An academic supervisor at HSE University serves as the central figure representing the entire programme, designing the curriculum, and coordinating with departments and faculty members to ensure the delivery of specific courses. To motivate academic supervisors, a system of key performance indicators has been in place for over five years, with the latest results announced in November 2024.

As of this year, HSE University has adopted the Procedure for Supporting the Academic Supervision System. This document outlines the key practices established for incentivising academic supervisors. This year's appraisal, unlike last year's, is based on six performance indicators. Five of these indicators—international admissions, student satisfaction, student retention and loyalty, student digital skills, and student engagement in inter-faculty activities—apply to all educational programmes. An additional indicator, admissions to tuition-based places, applies exclusively to master's programmes. For each indicator, a group of top-performing academic supervisors is selected, who receive a Letter of Commendation from the University for excelling in the respective category and, if they supervise a programme with state-funded places, a bonus for the 2024/25 academic year.

This year, the master's programmes in Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication and Cognitive Sciences and Technologies: from Neuron to Cognition stand out as leaders in the number of winning indicators.

— Success is driven by individual professionalism and effort, as well as by the surrounding context. It is clear that success is never achieved by anyone alone. I would like to extend special thanks to my two ‘comrades in arms.’ First, the programme manager Irina Zhunich—she is the glue, cement, and nails that hold the programme together. Any academic supervisor can only dream of having such a manager working on their programme. The other is Daria Mirzayeva, Curriculum Coordinator at our School's Scientific and International Activities Unit, who has become both a coordinator and a mentor for our international students. 

Frankly speaking, I do not strive to be selected as a leader in these groups at any cost. Although, of course, it is both morally and financially rewarding to be one of them. As far as I know, the way programme academic supervisors are supported at HSE University is unmatched anywhere else. Perhaps it's because I try not to focus too much on achieving the indicators that things work out. There is still much for our programme to improve, but we have an interesting curriculum with four distinct tracks, a variety of disciplines, and excellent teachers. We are currently redesigning the curriculum to better meet the academic and professional needs of our colleagues. Students have plenty of options to pursue their ambitions, and they have promising prospects ahead. Many of our graduates, including those from the track I supervise, are currently employed at HSE University, which makes me proud. I believe these factors have contributed to our achievements.

In my opinion, a successful academic supervisor is someone who isn't afraid to explore new ideas, even when everything is already functioning well. Equally important is a leadership style that is both demanding and caring towards the team. And, of course, one must be a little crazy and passionate about their work. But not too much! Rest is sacred above all.

— Our programme offers a track in Computational Sciences in the second year, where students engage in neuromodelling research. Students also take a Python programming course in the first year, which helps them significantly improve their digital literacy. In the future, we look forward to closer collaboration with the Faculty of Computer Science and the Faculty of Mathematics to attract more mathematically gifted students to work on projects in the field of computational neuromodelling. In addition, our programme regularly participates in olympiads such as Open Doors, and many winners of the relevant track apply to enrol in our programme. We have observed a significant increase in the number of applications from international applicants, with over 200 submitting documents for the portfolio competition.

We would like to thank the management of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience for implementing and supporting the combined Master's-PhD track, which has allowed a large number of students to actively participate in major research projects and continue their work at the doctoral programme level.

As our programme is interdisciplinary (cognitive sciences), we invite teachers from various fields, including biology, psychology, and computer science, and we highly appreciate this collaboration. As part of inter-campus disciplines, our courses are now available to students from other fields of study.

It is worth noting that academic supervisors of the educational programmes offered by the Faculty of Computer Science and the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs have been among the most successful, with 85% to 90% of their programmes leading in at least one indicator.

— Of course, human resources are key to strong performance, so the primary task of the faculty administration is to recruit capable staff and ensure comfortable working conditions for all employees.

This year, the educational programmes of the FCS have demonstrated good performance in terms of new admissions, both for fee-paying and international students. This is largely a result of the faculty's active engagement with applicants both in Russia and internationally. One example is the project ‘I'm an IT Professional,’ in which we encourage students from other cities and countries to visit schools and give talks about how they enrolled in and study at the FCS. Often, these success stories have a powerful impact on school students, leading to new and motivated applicants.

For international promotion, we actively collaborate with the International Admissions Office. The FCS was one of the first participants in a project with the International House Tashkent Academic Lyceum, a leading school in Uzbekistan. And of course, the outstanding successes of our students in the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) and International Mathematics Competition (IMC) have greatly contributed to the faculty's visibility. 

The key to managing work with students is clear and effective communication. It is important not only to communicate decisions to students but also to explain the reasons behind them. Many academic supervisors hold regular meetings with students to discuss both academic matters and other relevant issues. An effective means of communication in large programmes is a chat with the leaders of study groups. On one hand, group leaders understand the needs and requests of the students, and on the other hand, discussing issues with a small group of interested people is highly efficient. This, in turn, increases student satisfaction with both the academic supervisor's work and the programme office.

— While it may sound cliché, the most important aspect of any endeavour is the people responsible for various processes. Therefore, in my opinion, a confidential and friendly aspect of communication between formal superiors and subordinates is essential.

The first thing we notice is the close interaction between the programme office staff and the academic supervisors of the programmes. Without this, effective work simply isn't possible. It seems to me that this has been achieved in most of our programmes.

The second crucial aspect is the attention and support the faculty extends to programme office staff. It is important that such support should be expressed not only in financial terms but also through recognition of their work.