Graduation ceremony was held at the Graduate School of Management of Saint Petersburg University (GSOM SPbU). 151 Bachelor, 90 Master and three Doctor students received their diplomas.

In the commencement speech, Olga Dergunova, Deputy President and Chairman of VTB Bank Management Board, GSOM SPbU Director, mentioned that the last years of studies were full of challenges, and adaptation to them became another useful skill for the professional development of students.

"The world has changed a lot since you were admitted. It became more challenging but also more fascinating: you can use your knowledge and see the changes that you are going to introduce. Try to set ambitious goals that would make a difference for the world and the country you are going to work in, and that would make you become strong individuals and kind people. When you came to the Business School, we didn't promise your lives would be easy. But we tried to help you become responsible leaders that would continue the GSOM SPbU mission. It consists of three postulates: create knowledge, develop leaders and change the world for the better. I hope that, in the future, when we meet anywhere in the world we would say to each other: we did everything right because we really changed the world for the better", — told Olga Dergunova in the commencement speech.

Yuriy Fedotov, GSOM SPbU Executive Director, and Academic Directors Yulia Aray (Master in Management — MiM), Vladimir Gorovoy (Master in Business Analytics — MiBA) and Alexander Andrianov (Master in Corporate Finance — MCF) congratulated the graduates.

"We don't choose the time we live in. 25 Years ago our first graduates were required to have knowledge, skills and strong civic engagement. It remains the same today — I wish you to have all of these. But I also would like to speak about love — without love everything will be incomplete, insufficient and meaningless", — remarked at the ceremony Yuriy Blagov, Director of the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility.

Representatives of the Business School's corporate partners joined to congratulate the graduates: Alexander Arkhipov, Head of Internal Communications for Russia, Belarus, Caucasus and Central Asia, PepsiCo; Alena Surinovich, General Manager at Lumene and Cutrin Russia; Anastasia Borovik, Chief Specialist at Development and Recruitment Division of Human Resources Directorate, Gazprom Export.

The ceremony was held at Mikhailovskaya Dacha campus. The graduates attended the event in person, together with their parents and friends.

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