On 20 March 2015, the Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University) celebrated its 85th jubilee since its foundation. The celebration took place at the Cultural and Technical Center of MAI. A number of dignitaries and guests were invited for this Gala night including His Excellency Dato’ Zainol Abidin Omar, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Malaysia to Russia, his spouse, Datin Rusamelia Rusland and Mr. Syed Saifuddin Syd Ahmad, Director of MARA Moscow Department.
Dato’ Zainol Abidin Omar delivered a speech at this event where he congratulated MAI on its jubilee and the success that it had achieved. The Ambassador mentioned that Malaysian students have been studying at MAI for more than 10 years and over 200 Malaysians have graduated from MAI. Dato’ Zainol Abidin also indicated that students studying at MAI are fortunate in not only gaining technical knowledge in the field of aviation engineering but also getting to know about Russia, its history and culture. This would help strengthen friendly relations between the people of Malaysia and Russia. The Ambassador expressed his highest appreciation to the Rector of MAI and to all the teaching personnel for training highly qualified specialists for Malaysia. He also wished good health and great professional success to all the academic staff of MAI.
In addition to the congratulatory speeches delivered, the festive evening included performances by singers and students on-stage. It is interesting to note that Malaysian students were the only foreign students from the International Department who had been invited to perform. The students presented two (2) traditional dances that charmed the audience and made the evening more special, colourful and memorable.
After the official celebration, a number of professors from the teaching staff came up to the Ambassador in order to express their gratitude to him. Above all, they talked about ongoing friendly relations between Malaysia and Russia. They also discussed the education of the Malaysian students, specifying how kind, well-mannered and hard-working they are and what a pleasure it was to work with them, as well as to teach them.
