HSE Student Team Wins Grant in Masters of Hospitality Competition
The all-Russia competition, a project of the Russia — Land of Opportunities presidential platform, saw the students compete with other teams of young contestants. The team led by Alexander Aksyutin, a master’s student of the HSE Graduate School of Business, received a grant of 1.4 million Russian rubles, which the team plans to spend on a social project to promote tourism in Voronezh Oblast.
Alexander Aksyutin got involved in social projects while still a student of the Bachelor’s Programme in Business Administration. Last year, he and his coursemates ran the Polka Istoriy (Shelf of Stories) project aimed at popularizing classic literature in new multimedia formats. The project won a grant as part of the Innosocium all-Russia social projects competition.
Not wanting to rest on their laurels, the team set up another project called ‘Mesta’ (Places) to promote tourism in Voronezh Oblast. The team is going to create a digital platform containing information on events in the region, tourist destinations and routes for all kinds of visitors, including those with disabilities. The digital platform will provide information on cultural activities in 15 cities and towns in the region and over 100 tourist destinations.
The project was presented at the youth track of the Masters of Hospitality all-Russia competition, a project of the Russia — Land of Opportunity presidential platform. About 2,000 people took part in the competition. 90 finalists from 39 regions presented their projects to experts from the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, and 15 winners received grants to put their ideas into action. Alexander Aksyutin’s team was among the winners, and received the largest grant of 1.4 million Russian rubles. The ‘Places’ project is expected to launch in Voronezh Oblast in 2022.
The team included HSE students Ilya Trochin (Master’s Programme in Electronic Business and Digital Innovations), Mikhail Morozov (Master’s Programme in Investment Project Management), Alexey Berechkin and Alexander Lazarev (Bachelor’s Programme in Business Administration). The team’s coaches were Leading Research Fellow Stanislav Otstavnov and Associate Professor Konstantin Bagrationi of the HSE Graduate School of Business.
Alexander Aksyutin, Master’s Programme in Investment Project Management, HSE Graduate School of Business
Social initiatives are more than just an excellent opportunity to use the skills and knowledge you’ve acquired while studying—they are also a great chance to help society. Our university has a unique environment that encourages social initiatives. New ideas are not only proposed and discussed by everyone (including HSE students), but they are also put into action. Moreover, these initiatives are recognized outside HSE University, as shown by my team’s success.
Alexander was recently named one of eight HSE students to win in the final of the Leaders of Russia competition.
His team is currently working on another social project in the field of tourism. The project, named ‘Liniya Solntsa’ (The Line of the Sun), involves a sightseeing route that takes in famous cultural and historic sites throughout the town of Solnechnogorsk in the Moscow region. The project will utilize QR-code technology (QR-codes) for navigation and to provide information about cultural sites.
The project is expected to launch in May 2022. It has already been introduced as a pilot project in the Zvezdniy Put’ development programme, which is aimed at supporting contest winners and other projects of the Russia – Land of Opportunity presidential platform.
Stanislav Otstavnov