"Komsomolskaya Pravda": Nizhni Novgorod universities rival Moscow and Saint Petersburg in terms of training IT professionals
UNN representatives took part in the press conference of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper on December 13. At the opening of the conference, some figures given in a recent presentation of Communications and Mass Communications Minister of the Russian Federation Nikolai Nikiforov were quoted: Russian universities produce 40 thousand IT experts every year, the total number of those employed in the IT sector reaches 400 thousand, while the country actually needs a million. According to the Minister, with the current figures it would take another 15 years to cover the industry’s personnel deficit, provided that all the graduates will work in their field, no one will retire or leave the country. In order to catch up with the leading countries, an even greater number of professionals is required, and they should be prepared in a short time.
“Today, much is being done in this direction, including an increase in the number of state budget-funded places for students and the introduction of additional incentives for higher education institutions and enterprises, which are included in the educational process and set up base departments for universities. It should be emphasized that the Nizhni Novgorod region has a very good record in this respect serving as a source of high-skilled manpower,” said Minister for Information Technologies, Communications and Media of the Nizhni Novgorod region Sergei Kuchin. First of all, it is due to a high concentration of strong institutions of higher education, as well as a large number of high-tech industries and representative offices of global companies. According to Sergei Kuchin, Nizhni Novgorod is in the number of cities that are recognized centers for IT training, along with Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Kazan.
“Nizhni Novgorod can be considered a major IT cluster, with branches and offices of major international IT companies concentrated in the city. Our university is engaged in active collaboration with these companies”, commented UNN Vice-Rector Nikita Avralev. “Such companies offer internship opportunities to our students, take a closer look at their performance and eventually hire many of them after graduation. This year, Lobachevsky University has 400 government-funded places for IT students in Bachelor’s programs and 200 places in Master’s programs. Along with the fundamental knowledge, which is provided by the university, our students receive quality research-based education that enables them to confidently face the future and to be in demand with employers”.
