News

Through its new partnership with the National Finance Association (NFA), ICEF HSE is strengthening its ability to deliver education that combines academic excellence with the practical needs of today's financial industry and employers. As part of this collaboration, both bachelor’s and master's students at ICEF HSE will receive enhanced preparation for the Certified Financial Analyst (CFA-Russia) qualification examination. The knowledge required to successfully pass the examination is integrated into ICEF's core curriculum and the elective course Practical Finance, which has been specifically designed to support exam preparation. This approach equips graduates not only with a strong theoretical foundation but also with practical financial analysis skills, a solid understanding of professional ethics, and critical thinking abilities—competencies that are highly valued by employers across the financial and investment sectors.

Moscow-born and raised Alisa Vakhitova is the youngest of three siblings in her family. Alisa developed her interest in economics in high school and enrolled in HSE Lyceum (Economics and Mathematics) after completing ten grades at a regular school near her home. Alise graduated from HSE Lyceum with honors and showed prize-winning performance at the final stage of National Economics Olympiad for school students. A member of the ICEF class of 2024, Alisa worked as an analyst developer at Yandex and is currently completing her master’s in Finance at the University of Cambridge, scheduled to embark on her PhD studies there in September. Here’s Alisa about the stages of her journey and her plans for the future.

As part of the ICEF elective course “Artificial Intelligence for Business”, students work on projects for partner companies and potential employers. AI experts from these companies also serve on the jury during the final project presentations.

On June 4, 2026, the International College of Economics and Finance (ICEF) at HSE University hosted the Joint ICEF-NES Workshop in Finance organized by the International Laboratory of Financial Economics. The workshop took place in a hybrid format, bringing together offline participants on the HSE campus at 11 Pokrovsky Boulevard and online attendees. The Workshop featured four topical research presentations, covering a wide range of issues from the role of the financial system in China's economic growth to the theory of corporate governance.

We congratulate ICEF Associate Professor Tatiana Mayskaya on the acceptance for publication of two articles in the international peer-reviewed Journal of Economic Theory. The journal is a world-leading publication in the field of economic theory and ranks among the top peer-reviewed journals in economics. Publishing two articles at once in such a prestigious journal is a rare academic achievement, demonstrating high-quality research and its significance for the international scientific community.

On April 27, 2026, the HSE University hosted the fifth annual workshop on microeconomic theory, co-organized by the International College of Economics and Finance (ICEF), the Faculty of Economic Sciences (FES), and the New Economic School (NES). The day was packed with engaging presentations and lively discussions, covering an impressive range of topics within modern microeconomics.

We are delighted to invite you to the Joint ICEF-NES Workshop in Finance, taking place on June 4, 2026.

ICEF continues to expand its team of internationally qualified faculty members holding PhD degrees. Starting September 2026, a new faculty member will join ICEF: Ali Bakhtawar.

Congratulations to Vincent Fardeau, ICEF Assistant Professor, on acceptance of his paper «Asymmetric Thin Markets» in the international peer-reviewed academic journal «The Journal of Financial Economics» (JFE). This journal is among the top-3 most prestigious international peer-reviewed journals in finance. Currently, there are only five researchers in Russia who have published in the leading top‑three finance journals — the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, and the Review of Financial Studies. Three of them are faculty members and researchers at ICEF: Alexey Bulatov, Dmitry Makarov, and now Vincent Fardo.

What skills turn a student into an in-demand financial analyst? How to build a development trajectory towards financial expertise already now? The answers can be drawn from the proceedings of the roundtable Financial Analyst Job: The current challenges of skill training and enhancement, contributed by Assistant Professor of ICEF Elena Dimova and ICEF master’s graduate Maria Petrova, who is currently in charge of Sovcombank department. Contributed by more than thirty leading universities and major finance market players such as Sberbank, Sovcombank, B1, and DRT, among others, the roundtable was hosted in the premises of Moscow Exchange and organised by the National Finance Association and the CFA Association with the Bank of Russia as co-organiser.