Master's Programmes Open Day at the Media Institute -HSE University

On November 24th, the HSE Cultural Center held the second Master's Programmes Open Day of the Media Institute this academic year. Potential applicants were introduced to the various programmes and their unique features. Participants also learned about the application and study processes and watched videos showing current students' experiences.

Elena Volkova

Senior Teacher at the Media Institute, Stanislav Milovidov, spoke about the programme «Interactive Media and Digital Industries».

«At present, intelligent technologies and machine learning are being integrated into almost all spheres, significantly changing the media landscape».

The media is rapidly developing, with new ecosystems emerging on the market that have their own formats: blogs, stories, and other elements that were previously only found on social media platforms. «Even on the government services portal, there are formats that resemble blogs, offering users to choose the cultural capital of Russia for 2026 or inviting them to attend a robot battle taking place in Moscow — these are also new media forms». This means that one of the tasks for future specialists will be creating interactive formats to increase coverage in the media space.

Stanislav Milovidov also spoke in detail about the training tracks in these fields: «Digital Production in Creative Industries» and «Experimental Formats and Innovative Strategies in Media».

Anastasia Yakunina presented one of the tracks of the «Contemporary Journalism" programme, called «Data Journalism». The work in this field involves working with data. «People often fear this because they think they have to deal with math and programming,» said Anastasia Yakunina, «but there’s no need to be afraid of it». The programme is open to both humanitarian students and professional programmers, as all groups will fill in any knowledge gaps. Data journalism combines two different approaches, allowing everyone to choose the method that best suits their needs. «We provide the tools, and it's up to students to decide how to use them,» the speaker explained.

Oleg Dmitriev discussed the track «International News Production». This is an English-taught course. «We don’t teach English, we teach in English,» said the Academic Supervisor of the programme. The goal of the course is to prepare specialists who will be able to study current events in Russia and around the world and report on them for news channels.

Mikhail Zelentsov presented another track in this programme — «Business Journalism: News, Commentary, Analysis» — and began by saying: «Contemporary journalism is elitist, we are like a job market, but much better because we also teach here». This track includes a wide range of projects, and all of the instructors are professionals from «Vedomosti», «Kommersant», «TASS», etc. «We have already prepared students who are publishing in academic journals and participating in scientific and practical conferences».

Oleg Dmitriev and teacher Yanis Milonas introduced another programme — «Critical Media Studies». It is for those who want to become researchers and professionals in the media sphere. Everything is covered in this programme: from texts to music and cinema. It involves working with media theory. This track serves as a «bridge to postgraduate course», because teachers continuously monitor students’ progress and assist them in their research activities.

«Media Management» is a programme that combines research and practical approaches», says the Academic Supervisor of the programme Tatiana Magera. In this programme, students can start applying practical skills from the beginning, as all teachers are practitioners. This course includes two tracks: «Management of Media Companies» and «Management of Media Communications in Education», and is implemented in collaboration with the National Media Group. The first track is an on-site programme that trains managers, producers, and media industry researchers, while the second track is conducted online and prepares specialists to manage media specifically for educational purposes.

After presenting all the programmes, the hosts spoke about various competitions, contests and educational events that future applicants can take part in to gain an advantage during enrollment. These include the «I Am a Professional» and the «Higher League» Olympiads, for which registration has already started, as well as events at the «Winter School» that prepares students for admission to master's programs… The best part is that all of these events are free of charge. All information about the events is published on the Telegram channel «MediaMagistr» and on the Media Institute website.

Students from other Russian universities shared their thoughts on the meeting.

Polina, RANEPA student, «Philology and Translation» programme

«I liked the event! They even took away the opportunity to ask questions as the speakers explained everything well anyway. We discussed upcoming events and ways to create a portfolio. All in all, it was very helpful»

Ksenia, Voronezh State University student, «Management and Business Administration» programme

«I came from Voronezh and now really want to enroll in HSE. I am interested in the «Digital Communicationsprogramme». I read about this course earlier on the HSE website — it sparked my interest, and I wanted to attend in person to learn more»

Maryana, RANEPA student, «Philology and Translation» programme

«Everything was presented in a very informative and engaging way... It’s very nice that the Higher School of Economics offers the opportunity to take courses in order to help me decide which programme suits me best»