A Unique International Partnership

The Higher School of Economics continues to expand its international cooperation with the world's leading universities. In October 2013, the HSE signed an exclusive partnership agreement with the Southwest University of Political Science and Law in Chongqing, China.

The Higher School of Economics continues to expand its international cooperation with the world's leading universities. In October 2013, the HSE signed an exclusive partnership agreement with the Southwest University of Political Science and Law in Chongqing, China.

The Southwest University of Political Science & Law in Chongqing (SWUPL) ranks among China's top five law schools. 

The HSE will be the only university in Russia to offer bilateral educational and academic mobility programmes jointly with the Southwest University of Political Science and Law. Future plans include joint comparative law studies.

Both universities will implement the same bachelor's and master's courses to train students to operate in a global economy with sufficient qualifications to practice law and to do business in Russia and in China-skills with high international relevance.

Russian-Chinese relations are developing rapidly, and over the past three years China has been Russia's largest trading partner. Experts estimate the 2012 bilateral trade volume at a record US$88.16 billion. The number of Chinese companies doing business in Russia is increasing exponentially, but Russia lacks trained professionals fluent enough in Chinese to conduct business negotiations and versed in the specifics of doing business in China. The bilateral courses are designed to fill this gap.

The partnership agreement between the HSE and the SWUPL provides for student and teacher mobility, mutual student internships with leading companies in both countries, and joint research. The proposed bachelor's and master's courses have been developed jointly between the two universities. The first group of SWUPL students will visit the HSE in the summer of 2014 as part of the annual Summer Language School.