HSE Speaks English at HSE Day

Yulia Grinkevich, Director of Internationalization at HSE describes English-language lectures at HSE Day.

— How many lectures will be in English at HSE Day?

— There will be an entire series of lectures by English-language speakers at HSE Day this year. There are four of such lectures in the programme. We really like the very idea of open and public lectures, and we are very proud of the fact that our university has already made this a regular practice. People like our professors and researchers are the main asset of any university, and the university, as an important public institution, should share its ‘richness’ with a wide audience, with the public, and not limit itself to only students able to take courses. Our international specialists are always ready to take part in HSE’s social activities and activities surrounding the idea of open lectures.

— Who do you see attending the lectures? Can you give us a general picture of the audience?

— HSE Day at Gorky Park is an open event, so anyone can come. HSE Day is nonetheless a university event, so we hope to see our students and colleagues first and foremost. In September, HSE’s Moscow campus is welcoming new foreign professors, many of whom do not speak Russian. For them, an English-language lecture series is the type of event they can participate in completely. But it’s important to note that there will not be translators or interpreters. We invite you to come listen to the English-language lectures!

— How did you select the topics of the public talks?

— In coming up with the lectorium’s programme, we focused mostly on the speakers and gave them relative freedom in selecting topics. The overall denominator of our lecture platform will be the English language as a symbol of the internationalization taking place at the university. We invited instructors from the number of those hired in our international recruitment programme and they represent various disciplines. The only request we gave the speakers was to adhere to academically popular material since the lectures are after all meant for a wide and multidisciplinary audience. Another idea was to try to involve the audience in a discussion as much as possible, and one of the speakers, Joe MacInnes, a psychologist, supported the idea enthusiastically. He is planning on involving the audience in an improvisational psychological experiment right then and there. Jenya Bakin, the head of HSE’s Academic Writing Center, will moderate the lectures and discussions with the speaker, and we are very thankful to him for this.

— Are any English lectures planned to take place in Moscow for Muscovites or guests of the city this year?

— HSE Day will determine if there is a demand for English-language lectures. It is entirely likely that HSE’s international specialists will actively speak at different Moscow locations in the future.