Alexey Grigorievitch Zabelin

Rector of the Moscow Financial-Juridical Academy

Our students are the future of Russia! Join us!

Dear students! The last school waltz has just sounded, the last bell has just rung. The childhood that we wanted to come to an end has gone away. What feelings do you have now? The same ones that we also had one day… And you are feeling some perplexity – an already inexplicable nostalgia for school, friends, and teachers. And some anxiety – how will relations with new friends and teachers be formed? And, of course, you are excited about the choice of a profession. It is good when there are family traditions, when capabilities come to light early. It is good when you know exactly where to go to study and want you want to become. But what if you haven't made a choice yet?  Are you thinking about the prestige value of a profession? Or are you going to the institute as it were for company? You know better than I that such cases are numerous. Have a look at our Academy. We teach here many interesting professions, and at a very high level. And if you stop to look at one or another of our departments, I am sure you won't regret your choice.

And I want to talk with you heart-to-heart about something else. And I want you to understand me. They say there is a generation gap. But it appears to me that this is an artificial problem, something made-up. Tell me, what father would give his child bad or foolish advice?! Quite simply, we've lived more and seen more. And we have fewer illusions…

I want to call you "back – to the future!" Your childhood and school years occurred during years of transition when values and principles changed rapidly, when many good and beautiful things were brushed away. In our rush to overtake or outrun the West, we have forgotten the simple truth: "No man is a prophet in his own country!" And already ten years have passed… Now it's time to look back and think – was everything bad in our country?  Weren't we strong?  Didn't we have progressive science, scientists with worldwide reputations, famous achievements; didn't we have excellent classical education; didn't we have teachers who gave their all to our children?! And isn't collectivism, which some generations lived through, a good word? Our country survived a terrible war in many respects thanks to collectivism, when the mighty didn't destroy the weak, when everybody shared the last piece of bread, when the words "charity and mercy" were understandable to everyone. Ask your parent, grandfather or grandmother. They will surely answer you: "Yes, that's just how we lived." A wise man once said: "The past is a lamp that illuminates the way to the future for us." So let's turn to the past, take from there all that is beautiful and rush to the future with it. And the future of Russia is beautiful! And you are the future of Russia!

I have given eleven years to our Academy. My memories are sufficient for a whole book. We have received government accreditation, opened many of the most interesting and popular specializations in the labor market, introduced new courses of training, opened affiliates of the Academy throughout Russia , purchased new educational facilities and, above all, arranged for a quality education. I think that our Academy is one of few institutions of higher learning where great attention is paid to the quality of knowledge. We value our diploma and our reputation. Especially because the Ministry of Education of Russia has put us in the third place among non-state accredited institutions of higher education. This is our triumph! Now we must work to become even better.

And after eleven years of coming to our Academy, I cannot tell what kind of people our graduates will be. As specialists they will be excellent, but what kind of people will they be? What will they think about their country, will they love their Motherland as much as we, the older generation, love it? Will they give their knowledge for the betterment of Russia , will they increase its wealth, will they remember the great wisdom of their ancestors? Do you know what the great Russian scientist Dmitry Ivanovitch Mendeleev dreamt of? Read his "Sacred Thoughts" and you will find there some wonderful lines. The great thinker and scientist dreamt of the "enrichment of the nation, the welfare, prosperity and moral power of Russia ."

And I want the graduates of our Academy to become excellent specialists, to love their Motherland and to strengthen its economic and moral power.

Rector of the Moscow Financial-Juridical Academy A. G. Zabelin

BIOGRAPHY

Alexey Grigorievitch Zabelin

Rector of the Moscow Financial-Juridical Academy, Doctor of Sociology, Assistant Professor, Member of the International Academy of Informatization and the Academy of Humanities Sciences

Born in 1949 in Zuevka, Kirov Region.

Began work at the age of 15 as a worker-electrician.

From 1969 till 1971 served in the Soviet Army at a nuclear site in Semipalatinsk .

In 1972 he entered the Gubkin Institute of Petrochemical and Gas Industry.

After graduation from the Institute he worked for organizations of Glavmosstroy: team-leader of installers,  foreman, senior engineer, and section manager.

Beginning in 1981 he worked as senior educator and electrical supervisor at the Moscow Institute of Electronic Machine-Building.

From 1985 to 1988 he worked in machinery of the Moscow Committee (MK) and Moscow City Committee (MGK) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (KPSS – CPSU).

From 1988 to 1993 – Head of Department of Gosobrazovaniya (State Education) of the USSR .

From 1991 to present: Rector of the Moscow Financial-Juridical Academy.