New academic year began at KSTU

The morning of 1 September in Kaliningrad was rainy. The weather did not prevent the start of classes at the university. This academic year, more than a thousand first-year students joined the thousands-strong KSTU family, comprising five institutes.

At the BFFSA, Knowledge Day began, as is traditional, on the square in front of the academy’s main building, where cadets, students and pupils from Kaliningrad Maritime Lyceum lined up. The acting rector of KSTU, A.G. Mnatsakanyan, the head of the BFFSA, A.V. Gruntov, the director of KML, N.V. Krasnova, and master mariner V.V. Mezentsev all delivered words of encouragement at the ceremony. Faculty, staff, families, and friends also came to congratulate the freshmen. This year, the Baltic Fishing Fleet State Academy has welcomed about two hundred cadets and students.

The Acting Rector of KSTU then visited Kaliningrad Maritime Lyceum, where he delivered a lesson to future students and cadets of the university. This was no coincidence, as graduates of KML enrol at KSTU every year to study engineering and maritime disciplines. Pupils from the Lyceum participate in almost all of KSTU's pre-university programmes, acquiring the foundations of their future professions while still at school.

A.G. Mnatsakanyan next visited Kaliningrad Maritime Fishery College. Together with S.M. Karpovich, Director of KMFC, Albert Gurgenovich congratulated the cadets and students on the start of the academic year at the educational institution’s club. In the 2026 academic year, more than 650 first-year students began their studies at the college.

The Acting Rector of KSTU then participated in a ceremony to hand over a new exhibit to the college’s Historical and Cultural Centre. The model of a fishing vessel was presented by the President of the Kaliningrad Regional Public Organisation Association of Sea Captains, master mariner V.V. Mezentsev, who handed it over to the Centre’s Head, E.A. Antipina, a model of a large freezer fishing trawler (BMRT) of project 1288 (Pulkovskiy Meridian type), the Moskovskaya Olimpiada (hull number TB-0512).

Events marking the start of the academic year also took place at the KSTU branch located in the Northern Capital, St. Petersburg Maritime Fishery College. During the cadets’ line-up, the college’s director, S.G. Losyakov, congratulated them on Knowledge Day. This year, 235 young men and women became cadets of SPbMFC.

On the eve of Knowledge Day, the Acting Rector of KSTU, A.G. Mnatsakanyan, visited the sailing training ship Kruzenshtern, where a ceremonial muster of the crew and cadets took place. The event included a prayer service of blessing, led by Priest Vasily Reshetov, a cleric of the Church of St Andrew the First-Called.

The Kruzenshtern is expected to set sail for the Baltic Sea in the near future. Today, 140 cadets from the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries’ training institutions are undertaking practical training on board.

We wish you all every success in your studies, as well as scientific, sporting and creative achievements, patience, good health and seven feet under the keel. Godspeed!