‘The Most Challenging Tasks are Achievable’

On September 10th a graduation ceremony of the joint HSE and London School of Economics programmes of the HSE International College of Economics and Finance took place at the British Embassy in Moscow. Diplomas were given not only to those completing the undergraduate programme, but also to the first graduates of the Master’s programme in Financial Economics.

The graduation ceremony started with a speech by the ICEF director Sergey Yakovlev, who mentioned that this year's baccalaureate programme had a record number of graduates - 86 people, with about 60% of them receiving either a first or an upper second class honours from the University of London. 16 graduates of the Master's programme received HSE diplomas signed by the rector, Yaroslav Kuzminov, and certificate letters from LSE signed by the director, Howard Davies.

Deputy British Ambassador, Laurie Bristow, defined the HSE and LSE collaboration as ‘the best example of a way to develop and strengthen communication between Russia and Great Britain'. Janet Hartley, the LSE Pro Director on Teaching and Learning and the author of a number of works on the history of Russia and Russian-British relations supported this idea. An alumni of Leningrad State University, she urged the graduates:"Set yourself the most challenging tasks:they are achievable!"

The HSE President Alexander Shokhin was impressed with the number of graduates. He emphasized that this graduation will be a test of the effiectiveness of the HSE and LSE educational programmes during the current crisis in the world economy. Representatives from Sberbank and VTB-24 Bank assured the graduates that they won't be entering a world of unemployed. ‘The crisis has created new opportunities, - said Mikhail Zadornov, President of VTB-24, - and we hope that these ICEF graduates will come to work in the Russian banking sector'.

Photos by Ivan Moryakov