The first step into the profession - with an assessment from practitioners
Top managers of Metafrax Chemicals and Metadynea participated in the work of the state attestation commissions of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation at the defense of the final qualifying works of undergraduate students.
Graduates presented diploma projects in the areas of Business Management and Management, which included not only analytical research, but also their own startups based on real market challenges. The experts noted the high level of theoretical training and the practical significance of the topics.
Evgeny Gavrilov, Head of the Project Office for Strategy at Metafrax Chemicals, chaired the State Commission on Business Management. His presentation on the defense became a key element of student feedback.
— For me, participation in the defense of theses is not so much a formal assessment as an opportunity to help students present their work correctly. I asked questions from the point of view of a real business. This helps not only to understand the idea of the project more accurately, but also to direct the discussion so that both students and members of the commission could see how the proposed developments could be applied in real conditions. Some of the issues discussed are relevant for our company, for example, approaches to choosing a discount rate for calculating the return on investment.
Andrey Kondrashov, Chief Financial Officer of Metadynea, participated in the Management commission. He noted the thematic focus of the diplomas:
— This is the second year that I have been participating in the work of the final examination commissions of the Financial University. This time, the focus turned to projects related to artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools in the HR field: chatbots for staff selection, resume analysis, and candidate behavior training before an interview. There were interesting works related to the development of an enterprise development strategy, automation of management activities, and evaluation of the effectiveness of proposed measures. I was particularly pleased with the level of theoretical training — graduates confidently use the language of management and economics, are fluent in economic terms, and are able to calculate the economic effect. As future managers, they did an excellent job.
The commission listened with particular interest to the thesis of a student from China who had language difficulties in the exam, but performed well on the defense, presenting a paper on optimizing warehouse logistics using VMI (Vendor-Managed Inventory - supplier-Managed inventory) solutions.
After the official part, the students were able to communicate with representatives of the commissions, ask clarifying questions and receive professional recommendations. Top managers of both companies noted that this format of interaction between business and the university has mutual value: students receive an applied assessment of their work, and employers get an opportunity to get to know potential candidates and their views on the development of the industry.