The Career Center of the HSE Graduate School of Business builds corporate partnerships with leading Russian companies through student coursework projects
At the Higher School of Economics, working on business cases is a cornerstone of project-based learning for undergraduate students of all academic programs. This approach develops both soft and hard skills. Students learn to work in teams, gain experience in public speaking and presentations, and apply academic knowledge in practice.
Whereas coursework used to be an individual task set by a university instructor, it is now a group project involving 4–6 students solving real problems posed by HSE GSB’s corporate partners, including leading Russian and international companies. Businesses benefit from fresh perspectives on current challenges and, in the case of successful projects, can even commercialize the results. This model also helps attract proactive and motivated young professionals and often leads to continued collaboration with the most talented students.
Each academic year corresponds to a specific project format: SWOT analysis (1st year), business/marketing plan or organizational modeling (2nd year), and a management or IT consulting project (3rd year). The duration of each project is five months. “In my view, the topics of the coursework projects are perfectly aligned with students’ internal development at each stage. In the first year, students try to find their place in the world of management and explore a company’s environment through SWOT analysis. In the second year, they begin to form big plans and create a business plan. By the third year, it’s time to flex their muscles and show what they are professionally capable of,” says Alexander Demin, Deputy Director of the Project-Based Learning Development Center at HSE GSB.
For example, one of the most engaging third-year projects in the "Business Administration" program was focused on restaurant management: developing a strategy to promote the brand of the White Rabbit Family (WRF) online school, with the aim of boosting the alliance’s image capital and launching gastronomic theater experiences. WRF, the project client, was satisfied with the outcomes and awarded the best student team a monetary certificate for visits to its restaurants.
“First of all, it was a direct introduction to a new industry. We studied the field not just through open sources, as we usually do in other academic projects, but directly through communication with market players. During the project, we learned to process and analyze information more deeply and systematically, generate unique ideas, and think through their implementation. As a result, a company representative announced the implementation of our initiatives next year as part of the development of a new business unit,” shared Yana Ogay, a third-year student of the “Business Administration” program.
What makes the experience especially valuable is the willingness of GSB alumni to stay connected with the university and engage in student project work:
“The students demonstrate a high level of work and strong communication skills during the project. Such interaction between students, academic supervisors, and businesses is extremely useful for mastering the curriculum and applying knowledge. For companies, it’s a great opportunity to find talented young people for internships. Personally, I plan to offer 2–3 students summer internships, with the possibility of future employment at Askona,” says Dmitry Bocharov, a 2007 Management graduate, PhD in Economics, Deputy Chair of the Academic Council of the 'Business Administration' program, and Chief Internal Auditor at Askona Life Group.