The deputy prime minister congratulated the institute's tutors, professors and students on the beginning of a new academic year and said that this institution of higher education, which became a national research university last year, "was, is and always will be a source of talent for the country's aviation, missile, space and defence industries."

"Going through modernisation and transitioning to an innovation based development path, Russia's economy is in need of highly qualified specialists," the deputy prime minister emphasised. "Without them, we will never achieve the goals that the country's leadership has set for us."

The Moscow Aviation Institute currently has over 20,000 students.