St Petersburg University students celebrate the start of the new academic year
During the matriculation ceremony, the first-year students of the University read the oath to become part of the brotherhood of St Petersburg University and flags of the Russian Federation, St Petersburg and St Petersburg University were hoisted over Academician Sakharov Square.
Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, congratulated the students on the start of the new academic year. He noted that young people had already won as they had entered one of the best universities, having had opportunities to interact with outstanding academics and scholars and to use unique resources. St Petersburg University has a high-tech Research Park (23 resource centres, more than 250 highly qualified engineers, over 7.5 billion roubles invested in the equipment) and the best university library in terms of its collections and diversity of items (over 7 million items, over 129 million electronic sources). The University offers the most popular online courses in Russia (over 300 online courses and over 3 million students).
You are now studying at the most prestigious university, and this is an opportunity that should be seized. I am sure that among you are future talented researchers, politicians, artists and people of art.
Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University
‘Among our most famous alumni are two presidents of Russia, Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. I can say with confidence that it was with the advent of the first of them, the University’s alumnus Vladimir Putin, that the real, strong, modern Russia began,’ said Nikolay Kropachev.
Nikolay Kropachev stressed that the University is a community not only of students and faculty, but also of alumni and partners, contacts with whom make St Petersburg University particularly strong. Congratulations on the start of the academic year were sent to the University by: Dmitry Medvedev, Chairman of the University Board of Trustees, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation; Mikhail Mishustin, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation; Valentina Matvienko, Chairwoman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Member of the Board of Trustees of St Petersburg University; Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation; Igor Krasnov, Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation; Andrei Fursenko, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation; Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Member of the Board of Trustees of St Petersburg University; Aleksandr Gutsan, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District; Alexander Sergeev, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Member of the Board of Trustees of St Petersburg University, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Igor Sechin, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rosneft, Member of the Board of Trustees of St Petersburg University; Boris Kovalchuk, CEO of Inter RAO, Member of the Board of Trustees of St Petersburg University; Alexander Drozdenko, Governor of the Leningrad Region, Member of the Board of Trustees of St Petersburg University; and many others.
You have every opportunity to show your talents. Be persistent and ambitious, set your sights on the greatest challenges and you will succeed in meeting them. Your generation has enormous potential, and may it be realised to the full.
Dmitry Medvedev, a graduate of St Petersburg University, Member of the University Board of Trustees, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation
The guests of honour also congratulated yesterday’s schoolchildren on their holiday. ‘A new life and bright prospects are opening up before you. The sky is the limit for you. Your exams, preparations and your parents’ worries are over, and now you are already students. St Petersburg University is famous for its graduates. The friends you make during your studies will always be ready to help you. Today many of you will set your “ships of hope” with cherished wishes afloat. May they all come true,’ Alexander Belsky, Chairperson of the Legislative Assembly of St Petersburg, addressed the guests.
‘The first-year students can be envied − you have entered one of the best educational institutions in the country. The traditions of St Petersburg are strong here. Not only do students master knowledge at the University. They also develop as individuals and acquire cultural capital. May the University teach you to maintain a spirit of openness and freedom, to think critically and find your way to the truth in an endless flow of information,’ said Alekesei Korabelnikov, Vice-Governor of St Petersburg.
Welcoming remarks to the first-year students were also addressed by: Sergey Bebenin, Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Leningrad Region; Anna Mityanina, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in St Petersburg; and Sergei Emelianov, Managing Director of the Alexandrinsky Theatre.
The Rector and guests of the ceremony presented student cards to the first-year students who had won medals of international and All-Russian Olympiads: Taisiia Korotchenko (the academic programme ‘Mathematics’); Grigorii Runov (the academic programme ‘Geography’); Artemii Syrokvash (the academic programme ‘Astronomy’); and Galiia Sharafetdinova (the academic programme ‘Mathematics’). Together with other new students at the University, they read the oath to become part of the brotherhood of St Petersburg University.
The exhibition series ‘Mr Student at St Petersburg Imperial University’ will make it possible to get acquainted with the history of the student community and learn how students lived and what they learned in the 19th century. The exhibition is presented in the corridor of the Twelve Collegia building and is also available in an online format.
The Rector of the University announced the start of the 299th academic year. Then, Chairman of the St Petersburg University Sports Club Dmitrii Korotchenkov, Member of the University’s Volunteering Centre Varvara Deriabkina and Member of the students’ team headquarters of the University Ivan Tarasov hoisted the flags of the Russian Federation, St Petersburg and St Petersburg University.
The festive events ended on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island with the ceremony of setting the ‘Ships of Hope’ afloat on the waves of the Neva River. The guests also had the opportunity to set their ‘wishing ships’ afloat in an online format.