On November 10, a regular meeting of the Strategy Committee of the Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg State University (GSOM SPbU) took place.   

 

“During the year we have been actively working on defining a strategy for the further development of GSOM SPbU, setting ambitious goals, formulating the mission and vision of the Business School. Among the main areas of development, we have identified the selection of applicants with high leadership potential, the restart of master's degrees, the construction of a factory of flexible programs of additional professional education for line managers and the creation of knowledge in partnership with business. All this time, the project team has been looking for effective ways to solve the assigned tasks and has developed pilot programs. Today, the correctness of the hypotheses has been confirmed by the achieved results,” said  Olga Dergunova, Deputy President - Chairman of the Board of VTB Bank, Director of GSOM SPbU, in her welcoming speech.  

 

One of the most striking proofs of the success and strengthening of the GSOM SPbU brand is the increase in the number of applications for basic educational programs in the 2020/2021 academic year. The number of applicants for GSOM Bachelor programs has almost doubled and interest in Doctoral studies has grown by 50%, the number of applications for Master programs remains the same. Due to the complete transition of SPbU to the online submission of documents for admission, the geography of our student composition has significantly expanded. The number of foreign students in Master's programs has increased significantly - by 60%; and in Doctoral programs the number of foreigners has tripled. 

 

Another achievement of the Business School is the success in  providing educational programs for top managers: the Executive MBA program of GSOM SPbU has  this year for the first time entered the global ranking of the Financial Times Executive MBA Ranking 2020. The next goal is to enter the FT MBA program ranking. 

 

In the next academic year, the Master in Corporate Finance, Master in Business Analytics and Big Data and Master in Urban Management and Development (Smart City Management) programs will be launched in a new format. The goal is to increase the attractiveness of GSOM SPbU Master students for the labor market. The curriculum of the programs is being updated with practice-oriented disciplines, and successful business practices will be involved in teaching. Master students will be able to choose their own professional track, work during their internship on applied projects based on real business cases and undergo internships with partners of the Business School.  

 

In terms of the development of additional professional education, GSOM SPbU plans to scale up the project “Management Essentials: School of Practical Management”, which is being successfully piloted in a number of corporations. It has also been planned to develop other programs on topics that are in demand in the corporate environment. 

 

GSOM SPbU was able to achieve such high results largely thanks to the participation of the Advisory Board and partner companies. With their support, GSOM SPbU is developing  a digital educational environment, launching new educational programs and online courses, and replenishing the library collection. Thanks to the contribution of the trustees, the support of professors, research and the best students has been strengthened, as well as the modernization of the Mikhailovskaya Dacha campus and adjacent infrastructure. 

 

The GSOM SPbU Strategy Committee was established in January 2020 and included the Heads of HR departments of MegaFon PJSC, Sistema, Russian Railways, Sibur PJSC, Bank of Russia and other trustees of the Business School. The development and implementation of the GSOM SPbU strategy is being carried out with the active participation of the project team of VTB Bank (PJSC).