Congratulatory message of SUM Rector Ivan Lobanov on Knowledge Day (2 September)
Dear freshmen, students, teachers and staff of the State University of Management, and guests!
We are happy to welcome our first-year students to the team of the State University of Management!
The Knowledge Day is a memorable event for all of us. This is a special day for SUM, as it is our 100th anniversary year, we are saluting an intake of 2,747 students. Today, you have made history as the freshmen who are honoured to inaugurate a new century at Russia’s oldest management university.
Each academic year will be special for you in its own way, full of new opportunities, ideas and discoveries. It is the next generation of students and teachers that can drive an innovative breakthrough that will propel Russia into the lead in terms of scientific advances and technological progress.
Over the 100 years of its history, the State University of Management has gone from being a business vocational school to a full-fledged state-of-the-art university which trains executives, providing an ample skillset to work in a digital era. Our university boasts a glorious history replete with groundbreaking research findings and educational achievements.
We have pioneered higher management education in Russia, having trained more than 100,000 specialists. Over its one hundred years of operations, the university has transformed the way of life itself, thanks to research accomplishments and technological developments. Back in 1966, the Moscow Institute of Engineering and Economics, as SUM used to be called, was the first in our country to launch a department of management theory and a faculty of retraining and advanced training of production and construction organisers. It was then that the university began training would-be executives. MIEE created the first curriculum on the scientific foundations of management, and three years later, published the first management textbook entitled ‘Scientific Foundations of Production Management’. The institute was the first higher education establishment to introduce a programme for planning engineers trained in mathematical methods and models, as well as electronic computers.
We were also among the first to establish a chair of entrepreneurship in 1990. For the first time ever in Russia, an university department was created for training specialists with a degree in entrepreneurship. In addition to marketing and social management, the early 1990s saw the beginning of training in state and municipal management, also for the first time in the history of Russian education. In 1991, we initiated an MBA-based training programme for master’s students in economics and management. In the mid-1990s, we founded our Business School–a training and consulting centre for the strategic development of organisations. Among other significant achievements is the contribution the university employees made to the recovery of Russia’s economy in the wake of the 1998 financial crisis: many of them were appointed advisors to Yevgeny Primakov’s government. It is since that time that the university has often been referred to as the ‘Moscow Harvard’.
Today, as our fresh undergraduates, you get the opportunity to gain expertise in the real sector of the economy. Students can study remotely through webinars and other digital technology. Even 20 years ago, such modes of study were unthinkable. Year after year, we introduce new interactive teaching methods that engage students in the educational and cognitive process.
We strive to progress every day and reinforce the school–student–university–employer relationship. Our mission is to build a cutting-edge multi-level system of continuous education. You have a unique opportunity to become part of this environment, apply your knowledge in every domain of science and implement projects via university scholarships grants. From Day One, it is important to understand and decide for yourself what is important to you and take action.
SUM’s cooperation with leading international universities enables you to realise your potential outside of Russia, too. Academic mobility and export of educational services make the State University of Management an efficient platform for learners, researchers, teachers and lecturers from around the world.
We have created various research centres and laboratories, interactive educational sites, a pre-university, a studio for virtual and augmented reality projects, a digital social environment for students, and networking.
The world has changed, and we now find ourselves at an intersection of physical and virtual reality. Be assured that we are designing our scientific programmes and curricula with this in mind. SUM pays special attention to artificial intelligence and IT management. Today, as economic development is driven by digital technology and artificial intelligence, SUM is fast becoming one of Russia’s leading universities to train professionals needed for the digital economy.
The International Scientific Forum ‘Stepping into the Future: Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy’, which is held by the university, has established itself as an influential scientific platform and become a hub for cutting-edge research and practical applications of artificial intelligence in the digital economy.
The State University of Management has maintained its position among the top Russian universities by developing and creating new opportunities for students. We are increasingly stepping up our presence on the educational rankings as listed by HeadHunter.Ru, Forbes, Interfax and others.
Today, you will embark on an exciting journey of education, led by some of our country’s best professors! You have the opportunity to become top-tier politicians, academics, entrepreneurs and large business executives or senior public officials–just like our alumni. Every day you will be gleaning new knowledge essential to your professionalism, so you need to use your time at the university to the fullest to learn about new scientific domains and study new disciplines, improve your command of foreign languages, make new contacts that will be useful throughout your life and just get the most of your stay at SUM, doing your favourite sports, pursuing your interests in art and engaging in social activities.
Happy times of education are ahead of you, full of satisfaction from the upcoming discoveries and achievements, the university years that will leave you with joyful memories. I sincerely hope that a new academic year will set you on course for great accomplishments.
SUM Rector
Ivan Lobanov
Дата публикации: 3.09.2019