Together We Can Achieve More: The HSE Donors Club Autumn School
The autumn school of the HSE Endowment Fund’s Donors Club has taken place at HSE’s Pokrovsky Bulvar campus. The event brought together alumni, as well as winners and nominees of the HSE Outstanding Alumni Award. The two-day programme was packed with lectures, workshops, and discussions on leadership, the marketing of the future, conflict management, and the use of artificial intelligence in business.
The event was organised jointly by the HSE Endowment Fund, the Office for Alumni Relations and Career Development, and the Public Relations Office of HSE University.
The Donors Club of the Endowment Fund has established an Outstanding Alumni Endowment. Donations are invested, and the income generated is used to support projects by HSE students who have won research competitions.
‘Our fund has existed for almost 20 years. Its purpose is to support the university’s key projects. We currently have 11 endowments that provide support for faculties, the HSE Lyceum, student academic mobility, promising research areas, and university-wide initiatives. To make our activities more engaging for partners, alumni, and members of the Donors Club, we decided to launch a series of educational intensives delivered by HSE’s best lecturers. This is the first time we have held the Autumn School, and I hope it will become a proud tradition,’ said Andrey Nikolaenko, Director of the HSE Endowment Fund.
The school promotes the principle of lifelong learning and helps alumni maintain their connection with their alma mater, explained Olga Gaevskaya, Head of the Office for Alumni Relations and Career Development. ‘Here they can feel like students again, talk with lecturers, immerse themselves in the atmosphere, and gain new skills. It is very important for us to maintain ties with HSE alumni because they are truly a driving force of the university—it is an exchange of experience that promotes personal and professional growth,’ she noted.
The first day of the event focused on personal effectiveness and the future of marketing. Natalia Antonova, Professor at the HSE School of Psychology, engaged participants in a discussion on time management, while Tatyana Komissarova, Head of the Laboratory for Continuing Professional Education Project Solutions, spoke about new marketing trends and their global development prospects. Valery Shulginov, Leading Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Linguistic Conflict Resolution Studies and Contemporary Communicative Practices, presented case studies on conflict management and communication in the public sphere. Irina Brazhnikova, HSE supervisor and executive coach for top managers, spoke about how and why leaders should develop strategic thinking. After the lectures, the participants enjoyed a guided tour of the Durasov House and a formal dinner at the Professors’ Club.
The second day of the educational programme focused on managerial and technological challenges for executives. Sergey Filonovich, Professor at the HSE Graduate School of Business, delivered a lecture entitled ‘Challenges of Modern Management,’ highlighting the need for changes in leadership styles.
Evgeny Sokolov, Head of the Big Data and Information Retrieval School at the Faculty of Computer Science, gave a lecture on the potential use of large language models and AI agents in management.
The event concluded with a practical training session and an exchange of impressions and ideas for future collaboration between HSE alumni and the university.
‘HSE organised a special educational course for the Donors Club, and the lectures that impressed me the most were those on conflict and interpersonal relations, as well as on how marketing strategies have evolved from 2010 to 2030. I would love for such events to continue in the future—alumni will surely be glad to return to the university and see their friends and lecturers again,’ shared Sergey Pavlovsky, participant of the school and HSE University graduate.
Another HSE graduate, Andrey Oparin, also highly appreciated the meeting. ‘I was flooded with pleasant memories and feelings of the past,’ he said. ‘In addition, like many of my acquaintances, I am looking to expand my social network. It’s wonderful that HSE has introduced the Autumn School learning format, where you can gain new knowledge and attend a short lecture series with new people. It turned out to be very engaging and effective, and I believe we have built strong social connections grounded in an academic context. I feel inspired and emotionally uplifted—it was a complete mental reboot from the daily work routine.’
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