First-year students of postgraduate, master's, specialty and bachelor's degrees have become part of a friendly family of MEPhI. The celebration of dedication to the students of MEPhI turned out to be enchanting, there were songs, dances, practical jokes and surprises. But the main thing, of course, is tradition!

There is such a historical anecdote (or a parable, or a real-life case, who knows). One day, a large delegation of heads of universities from different countries came to Oxford. Not finding the rector in the office, the guests went in search of him. And they found him sitting carelessly with a book on a bench in the university park.

– Mr. Rector, what are you doing? And who runs the university?! – the guests were surprised.

– I read Shakespeare's sonnets. And the university is governed by tradition," the rector replied calmly.

Probably, the rector of the MEPhI could have answered the same way, because there are many traditions at our university, the old ones are cherished, the new ones are supported. However, the rector rarely manages to sit on a bench with a book, he likes to be in the thick of things, next to his like-minded people. Especially when it comes to such an important event as a student initiation.    

 Interesting tasks, prospects and good luck for engineers of the future!

According to tradition, the "Dedication to the students of the MEPhI" began with the celebration of newly minted graduate students and undergraduates in the assembly hall of the university. There are a lot of them this year: 184 graduate students and about 1,500 masters!

The students were congratulated by Alexey Likhachev, Director State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, Sergey Prokopyev, cosmonaut, Hero of the Russian Federation, and Oleg Nagornov, First Vice-Rector of the MEPhI.

"MEPhI is the mainstay university of Rosatom, and your university is literally our mainstay in training professionals for the nuclear industry. Every year we hire about 3,000 new employees, and among them, graduates of MEPhI always occupy an honorable first place," said Alexey Likhachev.

The head of Rosatom noted that mythologists ensure the influx of specialists not only into the nuclear industry and the nuclear weapons complex, but also into new areas such as ecology, nuclear medicine, digital, information, quantum technologies, and materials science.

Alexey Likhachev wished graduate students and undergraduates that the new academic year would be easy and confirmed them in the correctness of their chosen path, and also sincerely thanked the university faculty, those people who lay the foundation for the further development of young talents.      

"You made the right choice by enrolling in one of the best universities in the world. This is a good start for building a further career. I wish you good luck," Oleg Nagornov said to the freshmen.

The chairman of the Student Scientific Society of the MEPhI Agnia Borodina, the head of the IFIB Alexander Garmash (use the capabilities of the Accelerator of Technological Projects created by the MEPhI together with the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom and helping student startups) also addressed graduate students and masters.

Marina Stupnikova, Head of the Directorate for Work with Partners and Graduates, spoke about the work of the university's endowment fund, the MEPhI alumni community and mentor mythologists (the autumn season of the Mentoring Program starts on September 26, do not miss it).

Nikita Marchenkov, a graduate of MEPhI, head of the Kurchatov Synchrotron-Neutron Research Complex of the Kurchatov Institute, congratulating the freshmen, called them "engineers of the future", and the university diploma is a "quality mark", which is not easy to get, but very honorable and prestigious.

Faith, hope, love for the best students in the world!

First-year undergraduate and graduate students (about 1,600 people), also by tradition, gathered in front of the street stage of the university campus. The initiation ceremony was opened by the rector of the MEPhI, Vladimir Shevchenko.

He wished the freshmen, who are in no way inferior to their peers from the best universities in the world, faith, hope and love. Faith in your dream, whatever it is – to change the world, become a great professional, create your own company or lead MEPhI. The hope is that any difficulties can be overcome. Love for our work and those people with whom fate brings us together.

"Love is what gives us the strength to create new things. A new life, new knowledge. Look for love in everything you do. There will be mistakes and disappointments along the way. Perhaps, at some point, despondency will come. Do you know what to do then? Kick him in the neck! And hope will help you in this. Time will pass, and you will realize that all the trials and difficulties were not given to you in vain, that everything turned out exactly as it should, in the best way," the rector admonished the students.

The first-year students were also congratulated by the vice-rector for Educational Activities Elena Vesna (Elena Borisovna reminded the students that they entered a wonderful university and therefore are the best, lucky, happy, having everything to cope with any difficulties in their studies and in life), acting vice-rector for Youth Policy of the University Andrey Turchaninov, project manager of the department Rosenergoatom personnel assessment and development Irina Shapovalova, as well as the heads of the institutes of the MEPhI and, of course, the legendary Academic Men's Choir of MEPhI. Under the guidance of the Honored Artist of Russia Nadezhda Malyavina, the choristers performed the student anthem Gaudeamus igitur and the classic work "Chorus of Hunters" from the opera "The Free Shooter" superbly.

Inspired by kind parting words and wonderful music, the first–year students boldly stepped onto the "path of knowledge" and began the main thing - the tests, which, according to tradition, the initiation ceremony requires. Recall that the students of the MEPhI  are special. Therefore, when they are initiated, they are given a special gift – a mythical power. It has four components, these are the power of the heart (you need to look into the "nuclear heart" and feel kindness and willingness to help your neighbor), the power of the mind (you need to step over the threshold of knowledge and gain the superpower to solve the most difficult problems in physics and mathematics), the power of the body (you need to go through the fog of M–particles, which miraculously appear when heavy water from the reactor is consecrated in the temple to become invulnerable), the power of the spirit (it is given by light poured into the friendly atmosphere of the university and emanating from mythical lightsabers).

During the tests, not a single freshman was injured. Hopefully, the students were charged with mythical power (how powerful it will be found out after the winter session).

We wish all students who have joined the friendly fraternity of MEPhI today to follow the path of knowledge cheerfully and fearlessly, rejoicing every new day and solving big difficult tasks with interest!