Students are engaged in the “Bobcat-Crow Cultural Exchange Lab (BCCEL). BCCEL brings together twenty-six students from the two universities in a weekly cross-cultural exchange via Zoom. During the virtual exchange, Ohio and HSE Perm students share their views on topics such as cultural values, American and Russian education systems, stereotypes, national symbols and celebrations.

HSE has strengthened its top position and widened its lead over Moscow State University, Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and other universities in the Forbes Best Russian Universities Ranking. The main contributors to this advancement, according to Forbes, were the improvement in the average Russian Unified State Exam (USE) score of accepted students, a better faculty-student ratio, and younger staff. This year, HSE University also leads the employer survey.

HSE University has improved its indicators of research, international outlook, and industry income in THE Young University Rankings. HSE University now ranks 57^th among  475 international universities and is the only Russian university in the Top 100.

In 2021, a new programme "Foreign languages and intercultural communication in business" is opened at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities programme. Head of the programme, Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages Elizaveta Smirnova told us how linguistics and intercultural communication are related to business, where graduates will work, how to enter the programme, and why is it worth participating in the iTell conference.

HSE University has expanded its presence in the top 50 of QS subject rankings, placing in two additional subject rankings. HSE is represented in 4 of the 5 broad subject areas ranked by QS, and it has significantly improved its performance from last year in almost half of the individual subjects rankings in which it is included.

As a part of the Minor "Speaking in an Academic Environment", an online discussion between students from the HSE – Perm and students and professors from the University of California (USA) was held. Participants discussed the peculiarities of distance learning in both countries, the role of social networks in the life of modern youth and sports.