For the graduates, faculty, staff and management of ICEF, the grand Pre-Christmas Meeting has become an indispensable part of New Year celebrations. A traditions established by ICEF over the years of its existence, it turns ICEF into an attractive place where the nation’s young leaders of finance, real economy and IT industry meet for a festive get-together.
Welcoming the guests to the 2023 pre-Christmas meeting were ICEF Deputy Directors Oleg Zamkov and Maxim Nikitin. They spoke about how well the ICEF graduates are progressing on the job market and covered some performance highlights of the year past. There has been greater competition among Russia’s leading banks – VTB, Sberbank, Raiffeisenbank (Russian branch), Alfa-Bank, Rosbank, Credit Bank of Moscow, Rosbank, and the Bank of Russia – for ICEF graduates as ICEF's Master of Financial Economics Programme remains, for five years in a row, among the Top 100 QS Business Master’s in Finance and is still the only Russia’s degree featuring in this category in 2023.
The official part of the meeting witnessed the award of master’s degree to the four students who defended their theses in the fall of 2023. Fresh graduates Anna Baran, Irina Valishina, Juliana Loginova and Anastasia Miroshnichenko spent their first year of studies at ICEF and their second one (2023) at LUISS University in Rome as double-degree students. They received congratulations from everyone in the room, and if they hadn’t decided on a job yet, the place was more than right for them to network and establish useful contacts.
The ceremony continued by awarding Letters of Gratitude for Vibrant Contribution to ICEF Community 2022-23 to:
- Nikita Khudov, BSc class of 2016
- Natalia Kononova, BSc class of 2019
- Alexey Kipriyanov, BSc class of 2021 and MSc class of 2023
- Ivan Grunenko, BSc class of 2023
- Ilkhom Safarov, BSc class of 2023
The celebration was joined also by former graduates from different years. They shared their memories of ICEF and the role it plays in their lives.
Andrey Skripko
member of the ICEF BSc class of 2011 AAS Nedvizhimost Director General
“We were a friendly community of students and a small, homelike faculty, so to say. The ICEF of today has a much larger enrollment.
I believe a school’s core mission consists in guiding people towards finding their ground. I did find mine with the help from ICEF. Every time I tell people I am an ICEF graduate, they remark it is, at the very least, good-quality education. My degree has been very helpful keeping me on the move and opening the doors for me. All my teachers at Oxford said they knew ICEF as a school with high performing students.
The baccalaureate as excellent as here is a great asset to have in life. I only have warm and fond memories of my teachers.
Long story short, ICEF is this country’s best faculty.”
Maria Naumova
member of the ICEF BSc class of 2016 Gazprombank, Project Funding
“My brightest impressions of ICEF have also been the most emotional: the examinations and the nights before them. We all were nervous and worried. And I still remember that sweet moment when you leave the room feeling glad it’s over and it doesn't even matter if you passed or failed, and how I overflowed with joy after being told I passed with a positive grade.
After graduation, I came across many of ICEF graduates in top executive positions with some of the largest and most influential companies around the world. It seems like in every company, everyone perceived as a promoter type and a really strong personality is just bound to be an ICEF graduate.
The most amazing thing about them is that they give you a look so serious it makes you terrified to even approach them, but the moment they learn you are an ICEF graduate, they are your best friend. They make you feel you’ve known each other all your life, even though you are from different years and never met before. What I mean is ICEF graduates, as a family-like community, are always willing to offer a helping hand, wanting you to give more in return. It's an incredible feeling to be part of this community.
I have very fond memories of all my teachers. Each of them is like that shining star that always stays, each having a personality feature that makes them special. The brightest star for me is Alla Friedman, who supervised my graduation thesis. She gave me the strength to believe in myself; whenever I have difficulty coping with things I bring my mind back to my thesis defense day, and my self-doubt is gone. It makes me I can handle anything.
For me ICEF is a friendly family – the family I will always love.”
Shuainat Pirbudagova
member of the ICEF BSc class of 2020 Yandex, Project Manager
“I often recall those group projects we did on finance theory. Every week came with an intricate paper to read carefully and make sense of. Every time we embarked on reading we thought, “How can we possibly get, within a few hours’ time, the meaning of what the authors have been working on for months?” But we did get that meaning, and every single time to our big surprise.
ICEF has become my family. Its graduates can be encountered in a diversity of companies, being on board with multiple teams of Yandex, too. I don’t even have to ask if they studied at ICEF. I know an ICEF graduate when I see one. I can tell by the way they approach their tasks.
ICEF changes the very way you think, it gives you a more profound way of thinking. You no longer want quick answers, you want to dig deeper, to the very core of the matter. And when people in your team do the same because they think they need to do some research first, you know you are on the same page and it’s much easier for you to move forward.
I remember very well what my supervisor Prof. Udara Peiris told me when I had a tough time calculating a model and it was only days away from thesis defense. He said, “You still have three days. The solution will come by itself if you try and concentrate.” He gave me the confidence I could do it. It mattered a lot to me.
That’s why ICEF is like a family to me.”
Zhora Sukasian
member of the ICEF BSc class of 2020 Tinkoff, Product Manager
“It isn’t classes I remember best, it’s the time after them. We used to go to cafes after classes on Shabolovka Campus as places where we could communicate and study together. I sought help from those who were good at humanities and they, in turn, got help from me with things they weren’t good at. It was a nice, productive symbiosis.
I am still in contact with the other graduates and even teachers, on social networks. I now view teachers in a completely different way. Unlike earlier, when I was like, “My teacher flunked me, it’s terrible,” I now see why and know I deserved it.
My job at Tinkoff involves cooperating closely with many different schools through Tinkoff Education. I see these schools promote their career services, and I also see that what they present as new and groundbreaking has been a years-long practice with ICEF. One remarkable thing about ICEF is its staying flexible to change. The faculty have at all times been quick enough to update our curriculum with courses of great relevance.
The teachers I have very good memories of and who profoundly influenced me personally are Oleg Zamkov, Alla Friedman and Alexey Akhmetshin. I think of ICEF as a good team and family.”
Alexey Kipriyanov
member of the ICEF BSc class of 2021 and ICEF BSc class of 2023 Credit Bank of Moscow, Treasury ICEF, teacher
“There are two things I remember best from my years as an ICEF student. One is the incredibly friendly atmosphere that still reigns here and the other is the high academic load that made us grow both professionally and personally.
The ICEF alumni community is still playing a huge role in my life. To give one example, I got my current job because I studied here. I got it through my friends who are now my colleagues.
I have many favorite teachers here, but the one who comes to mind most readily is Maria Kravtsova, who teaches Financial Reporting to third-year students.
ICEF is a place that feels good to come back to.”
