Dear friends and colleagues, professors and students!
I sincerely congratulate all of you on one of the most honourable and joyful holidays in our country – Knowledge Day!
Undoubtedly, during the time of "self-isolation" and all the trials that accompanied our work in the pandemic everyone has missed the usual university life as well as communication with their colleagues and friends.
Saratov State University begins its 111th academic year. I want to say a few words to those who will start their first classes tomorrow: you have to study at the university with a unique history which has gone a long and bright way from the last Imperial University to a modern national research university – one of the leading universities in the Russian Federation. Many significant events have happened and great goals have achieved during its research and education history. We are proud that in the second century of its life our university naturally combines history maturity, research substantiality, and youth enthusiasm!
The special conditions for high-quality education are provided by the research schools of Saratov University as well as the professionalism and experience of its professors create. Besides, they guarantee the enrollees that they have made the right choice, thereby providing themselves with a ticket to a successful life and a decent future.
Today many young people prefer classic education, which traditionally combines the sciences and humanities. This is proved by the fact that the enrollee rate remains at a consistently high level.
Nowadays our students are educated in 25 education units – in faculties, institutes, and colleges. From 2021, a new faculty of fundamental medicine and medical technologies will start working in SSU.
The Development Programme of Saratov State University as a National Research University has ended. And we have devoted ten years of fruitful work to it. Now have to implement a new strategic academic leadership programme which will last till 2030. Undoubtedly, we will successfully complete this task because SSU has a reliable base for intensive development and a powerful intelligent potential.
Surely, remaining creative we are able to implement any, the most ambitious projects and achieve their practical return, including within the national projects determined by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin. We have everything for this – a clear vision of the prospects, powerful research schools, modern laboratories, in which world-known scientists involve young research enthusiasts to work.
Today our students can show their creative abilities in a variety of activities – in the volunteer movement, in the movement of student brigades, in sports, and arts. The university still remains a platform where young people not only receive a particularly valuable knowledge but also develop their personalities. In addition to studies, research seminars and workshops, you can join the Student Club, the Sports Club, the student editorial offices, the faculty clubs, the Undergraduate and Graduate Student Council, in the Students Union.
Today I want to express my gratitude to the teaching staff of the university that in the difficult and unusual conditions of the pandemic, no one was confused, everyone quickly got involved in the work, mastered a lot of modern resources, and made their bright creative contribution to the experience of online education.
We are likely to combine full-time and online learning in the new academic year. I assure you that all necessary safety measures will be taken in our university. The administration, the deans of the faculties, and the directors of the institutes, professors, and other university employees, in other words, the entire staff will be mobilised to prevent the coronavirus contagion and return to tradition education forms as soon as possible. Indeed, according to many professors, there is nothing to replace personal communication with students in the classroom. Each of us knows that in our research and profession development we should be grateful to the strength of our professors, first of all. And we would not want to deprive our students of this opportunity.
Dear professors and researchers, be filled with inspiration, healthy, and successful in all your activities. Dear students, get everything that the University can give!
Happy Knowledge Day!
Rector of Saratov State University,
Professor Aleksei Chumachenko
