Tenure Track: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Tenure track recruitment campaign usually starts in October-November. It will be announced on the website.

At present, HSE University international tenure track recruitment programme covers various disciplines including economics and finance, management and business informatics, politics and international relations, philology and linguistics, sociology, mathematics, statistics, public policy and public administration, law, education, media, history, philosophy, and psychology.

Please check out the Open tenure track positions page.

Candidates must hold a recent PhD degree that is awarded by an international research university within the previous 5 years in one of the aforementioned disciplines and have been assessed by external reviewers as having a potential to pursue research that is publishable in the top peer-reviewed journals. 

Applications from the candidates who are close to getting their PhD are also accepted, but to be able to start a contract with HSE University, the candidate should have the PhD certificate in hand by the starting date of employment at the University.

Teaching experience at leading foreign universities is desirable.

Fluent English is an obligatory requirement as teaching and all the communications are done in English. Knowledge of Russian is not required.

Tenure track positions are only available on a full-time, residential basis.

Within the timeframe indicated in the employment advertisement, the applicant should provide a CV, a statement of research interest, a recent research paper and at least two letters of recommendation through an open call on the IRI web site via online application form. The recommendation letters can be sent directly to the attention of the Review Committee at International Faculty Recruitment iri@hse.ru before the application deadline. Please note that your application will not be considered in case of the late submission of the recommendation letters.

After the deadline, Review Committee considers and evaluates each application package on the basis of academic appointability, research potential, and its match to each HSE University faculty’s area of research interests and academic environment. After careful review and online pre-interview, shortlisted candidates are invited for flyouts at HSE University in Moscow - more precisely, for an interview, meeting faculty members, and a seminar presentation.

When the review and selection procedures are done, the selected candidates will be contacted and sent an offer for the position and the relevant information.

More detailed information on the application process can be found on Tenure Track recruitment information page.

We don’t have any special requirements to statement of research interests. It is usually written in a free-form and normally takes 1-2 pages. But can be either longer or shorter.

The general rule for all the candidates is that the applicant can apply for only one announced position - in discipline in which the candidate feels more specialized and which is a priority. Candidates applying for a tenure track position are not eligible to apply for a postdoctoral position if decision on tenure track has not yet been made. If an applicant is rejected for a tenure track position, he may reapply for the postdoctoral position in the same or a different Unit.

All the communications, including interviews and teaching (in case of employment at HSE University) will be held in English. Therefore, fluent English is an obligatory requirement.

Applications for Associate and Full Professorships can also be considered in exceptional cases. The obligatory requirement is that the applicant already holds a tenured position at major international research university. 

You may find the timeline in the attached document

Timeline of the Evaluation and Selection Process for Tenure Track 2020 (PDF, 47 Кб)

Internationally recruited faculty members are expected to pursue research under the supervision of their direct supervisors and pro-actively work on research papers for subsequent publication.

Every year, all HSE University faculty members undergo a routine check of their publication activities (for more info, please see https://ifaculty.hse.ru/RPA) to confirm that they meet all requirements for their position.

Tenure-track international hire also have an interim review every three years and a tenure review after six years, whereby their work over the previous years is evaluated by the International Review Committee.

Special funds may be allocated if special equipment/materials for research activities cannot be provided via HSE University’s standard channels. Detailed information can be found here. To learn more about other forms of support, please refer to: https://ifaculty.hse.ru/research_fund

Academic appointments at HSE University involve research, teaching, and administrative duties. The workload is set in accordance with international standards. The teaching load and exact courses to be taught are to be discussed with the direct supervisor.

Please see the detailed information about teaching at the University on the iFaculty page.

Benefits for the tenure track positions offered by HSE University include:

• a settling-in allowance,
• standard medical health insurance plan for the employee and the family members,
• free housing in the university guest house up 60 days upon arrival,
• research/travel support funds to be spent on academic activities,
• administrative support.

Generally appointments will be made for an initial three-year period, and upon successful completion of an interim review, contracts are normally extended for a further three years until the tenure review. The purpose of the review is to provide a tenure track international hire an opportunity to evaluate his or her activities throughout the previous period and suggest areas for improvement to ensure a possibility of a successful tenure review. All individual employment conditions will be reflected in the offer letter.

The HSE's initial employment procedures for those on fixed-term appointments, holding PhDs and recruited from the international job market to work for the Higher School of Economics, are carried out in compliance with current legislation of the Russian Federation and HSE University internal rules. As a rule, employment commences in September. 

Not under this international recruitment programme. There is a postdoctoral fellowship programme offering contract for 1 year. 

For all other enquiries, you can contact the relevant department directly.

The remuneration at HSE University is negotiable and depends very much on the strength and research potential of each applicant. In broad terms, the University endeavors to offer starting salaries that are in line, on an after-tax basis, with major research universities.  The remuneration is adjusted annually for inflation, and increases may be provided for outstanding professional achievement.

Faculty members have 56 vacation days. Normally they are allocated for July-August unless other is agreed with a direct supervisor.