a methodological centre for state-of-the-art approaches to assessing learning outcomes with the application of unique testing tools devised at HSE University.
Developing generally accessible tools for fairly assessing key skills, such as digital literacy.
Developing feedback and analytical mechanisms, which are available to teachers for fair assessments of educational achievements.

Social volunteering initiatives of students and staff:

Creating an HSE Volunteer Centre at each campus in partnership with leading non-commercial organisations engaged in social projects to promote intellectual, digital, media and social volunteering.
Developing the ‘Green HSE’ community and other initiatives aimed to minimize the University’s environmental footprint (SDG7; SDG12).
Establishing an open multifunctional platform on the basis of the University’s Cultural Centre (SDG11).
Establishing centres providing free consultations on legal and psychological matters to local communities, and expert support to small and mid-size businesses and non-commercial organisations (SDG1; SDG3; SDG8; SDG11; SDG16; SDG17).
Developing digital infrastructure for the ‘third mission’ – University’s contribution to sustainable development (SDG9).

Contributing to the socio-economic development of Russian regions:

Establishing expert and analytical support centres on all University’s campuses in order to contribute to economic, social, urban and innovative development, ecology, energy sector, transportation, online services, and the development of the ‘smart city’ technologies in different regions (SDG1; SDG9; SDG10; SDG17).
Achieving objectives of sustainable development through the integration of socially important topics into educational process and use of project-based learning.
Using the model of inter-campus expeditions ‘Rediscovering Russia’ as a form of applied project-based study with a focus on the provision of expert support services to solve social and economic issues in Russia’s regions (SDG11, SDG17).

New Practice: The Social Lift Programme

HSE University aims to:

enhance the accessibility and inclusiveness of higher education, in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 4.
break the 'vicious circle' of poverty caused by a lack of quality education, thereby contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goal 1.

The 'Social Lift' programme broadens opportunities to study at HSE University for people from low-income families, from regions with less developed educational systems, orphans and other socially vulnerable people. Such people often cannot compete successfully with applicants from major cities, which have more developed educational systems.

Since 2019, HSE University has been providing the most motivated applicants from 10 socially vulnerable categories with opportunities to study under undergraduate and Specialist degree programmes of all campuses at HSE University’s own expense. The total annual number of enrollees who have been admitted to the University through the ‘Social Lift’ programme has more than doubled: from 70 in 2019 to 174 in 2022. Furthermore, applicants from 76 regions of Russia have taken advantage of the opportunities provided by the programme. The University is continuing to develop the programme by broadening the number of programmes with specialised quota and improving screening criteria to ensure target support.

HSE Voices

Through this project and many other instruments to support students, the University is carrying out its social mission. Each year, more and more talented students join us through the 'Social Lift' programme, proving its importance and value to both applicants and the University

Vyacheslav Bashev
HSE University Vice Rector charged with coordinating University’s Admissions Office

Social Responsibility: Developing Secondary Education

HSE University is actively pursuing its role as the purveyor of its third mission – integrated development of society relying on the University’s unique expertise. One of the most important component of our third mission is contributing to development of secondary education in Russia, through the application of the results of the University’s R&D activities and facilitating the attainment of UN Sustainable Development Goal 4.

This includes the following key activities:

Developing partnerships with regional schools for the purpose of raising the quality of education, while also identifying the most talented and motivated students: in 2022, the network included 479 schools, which received methodological support from the University.
Professional development of teachers and administrators from regional schools through continuous education and internship programmes: in 2022, over 860 teachers and administrators completed such programmes.
Specialised podcasts and master-classes, devoted to the most relevant issues of secondary education in Russia, for teachers and administrators.
R&D in such fields as academic performance assessment.

HSE University also regularly offers ‘target’ programmes aimed at filling educational ‘lacunas’, primarily in schools in unprivileged regions. For instance, in 2021, the University’s Institute of Education completed the ‘Schools of Growth’ project, which helped to improve the academic performance of 120 students from rural secondary schools, with the application of an individualised approach and eLearning technologies.

In 2022, HSE University successfully finalised an integrated project aimed at developing the educational performance of more than 5,000 students from 27 secondary schools in Yakutia. Furthermore, starting from 2019, the University developed new instruments for education provision, career guidance and personal motivation in partnership with the Government of Yakutia and national development bank VEB.RF. The project also results in the creation of a professional association of school teachers and tutors, as well as educational activities for parents. In turn, an independent assessment identified considerable improvement of students’ educational performance and HSE University has plans to bring this experience into other regions.

New Practice: The HSE ESG Centre

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), as a relatively new form of integrating stakeholders’ interests into business models, requires specialised expertise for successful implementation.

Understanding the growing need for such expertise in Russian companies, the HSE Graduate School of Business created the Centre of Corporate Sustainable Development Management (ESG Centre) – a national-scale analytical hub for promoting ESG-based models of corporate development.

The key areas of the ESG Centre’s activity are:

Creating educational programmes devoted to ESG-based management, e.g., Master’s programme Sustainable Business Management, launched in 2022 and aimed at educating professionals for the rapidly developing sector of corporate sustainability, who are able to implement environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices successfully.
Devising continuous education and professional development programmes for specialists from the corporate sector and public institutions.
Developing an open digital bank of corporate practices (cases) and instruments in regards to sustainable development and inclusive economic growth.
Providing Russian companies with consulting services and expert support in sustainable development and integration of ESG principles into their corporate development.

HSE Voices

The HSE Business School is a meeting point for scientific expertise, providing leadership for business practices and educational solutions in ESG. It is also a community of change leaders, who are not only focused on the economic effectiveness of management, but who also understand its role in solving social and ecological matters

Valery Katkalo
Director of the HSE Graduate School of Business

Environmental Responsibility: Green HSE Project

Understanding challenges caused by global warming, air, water, soil pollution and other environmental issues, HSE University aims to achieve two-fold objective: to minimise its own environmental footprint and to raise students’, staff and alumni’s awareness of principles and measures of environmentally responsible way of life, contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.

'Green HSE' is an initiative of HSE University students that has received the support of our administration. The project includes a wide range of activities, such as:

Waste collection on campus and in dormitories, with further processing at recycling plants.
Collaboration with external environmental and charity projects.
Educational events devot.d to environmental issues and responsible way of life.
Initiatives to reduce HSE University’s environmental footprint, which are then implemented using the University’s organisational resources.
Participation in national and international conferences.

HSE Voices

'Green HSE' for me is, first of all, an opportunity to challenge myself and demonstrate my knowledge and skills in different areas: from event-management to design, finances and public speaking. Secondly, it is an opportunity to make myself feel useful and make steps toward addressing global problems that affect all of us

Tatyana Kotelnikova
the project group's coordinator, undergraduate student in the 'Business Administration' programme