In today's dynamic and changing world, a better education that meets the challenges of the era cannot merely be the result of relaying and receiving a specific set of knowledge. Accumulation of new skills, continuous generation of new knowledge, and processing received information is a core competency required by experts today. Russian universities in general, and HSE to a significant degree, are based on the concept of social and economic embeddedness in the problems of the local region and the country as a whole. The mission of institutions of higher education has long been to train highly qualified specialists for the regional, Russian economy.

But in overcoming the existing separation between the academic and university sectors to reach a level of research in universities that will allow taking a rightful place in the global academic community, we cannot completely switch off from the national discourse and switch to the supra-national; therefore, the challenge and uniqueness of HSE is the fact that we are balancing between these two objectives, which many people find to be in conflict. We are working to extract synergies from the solutions to these challenges. We work in such a way that the challenge of globalization does not give rise to conflict but rather brings benefits for the development of the region, market and the entire country. The Higher School of Economics focuses on supporting and promoting the research activities of each and every employee.

The university is committed to ensuring that each faculty is involved in developing the scientific component of its field. Thus, separate institutions – both disciplinary and interdisciplinary – have been established to achieve greater efficiency in meeting the target goals. The result of the overall effort was HSE’s entry into 13 subject and two subject area rankings in the QS World University Ranking. In addition, HSE was in the top 100 ranking for three subjects – Economics & Econometrics, Politics & International Studies, and Sociology – and it was the only Russian school in the Accounting & Finance 101-150 ranking. As for total number of subject rankings, HSE was third in Russia. HSE has been improving rapidly since the start of the Project 5-100, ranking at the top of four to five new subject areas each year and repeatedly improving its position in the subject rankings from past years. Subject rankings most accurately reflect a university’s real achievements in science and education. They are the best way to judge the quality of a school’s academic publications, and the reputation assessment for a particular field is carried out by professionals of that field and can therefore be considered first-hand assessments. In total, four indicators are calculated: academic reputation, employer reputation (based on surveys), citations per article and the h-index.

Basic research aims to develop social sciences and make use of the university’s research potential to solve key social and economic problems. All research projects, both in the stage of development and following their completion, pass through a system of independent, external review. From 2006 to 2013, the total number of projects grew by a factor of more than 10. Most of these projects concern health care, education, social welfare, microeconomics, and economic and technological development.

Applied research has allowed the university to build a strong model for collaboration between academia, business and society. By commercializing research innovations and forecasts, and by completing projects commissioned by state institutions, state-owned companies and private business, the HSE has become one of the largest research and innovation centres in the country in the social and economic sciences.

Monitoring studies, carried out by the HSE serve as a source of relevant information for state agencies, the mass media and other researchers. Among the most commonly cited are Monitoring the Business Climate for the Real and Service Sector Enterprises, the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS), and Monitoring Enrollment in Russian Universities.

The HSE regularly hosts academic discussions in which international experts take part. The most notable event is the annual April International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development. Researchers from Russia and abroad attend alongside heads of the Russian government, Russian Presidential Administration, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as well as the major Russian and foreign companies.