Big Day: ICEF Bachelor’s and Master’s Class of 2025 Conferred Diplomas!
Opening the ceremony was ICEF HSE Director Sergey Yakovlev, who said: “Our degree programmes made a very successful progress, as is evidenced by graduate employment rates, further education offers, and the increasing number of the academic partnerships we start with leading universities around the world. As before, our students still have the opportunity to join the International programme of the University of London and graduate with two diplomas. Alongside this, our students are welcome to pursue the recently established double-degree track in economics and finance at bachelor’s or master’s level with the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE), one of the top universities in China (and 29th in the world according to the Shanghai Ranking). Our students can learn economics and finance in the international summer schools in Moscow and those offered by the partner universities. Right now ICEF is hosting its First International Summer School, which, given the surge of interest among international students, is likely to become a standing course.”
Sergey Yakovlev pointed to the fact that this year’s number of graduates who entered the labour market stands at over 60%. Along with the traditional high-tech sectors such as finance, banking and consulting, the graduates of ICEF go to work in IT and the industry. The names of employers are well known to everyone: VTB, Sber, Alfa-Bank, Credit Bank of Moscow, Gazprombank, T-Bank, Bank of Russia, DRT, Kept, B1, Trust Technologies, among others.
The remaining little less than 40% enrolled in master’s and PhD programmes. Notably, the proportion of those continuing their studies at the world-known schools in Russia has seen a significant (appr. 2-fold) increase: the majority of graduates (65) have been admitted to the Higher School of Economics (to postgraduate and master’s programmes), NES, Skolkovo, Moscow State University, and ITMO.
The share of those planning to pursue the master’s courses at top universities abroad decreased compared to previous years, accounting for about 14%. Importantly, the overwhelming majority of students choose to return, upon completion of their master’s programmes abroad (with duration of 1 or 2 years), to Russia, enriched with knowledge and competencies. One of the reasons lies in the modern Russian labour market offering more opportunities for professional fulfillment.
Alexander Shokhin, President of HSE University, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and Chairman of ICEF Board of Trustees, expressed his congratulations, noting that the 25th anniversary degree ceremony was a shared celebration. “ICEF turned out to be HSE’s most successful project, a flagship one. It is ever evolving, with inner dynamics and learning process that look like a celebration for everyone,” said Alexander Shokhin, adding, “I speak today as the President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and can rightfully call you my colleagues. You are about to enter the employment market, and many of the top employers in the country want to see you among their staff. You are the preferred candidates and you come from ICEF and HSE.”
Vadim Radaev, First Vice-Rector of the HSE University, in turn, said: “ICEF delivers the best of our degree programmes. I don't know of any other faculty where all the details of programmes are discussed so thoroughly. To date these programmes enjoy as great a demand as they did earlier. Finely tuned, they need no further testimonials to prove their excellency. In a recently established partnership with a world’s leading university in China, ICEF acts as equal partner.” Addressing the graduates, Vadim Radaev said: “You got lucky twice. One time was when you entered ICEF and the other when you graduated it.”
Philipp Gabunia, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia, spoke from the perspective of employers. It’s essential that the finance sector hires people who are young, ambitious and willing to learn because “we live in a rapidly changing world. Thanks to your experience from ICEF, you are able to learn, analyze, identify complex relationships, and provide argumented reasons in debate. Learning happens through life – it really does – and it will be much easier for you. I’m talking as an employer who knows what graduates of ICEF are about. I had the honour to host Workshops at the HSE. Those that had ICEF students in the audience came as amazement: they produced solutions that I did find interesting and worthy of applying at work.”
Following the award of HSE University bachelor’s and master’s diplomas and certificates of merit, the ceremony went on to celebrate Best Teachers by ICEF Student Vote 2024-25 – Artem Arkhipov, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Victoria Rudenko, and Sergey Stepanov.
