Students of the Institute of Economics and Management of the North Caucasus Federal University became the winners of the 38th International Student Olympiad of St. Petersburg State University of Economics "Economics and Management" (MSO – 2026).

NCFU students were among the winners of the MSO-2026 Olympiad. In the Finance section, under the guidance of Associate Professor of the Department of Finance and Credit Alfiya Sokolova, the university was presented by fourth-year Economics students Elizaveta Maistrenko and Diana Mamula.

In 2026, 312 students registered for 13 sections of the Olympiad. Of these, 268 people are representatives of Russian universities from eight federal districts, including the North Caucasus Federal District. The tests themselves took place in two rounds. In the first one, students took tests in specialized disciplines such as investments, the budget system of the Russian Federation, taxes and taxation, and corporate finance. At the end of this stage, Diana Mamula took the second place, showing a high result.

In the second round, the participants were randomly divided into five groups – they worked for five hours on a project on proactive budgeting. The format of the second stage, represented by a business game, required students to have professional knowledge and skills in communication and cooperation. Following the results of the project defense, Elizaveta Maistrenko and Diana Mamula took the third place in the team.

At the conference dedicated to IUCN-2026, the project managers and St. Petersburg State University of Economics noted their long-standing friendship with university delegations, including the North Caucasus Federal University, for which this Olympiad is a traditional one.