Celebrating 300 years of excellence: over 10,000 freshmen begin their academic journey at the SPbU

As usual, our University attracts some of the most talented students: over the past few years, the applicants’ average state exam score has exceeded 90 points. During this year’s admission campaign, we received approximately 113,000 applications for undergraduate and specialist programmes, a 7% increase from 2023. Only the top candidates were admitted to the first year: a total of over 5,100 students from 89 regions of Russia, with about 75% of those enrolled on a full government scholarship coming from outside St Petersburg. Additionally, this academic year, SPbU welcomes about 2,230 international students from 106 countries across all levels of higher education, who have successfully navigated intense admissions competition—in total, applications were received from prospective students in 140 countries.

This year, the University enrolled over 10,000 students, including representatives from all 89 subjects of the Russian Federation among the freshmen.

At the start of the new academic year, the rector of St Petersburg University, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nikolay Kropachev, congratulated the students. He noted that Freshman’s Day brings together all the new SPbU students: not limited to those gathered at the Twelve Collegia building, but also those studying at overseas branches, and enrolled in the SPbU Online School — a secondary education institution, open to anyone unable to access the Russian language school curriculum in their home countries. 

"This year, prospective students from 140 countries applied to SPbU, which speaks to the global appeal of our University. Now, tell me why? After all, such competitive entry requirements as we’ve got here are unmatched in Russia,» addressed the freshmen the rector of SPbU. «People come to St Petersburg University because of its excellent faculty, great history, and vibrant present. But our main competitive advantage is the University’s most prominent alumnus, President of Russia Vladimir Putin".

Nikolay Kropachev read congratulatory telegrams from friends, partners, and alumni of the University. Wishes for the students were also conveyed by Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the SPbU Board of Trustees Dmitry Medvedev, Chair of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, member of the SPbU Board of Trustees Valentina Matviyenko, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, member of the SPbU Board of Trustees Dmitry Chernyshenko, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation, member of the SPbU Board of Trustees, alumnus of the University Konstantin Chuychenko, Chair of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, alumnus of SPbU Alexander Bastrykin, Commissioner for Children’s Rights under the President of the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova, Chair of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, member of the SPbU Board of Trustees, alumnus of SPbU Boris Kovalchuk, Head of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency of the Russian Federation, member of the SPbU Board of Trustees Veronika Skvortsova, Chair of the Board of Directors of PJSC "VTB", member of the SPbU Board of Trustees Andrey Kostin, Chair of the Board of Directors of PJSC "Severstal", member of the SPbU Board of Trustees Alexey Mordashov, and many others.

The freshmen were congratulated by the Chairman of the Board of the SPbU Target Capital Management Foundation "Development of St Petersburg University", Vice-Governor of St Petersburg Alexey Korabelnikov. "The fact that we have all gathered today, here at Mendeleevskaya Line, means that all of you have already won. Fate has given you a lucky ticket, and the important thing now is to not forget to use it. Ahead of you is a lot of interesting things — new knowledge and discoveries, interesting acquaintances, dizzying love stories. And I want to wish you to get the maximum from student life and from the University: maximum knowledge and the feeling of traditions inherent to it. Good luck to you!" noted Alexey.

SPbU accepts congratulations on the new academic year

Also, the freshmen were addressed by the Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Northwestern Federal District Vadim Leontiev, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the United Mexican States to the Russian Federation Eduardo Villegas Mejias, and the General Consul of the People’s Republic of China in St Petersburg Luo Zhanhui. A congratulatory address from the Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of St Petersburg Alexander Belsky was read by a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St Petersburg, Chairman of the permanent commission on ecology and nature management of the Legislative Assembly Alexey Makarov. 

With a welcoming speech from the alumni, the director of the National Drama Theater of Russia (Alexandrinsky Theater) Alexander Malich and a member of the Coordination Council for Youth Affairs in the Scientific and Educational Spheres of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Science and Education, laureate of the President of the Russian Federation’s Prize in the field of science and innovations for young scientists for 2022, professor of the Chemistry Institute of SPbU Irina Timofeeva took the floor.

To celebrate the students on this momentous occasion, the Honorary Consul of Mali in St Petersburg, Issa Togo, the Third Secretary of the General Consulate of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Russian Federation, Zhaslan Esmukhanov, the director of the Presidential Physics and Mathematics Lyceum No. 239, Maxim Pratusevich, and the rector of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul at St Petersburg University, Pyotr Mukhin, all made a special appearance. Via video link, foreign students studying at the international branches of SPbU in Uzbekistan, China, and Egypt also congratulated the freshmen.

The rector of the University announced the start of the new academic year and gave the command to raise three flags: Russia’s, St Petersburg’s, and St Petersburg University’s.

The flags were raised by the Chairman of the Student Council of SPbU Andrey Jordan, the commander of the student squads headquarters of SPbU Varvara Kirzhaeva, and the chair of the volunteer center council "Dobro.Center SPbU" Karina Muratbekova. The SPbU choir under the direction of Eduard Krotman performed the ancient student hymn Gaudeamus. 

Nikolay Kropachev and the guests of the ceremony handed out student cards to the freshmen who showed the highest results in the entrance exams. The best freshmen this year were the winners of the International Mathematical Olympiad — 2024 Egor Saprunov and Mikhail Yugov (direction "Mathematics and Computer Science"), the winner of the All-Russian Olympiad in the Chinese language Igor Li ("International Relations"), as well as Ekaterina Tomina ("Philology") and Angelina Fomchenkova ("Jurisprudence"), who scored 300 points on the Unified State Exam this year. Together with the other new students of St Petersburg University, the youngsters took the student’s oath. 

As part of the Student Fair, which opened on Mendeleevskaya Line, the freshmen could get acquainted with university life, learn about the activities of the sports clubs, volunteer center, and numerous creative collectives of the University, and also immediately sign up for their favorites. In addition, free tours of the University were held for SPbU freshmen, during which they visited the Dmitri Mendeleev Museum and Archives, the Park of Modern Sculpture, strolled through the courtyards of St Petersburg University and the corridor of the Twelve Collegia building. Also, the new students could send postcards, released in a limited edition especially for the Day of the SPbU Freshman, which «Russian Post» will deliver for free to any corner of the country. More than 700 postcards were sent in total. 

The induction celebration was covered by the Open Studio of the radio "Zenit" — a partner of St Petersburg University. In a live broadcast, representatives of SPbU talked about the traditions of the oldest university in Russia, educational programs in the field of sports. In addition, the holiday guests could take pictures with the awards of the football club "Zenit" — the Champion’s Cup, the Cup and the Super Cup of Russia of the 23/24 season. 

The events continued with the launch of the "wishing boats", during which the students could send their paper boats with hopes for the future into the Neva River. Everyone who wished could also do this in an online format and share the event with friends on social networks. The holiday ended with a yacht parade in the Neva Bay. This year, the honor of boarding them was given to the winners of the 31st International Student Mathematical Olympiad IMC-2024 — Matvey Isupov and Timofey Moskalenko.