About the programme

Undergraduate and graduate students of HSE University are eligible to join the programme. Students of the last year of study will be assessed for eligibility individually.

Postgraduate students are invited to join the programme if they are graduates of HSE University programmes.

The students of the Russian nationality are allowed to join the programme if they are feel confident of their ability to engage prospective students of foreign nationalities.

Graduates of any year are not eligible to participate in the programme.

Student ambassadors promote HSE University to prospective international students, using their personal ties and contacts.

They are our on-campus advocates who can share their experiences of HSE University life with prospective international students. Besides that, the ambassadors can give advice or tips on how to apply to HSE, what to expect from study at HSE and living in Russia.

Ambassadors give initial consultations about admissions and studying at HSE,  help prospective international students with their applications, and can participate in events for international prospective students, such as study or campus tours.

From this perspective the ambassador programme differs from the project of buddies. Our main goal is to stimulate WoM-marketing and engage HSE students into recruiting new international students.

To accomplish the tasks the best way possible, the ambassadors shall be:

1. Energetic, curious, responsible, communicative, polite and tolerant

2. Motivated by personal development foremost. The best ambassadors get bonuses and rewards, but they shall not be your goal in itself.

3. Good ambassadors don’t get lost! If an ambassador feels that he/she wants to quit the project – that’s perfectly fine to say so. Since communications are of great importance in the project, we expect the ambassadors to be responsive.

HSE students interested in joining the programme should fill in an online application at the programme’s website studamb.hse.ru/en.

Applications are considered by the programme managers who can request references from the student’s academic programme/unit if necessary. Additionally, students may be asked for providing a motivation letter.

Upon the application approval, selected students get an e-mail about joining the programme including an ambassador’s personal referral code (APRC) as follows SA_XXX_YY, where XXX is the code of the ambassador’s nationality, and YY is an index number.

DO's

The ambassadors are very much welcome to initiate something new – mini-projects, games, quizzes, etc.

The ambassadors are more than welcome to improve the project.

The ambassadors promote accurate, true, and comprehensive information about HSE University only.

DON'Ts

The ambassadors must not enter in any kind of financial arrangements with prospective students, even if this is by their own intention. We don’t consider it good for the image of the project.

The ambassadors must not misinform, disorient, and create false expectations for the prospective students.

The ambassadors must not disseminate false or slander information about HSE University. They are the face of the university and we’d like this face to be positive.

Contact the project manager or forward a query to:

• inter@hse.ru – for counselling and support services (admissions, enrollment, etc.);
• visa-registration@hse.ru – for visa support;
• recognition@hse.ru – for legalization and recognition of academic credentials.

The programme is implemented and coordinated by the International Admissions Office.

Our project managers will be helping you with all relevant information, provide you with relevant promos, and give support on international students’ admissions.

1. By participating in the programme, each student agrees to follow its requirements, procedures, and terms.

2. The date of filling the registration form landed at studamb.hse.ru is considered as the start date of participation in the programme. If an ambassador registers on the date before the official start of the programme, the last will be considered as the start date.

3. The main motivation for the ambassadors shall be the development of their personal skills. Awarding of bonuses or any other conveniences or rewards shall not be an ambassadors’ goal in itself. Participating in the project, the ambassadors agree to be energetic, committed, responsible, communicative, polite, and tolerant.

4. Accomplishing project tasks of engaging prospective international students, the ambassadors agree to not enter with them in any kind of financial arrangements, i.e. ask for and/or receive money for assistance in admission to HSE University.

5. The ambassadors are welcome to initiate their own mini-projects, quests, quizzes, games, or any other activities aimed at engaging prospective international students. The financial part of such initiatives shall be approved well in advance or implemented on the initiator’s own and at the initiator’s own expense. International Admissions Office welcomes project’s improvement proposals.

1. The ambassadors, through peer-to-peer consultations, provide prospective international students with accurate, true, and comprehensive information about admissions and study at HSE University.

2. The ambassadors are allowed to choose channels and ways of promoting HSE University to prospective international students unassisted, if such ways are legal under the current laws of the Russian Federation, bylaws of HSE University, laws of other states, and meet universal ethical and moral principles.

3. The ambassadors can share their own experience of study and non-academic activities at HSE University as well as living in Russia.

4. The ambassadors shall get acquainted with and use open official resources with information about HSE University that might be useful for prospective international students including:

- website for prospective international students

- available programmes

- prep year courses

- undergraduate programmes’ tuition fees

- graduate programmes’ tuition fees

- dormitories (available for tuition-free students only)

- housing options (for tuition-fee based students)

- requirements for legalization of academic credentials

- academic credentials recognition procedure

5. Promoting information about HSE University may also include sharing posts and publications from the official HSE pages and accounts in social media and messengers. If the ambassadors are unsure whether one or another channel/page belongs to HSE University, they shall consult with the project manager on this matter. Among official HSE accounts are:

Telegram:

- t.me/HSE_admissionsBA

- t.me/HSEenter

Wechat: hseuniversity

6. The ambassadors may use handout materials for prospective international students, that can be taken from the International Admissions Office upon prior approval by the project manager. The handout materials can also be provided by the ambassadors’ schools/faculties. E-copies of our promos can be downloaded at https://studamb.hse.ru/#promos

1. If the ambassadors are unsure that they are about to provide correct information, they shall consult with the project manager or forward a request on their own/ask a prospective international student to send a request via e-mail to:

- inter@hse.ru – for counselling and support services;

- visa-registration@hse.ru – for visa support;

- recognition@hse.ru – for legalization and recognition of academic credentials.

All questions related to study at the particular programme can be forwarded to the manager of the programme.

2. Misinforming and disorienting the prospective international students, providing them with incorrect information about HSE University, its programmes, admissions, and education procedures, etc., dissemination of false and/or slander information about HSE University, as well as other violations lead to disqualification without any compensation for the work done or the results achieved (if any).

1. All ambassadors have their own unique referral code - Ambassador personal referral code (APRC).

2. Ambassadors use an online form for recording international prospective students where they indicate their APRCs, full name of the applicant, applicant’s date of birth, contact e-mail and phone number - one applicant at a time. The Application form 2023 is available at https://studamb.hse.ru/en/polls/673367077.html

Important! The ambassadors shall record applicants before they submit their applications to the university. 

3. Prospective international students register and submit their applications through the personal HSE account at:

- asav.hse.ru/applyba.html#signup – for bachelor’s and specialist’s degree applicants

- asav.hse.ru/applyma.html#signup – for master’s degree applicants

- asav.hse.ru//foreignpreparatorystud.html#signup– for prep year applicants

3.1. While filling the application in, the applicant indicates the APRC of the ambassador in the field “How did you learn about HSE?” – tick “Others” - and type the code in the format SA_XXX_YY.

3.2. Altering the field, e.g. in case of an error, is allowed only after the project manager’s approval.

4. The ambassadors are welcome to help and assist the prospective international students during the application.

5. The project managers reconcile data from the form with ASAV database monthly. Upon completion of the admissions the managers reconcile final data, identify the list of students recruited and enrolled to HSE, and assess outcomes.

6. The contribution of ambassadors is assessed based on the following criteria – number of applicants, number of enrolled students, number of enrolled students to the number of applications ratio, ratio of the ambassadors’ involvement. Polling the applicants can be carried out additionally.

As part of the programme, the ambassadors can reach different levels:

Junior ambassador – less than a year of participation with less than 5 students recruited

Middle ambassador – more than a year experienced with 5 to 10 students recruited

Senior ambassador - more than a year experienced with more than 10 students recruited and number of enrolled students to the number of applications ratio more than 25%.

Different levels may imply different bonuses and rewards.