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Regular version of the site

‘Game Theory Teaches an Understanding of Opponents’ Behaviour’

The first student contest in game theory has taken place at HSE. Organized by the HSE Group of Young Academic Professionals, it brought together 150 undergraduate and Master’s students from 17 Russian universities, as well as one high school student from Moscow.

‘The HSE campus in Perm came up with the idea to organize a contest in game theory’, said Evgeniya Shenkman, Lecturer in the School of Economics and Finance at HSE Perm and one of the contest organizers. ‘Together with our colleagues who teach game theory, we thought that it would be good for our students to compete with people from other universities and HSE campuses’.

‘Of course, when we heard our colleagues’ idea to organize a contest, we were happy to join the project’, said Marina Sandomirskaya, research fellow at the Center for Market Studies and Spatial Economics and leader of the initiative. ‘By “we” I also mean lecturers from the Moscow campus, researchers from the International Laboratory of Game Theory and Decision Making in St. Petersburg who created tasks for the students, and our peers from the Nizhny Novgorod campus and Novosibirsk State University (NSU). With support from experienced lecturers and Russia’s leading researchers in game theory, we tried to make the contest as accessible as possible and attract as many students as possible from various universities, and it looks like we succeeded’.

The first student contest in game theory was held in two stages. The first open regional stage drew 94 undergraduate and 61 Master’s students from 17 Russian universities, as well as one high school student from Moscow School No. 2086. They could write their papers in game theory (six tasks) at one of the four HSE venues in Moscow, Perm, St. Petersburg, and Nizhny Novgorod, or at NSU. Two undergraduate students and one Master’s student from each region, as well as the best participants in the overall standing, advanced to the finals that took place in Moscow. Evgeniya Shenkman says that the contest drew students from various programmes, primarily economics, mathematics, data sciences, and political science.

Contest winners

Undergraduate students:

1st place – Stepan Gogolev (HSE Perm)

2nd place – Semyon Petrov (St. Petersburg State University)

3rd place – Anton Sluch (HSE/NES Programme in Economics)

Master’s students:

1st place – Egor Nazdrukhin (HSE)

2nd place – Maxim Bakhtin (NES)

3rd place – Anastasia Rassokha (MIPT)

Maria Yudkevich, HSE Vice Rector and chairperson of the contest organizing committee, emphasized the success of this experimental project at the awards ceremony. ‘Just two months ago, we weren’t even thinking about this contest, but a young and proactive team of organizers came to us and said that there are hardly any such student contests at HSE. Today, we are witnessing the completion of this project, and I believe it went very well. In the first stage, undergraduates got more points than Master’s students, and Master’s outdid the undergraduates in the second. I hope future participants will be as motivated to win’, she said.

The plan is to make this contest an annual event, develop tasks that vary in difficulty for undergraduate and Master’s students (this year, the tasks were the same for everyone), and incorporate the game theory contest into the HSE system of contests that are used for enrolment in the university’s Master’s programmes.

‘What helped me to win the contest were Coursera courses on game theory, along with hard work and luck’, said Stepan Gogolev, a second-year student of Economics at the HSE campus in Perm and winner among undergraduates. ‘Game theory is a thrilling subject that helps decision-making in various life situations, so if the contest takes place next year, I’ll be sure to take part again’.

‘The contest tasks were complicated, but interesting’, said Egor Nazdrukhin, a first-year student in the Financial Economics programme at HSE ICEF and winner among the Master’s students. ‘You had to be witty in order to win, and many tasks came with a “trick” that made common solutions unusable. The main thing was to figure out the idea. My advice to future participants is not only to study theory, but to be creative in solving unconventional tasks’.

See also:

Results of the HSE International Competition Announced

726 participants received certificates of achievement (winners’ diplomas), and more than 200 have already become HSE students. This event is one of the largest and most recognised projects of HSE University, which allows participants to gain university admission with a full or partial scholarship. Registration for the competition in Russian is already underway. Soon, registration for the HSE International Olympiad in English (INTO HSE) will kick off.

International Olympiad Competitions for University Students and Graduates Supported by VK and Avito

This year’s International Olympiad Competitions for University Students and Graduates, held in 38 subjects, have taken place. Both rounds — qualifying and final — were held in an online format. HSE University and VK Engineering and Mathematics School were the partners of the ‘Computer Systems and Networks’ category, while Avito were the partners for the ‘Applied Mathematics and Computer Science’ category.

'I Am Looking Forward to Lecturing Live'

Peio Zuazo-Garin, ICEF Assistant Professor and a PhD graduate from the University of the Basque Country, joined HSE University at a time when all the usual formats of research and teaching were disrupted by the pandemic. In an interview he told how to adapt to a new place of work online, what are the pros and cons of academic prestige, why he loves Moscow and why he recalls bullfighting during the discussions with ICEF students.

‘Everyone Is Cool and Loves What They Do’

Ulyana Rusetskaya of Belarus is in her first year at the HSE Art and Design School. She entered HSE University by winning the HSE Global Scholarship Competition (GSC) for foreign citizens in the area of design. Ulyana spoke with the HSE News Service about how to prepare a project for the GSC and how the HSE community differs from other university communities. Prepare for the GSC 2021 with the winners of the GSC 2020!

International Olympiad Competitions for Master’s Programmes Held by HSE

In March and April, an HSE Olympiad competition for students and graduates took place in Russia and other countries, including the USA, Indonesia, Mongolia, and Vietnam. About 9,500 people registered for the competition, an increase of 25% over last year. One-third of all participants were HSE students and graduates. The winners of the Olympiad will be at an advantage when applying for HSE’s Master’s programmes corresponding to the competitions they participated in.

5,856

individuals have already registered for the HSE International Olympiad Competitions for students and graduates. Those who take first place and win prizes will have an advantage when applying to HSE MA programmes. The registration deadline is March 6, 2017.

HSE Announces Olympiad Competitions for English-taught Master’s Programmes

In March 2017, International Olympiad Competitions will be held for perspective students interested in studying in Master’s programmes at HSE University. All current undergraduate students and recent university graduates students interested in pursuing a Master’s degree are invited to participate.

HSE Olympiads Come to Vietnam

From November 22 through December 1, 2016, a HSE delegation visited Vietnam to deliver HSE International Olympiad competitions for the first time in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

HSE Professor Elected Vice President of the International Game Theory Society

At the end of July it became officially known that the academic supervisor of the HSE International Laboratory of Game Theory and Decision Making, Professor Hervé Moulin, was elected as Vice President of the International Game Theory Society (GTS). The main purpose of the organization is to promote and support research, teaching and applications of game theory.

New HSE Laboratory Seeks to Become Leading Game Theory Research Centre

At the beginning of the current academic year, the International Laboratory of Game Theory and Decision Making opened at HSE St. Petersburg. Its launch marked a significant milestone in the university’s development, as the lab gathered internationally recognized scholars and representatives of the Russian Academy of Science.