The knowledge and experience of the PwC Russia consulting company will form the basis of a course on infrastructure and project financing which will be held at the Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg University (GSOM SPbU).

 

Practice and international professional standards will become the main reference points of the entire Master in Corporate Finance program. GSOM SPbU is working with business partners on the creation of an up-to-date version of the program, which will include a course on  Infrastructure and Project Finance.

   

Mikhail Bazhenov, Partner and Head of Infrastructure and Project Finance Practice at PwC Russia, notes that the requirements for specialists have grown in recent years. Financial consulting has undergone significant transformation: digitalization, process automation, as well as a lack of trust between participants in the market of operations and transactions have all  actively influenced this.

   

“For a modern financier, possession of basic knowledge — an understanding of accounting, double entry, working with financial models — is required. It is equally important to understand the scope of products, their changes, functions, and also to have soft skills — the ability to create, responsibly and systematically approach the solution of problems, while being open to new knowledge and have a positive attitude to the rapidly changing world," said Mikhail Bazhenov.

   

The course on infrastructure and project financing, which GSOM SPbU is preparing in partnership with PwC Russia, will enable future specialists to acquire the competencies necessary for the implementation of national and infrastructure projects. In addition to the consulting company, VTB Bank (PJSC), VTB Capital, Baltika Breweries LLC, Pioneer Group of Companies JSC and others took part in the development of projects for new tracks for the master's program.

     

“As part of our updated Master in Corporate Finance program, professionals with relevant work experience are now involved in all specialized courses. I personally, being just an active practitioner, very keenly feel the difference in the nature of teaching practitioners and academics,” says Alexander Andrianov, Ph.D., co-leader of the working group on updating the Master in Corporate Finance  program.

   

In the summer of 2020, GSOM SPbU, together with experts, launched the Toolkit for a Business School Professor of Practice to help business representatives transform their expertise into an effective practice-oriented educational product for higher education.