We Value Traditions, We Form New Trends – Bullet Point of ‘Rector’s Hour’ at FinU

On December 14, 2023, the traditional “Rector’s Hour” was held in the Great Hall of the FinU – a meeting between Stanislav Prokofiev and students in the format of an open dialogue dedicated to landmark projects and promising areas of development at the University.

“You are our future colleagues: managers, economists, lawyers. The Rector’s Hour is our professional open conversation, which gives you the opportunity to look at the solution of your questions and tasks as a management case. Now we are actively introducing project management technologies into the work of the University, forming packages of projects aimed at solving our main task – to become a 4.0 university and form new trends, rather than follow the usual directions of development. That is why it is so important for us that all projects be implemented not only at the main university, but also in all our branches and have a clear logical structure,” the Rector addressed the students, faculty and staff of the FinU.

Stanislav Prokofiev highlighted several of the most important areas of the university’s activities, including improving the practice orientation of education, expanding professional skills, students’ communicative digital skills, developing the ability to think critically and offer innovative solutions to urgent problems. Also among the significant areas of work is the launch of innovative scientific projects and research and the further ecosystem development aimed at the integrated development of creative initiatives and students’ talents.

The Rector particularly drew attention to the importance of creating unique educational content and maintaining academic leadership in the FinU landmark subject areas. The University’s innovation has become a unique educational model that allows you to combine two degrees in a diploma. FinU, being the leader of financial and economic education, forms the skills and worldview of students of economic specialties throughout the country, as well as expands skills in other areas through collaborations with leading Russian universities.

The University is actively developing formats for working with basic departments, introducing joint training programs with potential employers, and expanding the possibilities of the digital educational environment. 

“The first FinU product in edtech was a database dedicated to the development of digital financial assets. More than 2 thousand students have already joined the study of materials and its updating. This is a very important trend in economic development,” Stanislav Evgenievich added.

The Rector emphasized the importance of developing the entrepreneurial university concept and noted the importance of activities related to intellectual property for the country’s technological development,

“The issues of working with intellectual property in the context of solving the problem of building technological sovereignty of our country are becoming the most urgent. FinU attaches great importance to intellectual property development and instills a culture of working with it from the student years. This year, for the first time in the FinU history, 4 student projects developed on the basis of our Business Incubator received patents, and 9 initiatives of our students entered the top of the best technical projects selected by experts of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. This is a very important step in the development of student technology entrepreneurship.”

A significant issue of the Rector’s Hour was the discussion of the development of the FinU ecosystem aimed at the personal and creative students’ development, as well as the expansion of volunteer activities at the University in order to help solve urgent social problems. Stanislav Evgenievich particularly noted the initiatives of student self-government bodies, including the adaptation project for first-year students "Coordination".

The students also asked questions related to the possibilities of using artificial intelligence in education, the prospects for the development of student entrepreneurship, and support for the scientific work of student groups.

Stanislav Prokofiev answered all the students’ questions in detail and briefly told how the instructions given at the end of the Rector’s Hour last year were followed, and once again stressed the importance of an open dialogue – an operational feedback mechanism that helps the administration, students and faculty of the University to join forces, implementing large-scale projects aimed at comprehensively improving the University’s position in all areas of his work.