On April 12 and 13, 2021, the first lectures were held in the new hybrid classrooms that allowed combining in-class and online formats at the Mikhailovskaya Dacha campus of the Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg University (GSOM SPbU).

As part of the testing, Konstantin Krotov, Head of School, spoke at a Student Council meeting with the topic “Internationalization as part of GSOM SPbU's Strategy”. The speaker shared his vision of the prospects for the development of the Business School in the IT direction.

Anna Maeva, HR Top manager, told the audience about how they could become a successful specialist in a constantly changing and unpredictable world. The lecture was based on personal experience in the field of human resource management in different regions and countries.

Anastasia Nikonova, a second-year student of the Management program, joined an online test lesson: “The hybrid format is a cool idea. I am glad that we have such an opportunity. The MS Teams platform makes this format convenient: the camera monitors the lecturer's movement, and the students interact with him or her through the screen, feeling an in-person presence, and also being able to see the participants — both in the classroom and online."

The Business School in collaboration with its Advisory Board and Microsoft is working on the  creation of hybrid classrooms on its downtown and suburban campuses. Specially equipped classrooms will allow the lecturer and some of the students to be present in person, while other students join virtually. To do this, GSOM SPbU uses the capabilities of the Microsoft Teams platform which has been integrated into the work of the Business School for organizing distance learning from since spring 2020.

Prior to the launch of the test events, students, GSOM employees and faculty participated in a focus group for discussing and consolidating the user experience. The goal was to make the GSOM SPbU digital environment as efficient as possible.