HSE Global Scholarship Competition 2025 to study at HSE University in Moscow, Russia

You don't have to pay any fees to take part in the Competition. The Competition includes one round only. You may either attend the Competition venue in person or participate in a long-distance mode.

Subjects

A subject is, conventionally speaking, the topic of an olympiad event. The subjects do not correspond to school subjects, but rather to scientific areas in which it is possible to develop. After winning the Olympiad you may apply for a study program related to the subject you’ve chosen.

HSE INTO has a total of 16 subjects, and they are constantly changing in response to new developments in the world economy. For example, in 2021 the current subject "IT" appeared.

In one year, you can choose up to 5 subjects to take part in and apply on the basis of the best result.

There are usually four stages:

1. Self-study: Takes place before the Olympiad starts.
2. Registration: Starts several months before the Olympiad so that everyone has time to register.
3. Olympiad events: There is an average time interval of 10 days. Two competitions may be held on the same day, but they do not overlap in time.
4. The results of the Olympiad: It takes about two months, but the results are published no later than December.

Here is what past winners who currently attend HSE have to say about the Competition:

Denis Molodtsov (Bulgaria), Winner of the HSE Global Scholarship Competition-2017, International Relations Bachelor’s Programme (Moscow)

The HSE Global Scholarship Competition takes place each year at School No. 133 in Sofia, where I study, and as someone who loves a challenge, I took part in it for three years in a row. The Competition is an excellent opportunity to test your knowledge of different disciplines and general culture. I really liked that the majority of the tasks in the Competition word focused on reasoning. This helped me be more confident in expressing my opinion in Russian and taught me how to structure my writing. Additionally, I had the opportunity to get acquainted with different majors at HSE – Political Science and Philology. Thanks to the Competition, I saw the gaps in my education and understood what I need to improve on, all while also learning a lot.

I didn’t have a single doubt in choosing a university. Because I had participated in the HSE Global Scholarship Competition, I knew that HSE was a serious university that offered a top-notch education where I could grow not only professionally, but personally as well. It was hard at the beginning of the academic year – a new city, new people, and at first I didn’t know how to get to the school or where to get my student ID card, but they helped me out. I want to thank all of the staff at HSE for their patience and all of the information they gave me.

The major I chose is difficult, but interesting. Each subject is a small challenge for me, but at the end of the year I see how much my horizons have broadened, and I know I’m on the right path.

Maria Eremuta (Latvia), Winner of the HSE Global Scholarship Competition-2018, Sociology and Social Informatics Bachelor’s Programme (St. Petersburg)

I found out about the Competition from HSE representatives at an education exhibition in Riga. I registered on the website, chose the fields that interested me, and took a risk and participated. The hardest thing was pulling together all of my knowledge and skills and putting them into practice while solving the Competition’s problem sets. You have to approach a lot of the questions creatively, and you have to be able to reason and look at things from a different angle than you’re used to. The Competition gave me the opportunity to test my knowledge, believe more in myself, and get into HSE, which I had heard a lot of good things about from my cousin. She has studied here for a year already and is very happy with everything. If it weren’t for the Competition, I probably would have had to apply to HSE through the Russian embassy’s quota in Latvia, meaning I would have had to take entrance exams.

I’m expecting the academic year to be very positive, and I’m excited to study the subjects that interest me in more detail and meet new people. I also hope to learn a lot of new and interesting things and experience the diverse student life there. Of course, with the new academic year approaching, I’m really concerned about getting settled in a new city – St. Petersburg – as well as where my dorm room will be, who my roommates will be, etc. I hope everything works out okay!