HSE Art and Design School, the creative division of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, is one of Russia’s leading institutions in the fields of design, fashion, and contemporary art education.
We teach contemporary design and art with a strong focus on systematic design thinking, concept development, and creative experimentation, grounded in a deep understanding of classical design tools and techniques.
HSE Art and Design School has four campuses in different cities and offers more than 15 academic tracks. Over 5,000 students are enrolled in our undergraduate, graduate, continuing education, and postgraduate programs. The school features its own art workshops and studios, a film pavilion, theater and fashion clusters, and a contemporary art gallery — HSE ART GALLERY.
This program is designed for graduates holding a bachelor’s degree in design, visual arts, or a related discipline. It provides a comprehensive foundation for addressing visual communication and branding challenges across both traditional and digital cultural environments.
HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL offers the opportunity to establish a Digital Campus or develop an affiliate/partnership program with a partner university or business entity.
We provide:
A scalable digital platform to fully organize and operate an online campus at partner institutions
Comprehensive training for curators and mentors, along with ongoing support and quality control of the educational process
Educational materials and our expertise in design and visual arts education
A proven, stable, and effective academic program with consistently strong outcomes
Localization of the program to meet language and national curriculum requirements
What We Expect from Our Partners
A private university or a business entity eligible to operate in the region
Responsibility for legal and administrative operations in the region, including banking and compliance
Promotion and marketing of the online campus offering within the local market
HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL students regularly participate in and win international design competitions, perform at major design festivals, and are featured on prestigious professional digital platforms.
These experiences are essential for emerging creatives — helping them stay aligned with global trends, understand the standards of their peers worldwide, and receive valuable feedback from jury members and fellow participants.
Our academic staff and graduates have received recognition in numerous national and international competitions, including: Bienal del Cartel Bolivia BICeBé, Dieline Awards, World Brand Design Society, ADD AWARDS, ADCR Awards, TDC (Type Directors Club) Awards, and many others.
HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL students regularly participate in and win international design competitions, perform at major design festivals, and are featured on prestigious professional digital platforms.
These experiences are essential for emerging creatives — helping them stay aligned with global trends, understand the standards of their peers worldwide, and receive valuable feedback from jury members and fellow participants.
Our academic staff and graduates have received recognition in numerous national and international competitions, including: Bienal del Cartel Bolivia BICeBé, Dieline Awards, World Brand Design Society, ADD AWARDS, ADCR Awards, TDC (Type Directors Club) Awards, and many others.
The curriculum is designed so that projects gradually become more challenging. In the first year, students focus on the fundamentals of design project planning.
As they advance, they specialize in their chosen fields and begin working with real client briefs. By the fourth year, students complete complex projects that are fully prepared for real-world implementation.
HSE Contests is an open international platform that unites original ideas, new meanings, and spectacular projects across all current trends in design, contemporary art, and fashion.
It is an excellent platform for developing the creative professionalism of participants. At the same time, it provides companies and creative institutions with unique opportunities for branding and executing bold, targeted marketing strategies.
The team at HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL consists of expert practitioners and leading professionals across all areas of design. With a modern, practical approach to design education, we focus on the real needs of the global creative industry and think like a futurological bureau.
The Design School competition platform is a unique digital space offering opportunities for online dialogue with leading design experts, encounters with renowned brands, and the reality of independent professional self-expression. Our competitions bring together original ideas, fresh meanings, and outstanding projects on a single platform, showcasing the modernity and relevance of design, contemporary art, and fashion. They facilitate dialogue with the world’s leading educational and cultural institutions, fostering a unified professional, communicative, and cognitive space.
Anyone ready to showcase and develop their creative skills can participate in the contests: beginners, students, experienced professionals, and graduates from any higher education institution, regardless of location.
On July 7, 2025, a delegation from the Communication University of Zhejiang, led by University Council Chair Wei Guotang, visited HSE University. The meeting in the Blue Hall of the Durasov House brought together HSE Vice Rector Dmitry Zemtsov, Vice Dean Tatiana Rivchun, and representatives of the HSE Institute for Creative Industries Development and the HSE Art and Design School.
On May 30, 2025, three students from the HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL took part in the opening of the “New Wave” Nanjing International Youth Image Exhibition. The exhibition is a curated showcase featuring works by emerging artists from around the world and is organized by the Photography Department of Nanjing University of the Arts.
On May 20, a joint exhibition by Mitya Kharshak, Head of HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL in St. Petersburg, and Chinese photographer and professor Yao Lu was officially opened.
As part of International Partners' Week, a student exhibition featuring the winners and finalists of an international poster competition opened in the new building of HSE University – St. Petersburg on Vasilievsky Island. The exhibition was organized by the HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL – St. Petersburg in collaboration with the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (Indonesia).
While visiting HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL in Saint Petersburg, designer Ariel Kotzer gave a lecture and sat down for an interview, sharing his insights on AI’s role in art and design—its potential, limitations, and creative impact.
On October 10, the award ceremony for the winners of the Russian professional competition in the field of creativity, design and advertising ADCR Awards took place. This year, all the prizes in the Graphic Design / Product Design category were taken by our students. In addition, the HSE Art and Design School has once again become the School of the Year, and Leonid Slavin is the tutor of the year!
The HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL in St. Petersburg is stepping up its collaboration with the Liszt Institute (Hungarian Cultural Center), as it’s hosting a public lecture by renowned Hungarian designer László Nagy.
The HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL and the Moscow City Tourism Committee collaborated on two major projects: the international photo exhibition for BRICS countries “Big Cities in Moscow” and the international short video competition WOWMOSCOW, which was won by Takha Audyarahma from Indonesia. Her video will premiere on August 24 as part of the Moscow International Film Week program.
Indonesian student Takha Audyarahma has been announced as the winner of WOWMOSCOW, the International Short Video Competition about Cities, held as part of the forum and festival Territory of the Future. Moscow 2030. The results were revealed on August 15 during an official ceremony at the Cinema Museum at VDNKh.
The HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL is happy to announce special prizes for the participants of the International Competition of Short Videos about Cities WOWMOSCOW.
The finalists of the WOWMOSCOW International Competition of Short Videos about Cities have been announced. The competition was organized by the Moscow City Tourism Committee and the HSE Art and Design School as part of the forum and festival Territory of the Future. Moscow 2030.
We are pleased to announce that a shortlist has been published for the WOWMOSCOW International Competition of Short Videos about Cities organized by the Moscow City Tourism Committee and the HSE Art and Design School as part of the forum and festival "Territory of the Future. Moscow 2030".
The Moscow City Tourism Committee and HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL invite young directors, animators, cameramen, and other authors working with video to participate in the International Competition of Short Videos about Cities. The contest is organized on the platform of HSE ART&DESIGN SCHOOL and the Institute of Creative Industries Development "Creative City" in the framework of the forum-festival “Forum Moscow 2030 — The Home of the Future”.
On June 28, at the RASKROI space in St. Petersburg, Oded Ezer delivered a lecture focused on his numerous experimental projects, which lie at the intersection of typography and design, biology, and social phenomena.
Mitya Kharshak, Head of HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL in Saint Petersburg, presented a lecture on “Branding and Visual Communications of Cultural Institutions” at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.
In April, HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL and Russian-Armenian University (RAU) hosted Design Day #2 in Yerevan. The highlight of the event was a public talk moderated by Mitya Kharshak and Igor Gurovich, centered around the theme "Girl Power". Some of the brightest representatives of the contemporary Armenian design scene joined the discussion.
HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL and HSE Doctoral School in Arts & Design invite to take part in the international conference «Theories and practices of art and design: sociocultural, economic and political contexts», will be held on April 10-12, 2024.
In this year's edition, the focus of the event centred around the expansive domains of Art and Design, highlighting key disciplines including Animation, Communication, UI/UX, Fashion, Architecture, Interior Design, Media & Mass Communication, and Filmmaking.
Mitya Kharshak, the supervisor of HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL in Saint Petersburg, recently embarked on a visit to India as part of an international delegation from NRU HSE. During this visit, he delivered lectures on branding and visual communications at esteemed institutions such as Subharti University, the Indian Institute of Arts & Design, the UPES School of Design, and LPU.
The results of The Oesol International Typography Award, the first annual typographic award, have been announced. Its shortlist includes the students of HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL, St.Petersburg, and Andy Martin, curator.
The new issue of the Projector magazine dedicated to Turkish design will be presented on September 13th in Istanbul by its publisher and editor-in-chief, the head of the HSE School of Design in St. Petersburg, a well-known designer Mitya Kharshak.
Case studies affiliated with the HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL were included on the short-list of Dieline Awards 2023. Alumni of the School Nikita Gavrilov introduced Beaky — a conceptual cosmetic brand that reimagines childhood-like bath time. Another work selected by the jury — Foodzilla — pet food packaging designed by the second-year student Zhenya Zhuk.
Misha Nekrasov, a graduate of the Communication Design profile in St. Petersburg, already during his studies managed to work with such brands as BMW, MINI, and the St. Petersburg Motorcycle Center. Now Misha works at the Creative Mind Bureau branding agency. In the interview, he told us about his creative and professional path, the principles of working with clients and gave some advice to young designers.
According to the results of the prestigious world educational rating QS-2021, published on March 4, HSE has improved its position by entering the top 150 world universities in the Art & Design category and becoming the only Russian university listed in it.
A large-scale poster exhibition Poster Every Day is running at Brusnitsyn Arts District, St. Petersburg, until the end of the summer. The project is curated by Anna Gerasimchuk, the graduate of Communication Design. Basic course, HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL.
National Research University Higher School of Economics is one of Russia’s leading universities. HSE is featured in the majority of authoritative international educational rankings (QS, ARWU, Times Higher Education, U.S. News Best Global Universities Subject).
In addition to being a major scientific hub, HSE serves as a prominent expert platform. Its faculty actively contributes to key expert discussions, serves on numerous academic and advisory boards, and is recognized as a thought leader in areas such as education, social policy, healthcare, demography, labor markets, transportation, public administration, and technological development.
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