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Novi Sad Mayor Welcomes NIS’ Scholarship Holders From Russian Universities

July 19, 2019

The reception was organised for the students who come from Novi Sad, NIS’ scholarship holders who were given the opportunity to study abroad and start work at one of the largest companies in Serbia after graduation through the Energy of Knowledge corporate programme. “Today in the City Hall, we present an example of good practices, reflected in the well-coordinated collaboration of education and industry. Things are changing for the better since we have stopped the “brain drain”, and owing to the support of the industry and the University in Novi Sad, our best students study at the most prestigious faculties abroad and return to Serbia and Novi Sad to work. Jointly with NIS and the Faculty of Technology in Novi Sad, we would like to present four out of the 18 students who have received NIS scholarships this year and who have studied at several universities in the Russian Federation. I congratulate them on their success and on the fact that they will stay in Novi Sad, their hometown, to work after they graduate. We are proud of our fellow citizens and we wish to see more and more or our students studying at the best faculties in the world and then returning to Serbia to live and work. They guarantee that this city and the country will have a more secure and promising future”, Mayor Miloš Vučević has said, and commended the cooperation with NIS and the Faculty of Technology, with which the City of Novi Sad successfully collaborates to attract investors. Through its Energy of Knowledge programme, NIS provides scholarships to students in Serbia and the Russian Federation. More than 90 students have received NIS scholarships through this programme, and out of these, 30 scholarships were granted for studies at prestigious Russian universities. The first generation of NIS’ scholarship holders graduated last year and eight of them are already NIS’ employees. This year, another 18 NIS’ scholarship holders have graduated and will start working in NIS in September, with the exception of six students who will continue their education on Master’s studies in Russia. After they complete their undergraduate or postgraduate studies, all NIS’ scholarship holders will join the company. “Today we see the results of our joint efforts, of both NIS and the City of Novi Sad. I attended the degree ceremony in Moscow and St. Petersburg for 18 students from Serbia. In St. Petersburg, out of 9 awarded degrees, 7 were “red”. It was the same in Moscow, which is the proof of the quality of the Serbian education system, because the “red degrees” used to be awarded to one in 80 students. I would like to thank the City of Novi Sad, which has been part of this programme from the very beginning and which supports our efforts to improve education. We wish to invest in education and to create a highly qualified workforce in the community on which we operate. Now we don’t have to bring specialists from abroad, since NIS gives graduates the opportunity to stay and start their careers in their hometown. We are a socially responsible company and we wish to set a good example to other companies and motivate them to join the initiative of the City of Novi Sad,” Deputy CEO of NIS Vadim Smirnov has said on this occasion. Emir Tatić, NIS’ scholarship holder and a graduate of I.M. Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, has said that NIS supported him through his undergraduate studies, granted him a scholarship for Master’s studies in Russia, and then offered him employment, and that all other scholarship holders he studied with were given the same opportunities. “I am deeply honoured to be able to speak before all 18 of my excellent former fellow students, and my future colleagues in NIS. We received our scholarships though NIS’ Energy of Knowledge programme, and went to Moscow five years ago, when we were barely 19 year old and didn’t speak the Russian language. I am highly satisfied and honoured to be able to use the knowledge and experience I gained during my studies in Russia to improve Novi Sad, my hometown,” Emil Tatić has said. About our scholarship holders Milena Đorđević and Emil Tatić are NIS’ scholarship holders who have graduated this year from the Faculty of Oil and Gas Engineering, at Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas. Milena will start her career in NIS this autumn, while the company will continue to fund Emil’s Master’s studies on Tyumen State University, as he is one of the best students selected to continue their studies by Gazprom Neft. Jovana Milić is a NIS’ scholarship holder who has graduated this year from St. Petersburg Mining University, from the Faculty of Oil and Gas Engineering. NIS has granted Jovana a scholarship for Master’s studies on this university, as one of the best Serbian students selected by the University. Nemanja Ćulibrk received a scholarship for academic year 2018/2019 for the third and fourth year of undergraduate studies at the N.I. Lobachevski National Research University of Nizhni Novgorod, Faculty of Chemistry, at the Department of Petroleum Chemistry. Nemanja started his studies at the Faculty of Technology in Novi Sad, which has signed the Memorandum of Cooperation with the Faculty of Chemistry of Lobachevski University of Nizhni Novgorod, thanks to the assistance of NIS and its Energy of Knowledge programme.